NW Indiana HS Baseball: Andrean advances to Class 3A State Tourney

Andrean 59ers advance to state finals in baseball after defeating West Lafayette and Norwell at Plymouth 3A Semistate

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

6-14-2005

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
NORWELL (23-11)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0
No. 1 ANDREAN (32-2)	1	0	0	1	0	0	-	2	4	1

Saturday, 6-11-2005 - 70 degrees at Plymouth (3A) Semistate Championship

WP – Brad King (7-1) 4K, walks (4 2/3 inn.)

Anthony Cera (Save #5) 0K, 0 walks (3 1/3 inn.)

LP – Jamie Fieldheiser (8-2) CG, 0K, 2 walks

Norwell (23-11)

Ryne Otis (1B) 2 HBPs

Scott Woodward (CF) Single, walk

James Lewis (RF) RBI

ANDREAN (32-2)

Tommy Finn (SS) 2 singles, RBI

Steve Augsburger (1B) Single, RBI

Chris Skinner (CF) Walk, RBI

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
WEST LAFAYETTE (26-6)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	6	3
No. 1 ANDREAN (31-2)	3	0	1	0	1	6	-	11	9	0

Saturday, 6-11-2005 - 85 degrees at Plymouth (3A) Semistate Semifinal

WP – Steve Augsburger (6-1) 5K, 2 walks

LP – Ryan Barnes (11-1) 2K, 1 walk (5 inn.)

West Lafayette (26-6)

Clay Wagner (DH) Double, 2 singles

ANDREAN (31-2)

Joe Mack (3B) HR, single, 4 RBIs

Tommy Finn (SS) Double, single, 2 runs scored, 2 stolen bases

Greg Yersich (Catcher) Double, 2 RBI

Rob Barbauld (LF) 2 singles, run scored

PLYMOUTH, IN (6-11-2005) - After Andrean surprisingly smoked out powerful West Lafayette 11-0 in the Plymouth 3A Semistate semifinals Saturday and the first three batters reached bases in the title game against unranked Norwell, it looked like the 59ers' second semistate title in history was going to come easy.

Considering Andrean's past troubles at Plymouth (four eliminations in the old regional tournaments), the 59er fans in the crowd of about 1,000, probably should have known better.

Two hours later, senior submarine ball pitcher Anthony Cera stranded the tying and go-ahead runs at second and third before pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings to send the 59ers to the state championship game for the second year in a row.

The 10 p.m. celebration on the field afterwards in 70-degree temperatures and artificial light spoke more of getting past this point rather than beating a young and tenacious foe.

Andrean always seems to have a dramatic game in Plymouth. In 2000 and 2002, the 59ers lost 2-1 regional championship games on Plymouth's Bill Nixon Field when coach Dave Pishkur had better teams than the 2005 squad he led Saturday night.

But, facing a close game for the first time in the 2005 state tournament, this 59er team (32-2) held up under pressure.

As the winners posed for pictures on the Plymouth infield, they did not then know they'd be playing at 2:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon in Loeb Stadium in West Lafayette. Andrean also did not know whether they'd play Evansville Memorial (20-12) or Batesville (20-12) in the state championship game because the Southern Semistate title game in Jasper was rained out Saturday and rescheduled for late Monday (6-13-2005) night.

“If we're playing the Chicago Cubs,” said 25-year Andrean coach Dave Pishkur, “I don't care right now. I don't care where they play. We're going to show. This is fantastic. We really hadn't had any tight games. The pressure was on and that's the toughest time to make a play. And we did it.”

Andrean led 1-0 on two leadoff walks and an RBI single by Tommy Finn against Norwell right-hander Jamie Feldheiser (9-2). But Norwell shortstop Kreigh Williams started a ground ball double play to let the Knights escape the first inning.

Andrean made it 2-0 in the fourth on a single by Finn, a wild pitch and an RBI hit by Steve Augsburger, who pitched the 11-0 semifinal win over highly-regarded West Lafayette (26-6).

But a diving catch by Norwell left fielder Clay Dafforn saved two runs and ended the inning with just the 59ers' two-run lead.

Norwell rallied in the fifth. Harry Jauret walked and one out later, Ryne Otis was hit by a pitch. Andrean pitcher Brad King was called for a balk and then catcher Greg Yersich, picking up a dropped third strike, threw low to first base for an error, filling the bases.

James Lewis drove in one run with a ground ball to second base. But that brought up the top of the batting order with two out.

Dave Piskhur then made a move that you probably have to have coached for a quarter of a century to have the nerve to do.

After King ran the count to 1-1 on leadoff man Kreigh Williams with runners at second and third, Pishkur went to top relief pitcher Anthony Cera to save the day.

Did you warm up, Anthony?

“No, not really,” he said. “Just the eight pitches I got on the mound. That's not something I've done before.”

Was Pishkur aware that Cera had not warmed up in the bullpen between innings? “I knew that,” said Dave Pishkur, who admitted that probably wasn't the most conventional idea. “Probably not. But if we walked a guy there, I just wanted Anthony to walk him. That way, if the bases were full, Anthony would have had a batter under his belt.”

“It was gut feeling.”

Cera got Williams to hit a soft ground ball to Augsburger at first base and Norwell did not get another runner past first base.

“That was our one inning we melted down,” said Pishkur, “A walk, an error, a balk and wild pitch. We hit a batter. We did it all but we survived it.”

King (7-1) used a sharp-breaking curve to record four strikeouts, retiring eight in a row at one point. Norwell finished the game with just one single.

One game from the school's second state title of the 2004-2005 school year, there are still questions about Andrean. Top pitchers Steve Augsburger (8-1) and Brad King (7-1) almost always seem to struggle, although Cera is exceptionally tough on teams that have never seen him. The 59ers have trailed only once, briefly (by one run) in the sectional semifinal game against Kankakee Valley.

To be honest though, this looks like a replay of the football season, where a cohesive, experienced 59ers team, which did not have the raw talent of past teams, made the plays to win the title.

“We're going to win it all this time,” said Cera. “I think we're going to do it this time.”

Pishkur added, “We've come down here so many times. We have a bunch of seniors who started this when they won the football state title. We have so many football players. Maybe 12 in the program. They do have that attitude. Joaquin made that play out there (Joaquin Rodriguez made a diving catch for the second out in the final inning). And Tommy was a big deal today and, obviously, he had a little to do with that football team.”

“Greg Yersich keeps saying, 'Hey baby, we're going to win state.' Before every game. 'Hey baby, we're going to win state.'”

“I told him, Greg