Andrean wins Regional title with 9-2 win over Western

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

6-06-2010

The Andrean 59ers won their second straight regional title with a 9-2 win over Western at Bill Nixon Field Saturday. (All Photos by Mark Smith)

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
ANDREAN (27-6)	2	1	2	0	0	4	0	9	7	4
Western (20-6)	1	0	0	1	0	0	7	2	4	2

Saturday, 6-05-2010 - 80 degrees - Class 3A Regional Championship at Biull Nixon Field at Plymouth, IN

WP - Ken Mahala (9-2) CG, 8K 0 walks
LP - Adam Bolen (6-3) 3K, 8 walks (5.7 inn.)

ANDREAN (27-6)
Vince Tornincasa (LF) 1-for-4, double, RBI, walk
Mark Pishkur (2B) 1-for-3, 2 walks
Ken Mahala (P) 0-for-2, 2 walks
PJ Mason (RF) 1-for-2, HR, 3 RBIs, 2 walks
Matt Doolin (RF) 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBIs
Jordan Falls (C) 0-for-3, walk
Zach Goldasich (DH) 1-for-4, RBI
Tyler Ochi (3B) 1-for-4
Mike Brosseau (SS) 0-for-3, walk

Western (20-6)
Matt Reida (SS) 0-for-2, stolen base
Connor Love (C) 0-for-4
Damon Reel (3B) 0-for-3
Mike Jakubowicz (CF) 1-for-3, double
Adam Bolen (P) 0-for-3
Clay O'Neil (RF) 0-for-3
Bryson Platt (LF) 0-for-3
Bo Weir (1B) 0-for-3
Drew Brantley (2B) 2-for-3, RBI

PLYMOUTH, IN (6-05-2010) Everyone on Andrean I asked said they knew that this team had the potential to be regional champions. Andrean, the 2009 state champion, graduated eight seniors including six starters. Saturday, at the Plymouth Regional, they started three sophomores and a junior rookie at catcher.

And you know what? They did win the Class 3A Regional title. Not only that. The 59ers (26-6) dominated the field, whipping St. Joseph's 12-3 and Western 9-2 to move to within one game of the 2010 state finals.

"Early on in the year I thought we could have another state run," said Mahala, who hit a home run in the state championship game last year. "I had faith in the seniors. We knew the sophomore class was a good class. In practice, that's who we go against. Sophomores versus the seniors. They're good."

"I knew," said pitching coach Jim Nohos, the former Hanover Central coach who watched seniors Sean Mannea and Ken Mahala contain significant opposition Saturday. "That's why I came back. I've worked with some of these guys for a long time. These are my guys."

Senior PJ Mason also came in confident, basically because of the structure of Andrean baseball, built by varsity coach Dave Pishkur, now a 10-time regional champ.

"It's awesome," he said. "The program's great. We've won two (regionals) in a row. We came in. We were the best team in this regional. We just came in and got the job done."

Andrean was 30-2 in 2008 and 33-2 in 2009 with a class that included four now-graduated Division I players. Everyone expected Andrean to be good. They always have been. But they've won 27 of 33 games and the losses have included 4A No. 1 Indianapolis Cathedral (29-1) and 1A No. 4 Lafayette Catholic (28-2), both the state title favorites in their class. The 59ers are back in the same position they were in last year when they won the school's second state championship.

Both teams were shaky early. Western second baseman Drew Brantley threw the ball past first base on the relay end of a bases-loaded potential double play in the first inning to give the 59ers (27-6) a 2-0 lead. But an error on a two-out ground ball by Andrean sophomore shortstop Mike Brosseau gave one run back in the bottom of the first.

Vince Tornincasa lined an RBI double to the left field fence in the top of the second inning to make it 3-1 and PJ Mason's high arching two-run homer to right upped the lead to 5-1 after 2-1/2 innings.

Brantley slapped an RBI single in the fourth to cut the lead to 5-2, but Mahala allowed just four hits and no walks, surviving four infield errors by the 59ers. Mahala, who threw 94 pitches in 80-degree heat and high humidity, was a strong presence, retiring the final 11 Western batters.

Western pitchers walked eight batters, although some of the ball-strike counts were hotly debated from the stands.

"Our pitchers walked eight and their pitchers walked none," said the Panthers coach, who graduates only three seniors. "We've played Andrean before and you just can't do that. We had a sophomore pitching in the regional final and he was a little nervous (3 walks) in that first inning. If we'd turned that double play in the first the game might have been different."

The game was clinched in the sixth inning when PJ Mason hit the final pitch from Western sophomore right-hander Adam Bolen far over the short fences at Plymouth's Bill Nixon field for a three-run home run.

"In the morning game, I hit the ball well," said PJ, the son of Andrean football coach Phil Mason, who homered in the 12-3 semifinal win over St. Joseph's. "He threw me a first pitch curve ball, but then I've never seen such a nice fastball in my life."

Mason, who has signed to play football at the Division II University of Indianapolis, is playing his final organized baseball games. There is no summer ball. No next season.

"I enjoyed it," he said. "I've played all my life. When I was younger I thought I was going to play at a bigger level (than high school) but I just started to love football. I'd love to play but football is my sport."

Varsity coaches all hesitate to tell anyone exactly how they do things, but the key to the Niners' survival of mass graduation losses appears to be talent evaluation.

"He (coach Dave Pishkur) changed the lineup around," said Mason. "In May, he said he was going to stick with one lineup with (Mike) Brosseau and Mark Pishkur in the middle of the infield. They're doing a great job. They're both hitting the ball really well. That's been a key."

Pishkur's hardest job may have been accurate evaluation of the talent of his own son Mark, a starter most of the season, who was on base three times in the championship game.

The untold story is the youngest Pishkur, who has grown up watching Andrean be a baseball power every single year of his life.

"It's weird," Mark admitted on his way to the bus. "Very strange. It didn't hit me until the very end. I'm out there. It's weird. I don't know what to say."

REGIONAL NOTES: PJ Mason and Ken Mahala both hit home runs to back the complete game pitching of Sean Mannea (4-0) in the 12-3 Andrean win over South Bend St. Joseph's in the Plymouth Regional semifinals Saturday morning. The win, which was interrupted by a 30-minute rain delay, marked the third time in the post-season that Andrean had scored 10 runs or more.

The official scoring at Plymouth was very hitter-friendly. At least two Andrean defensive plays on ground balls that should have been made were ruled infield hits for Western. In the real world, the Niners actually made four infield errors in the championship game.

Plymouth is a very popular place for opposing players to play. The centerfield fence is just 359 feet from home plate and the foul lines meet the wall at 315 feet. The 'power alleys' are just 342 feet to the fences.

Of the 20 boys on Andrean's playoff roster, seven are seniors, seven are juniors and five are sophomores with freshman Nick Ryan.

Senior Ken Mahala says that the departure of the seniors won't end Andrean's baseball success, because of the sophomore class. Are the 59ers sophomores better than the seniors?

Western's all-state shortstop Matt Reida was ejected from the game after grounding out to end the second inning. After being ruled out on a close play, Reida apparently slammed his helmet down and was given the rest of the night off.

"That's an automatic ejection. You can't do things like that against a team like Andrean. They won't beat themselves. And from my point of view, the umpire's call was correct. Andrean is a good team. It's going to take a good team to knock them out."

Andrean pitcher Ken Mahala welcomed the return this season of pitching coach Jim Nohos, a former Andrean assistant coach, who spent three seasons as the head varsity coach at Hanover Central.

"He helps me mostly on my mechanics," Mahala said. "Because I tend to lean forward and everything will be all over the place. He's helped me a lot ever since I started pitching when I was 12 years old."

2010 Andrean (27-6)
Coach Dave Pishkur (31th season - 749-236) 33-2 (2009), 30-2 (2008)

4-1 (L) 10-16 Lemont, Ill.
4-3 (W) 4-2 Gavit
4-6 (W) 6-2 Clark (21-10)
4-8 (W) 10-0 Illiana Christian (24-11)
4-10 (W) 4-2 at Penn (23-6)
4-13 (W) 17-4 (5 inn.) at Lowell (12-13-1)
4-15 (W) 7-0 at Griffith (10-20)
4-17 (W) 13-7 at Chesterton (4-19)
4-19 (W) 3-2 Kankakee Valley (16-13)
4-21 (W) 6-2 (Chicago Heights, Ill.) Marian Catholic
4-23 (L) 5-6 Highland (20-11)
4-24 (L) 4-5 Bishop Noll (20-5)
4-27 (L) 3-5 Munster (23-8)
4-29 (W) 7-2 Hobart
4-29 (rain) Brebuef Invitational
5-3 (W) 6-5 Lowell (12-13-1) 8 innings
5-4 (W) 12-3 Naperville Central (at Notre Dame)
5-5 (W) 7-4 Griffith (10-20)
5-6 (L) 3-13 (5 inn.) Cathedral (30-1)
5-7 (W) 10-0 at Kankakaee Valley (16-13)
5-9 (W) 6-3 Gavit
5-9 (W) 11-0 Gavit
5-13 (W) 7-2 Highland
5-17 (W) 8-2 Munster (23-8)
5-19 (W) 12-4 Hobart

Carmel Invitational
5-21 (L) 2-8 Lafayette Catholic (25-7)
5-21 (W) 12-0 (FW) Northrup

5-24 (W) 11-0 Merrillville (10-16)
5-25 (W) 7-3 (Burbank, Ill.) Reavis

Andrean (3A) Sectional
5-27 (W) 10-0 (5 inn.) Knox
5-29 (W) 15-0 (5 inn.) Griffith (10-20)
5-29 (W) 5-2 Kankakee Valley (16-13)

Plymouth (3A) Regional
6-5 (W) 12-3 (SB) St. Joseph's
6-5 (W) 9-2 Western (20-6)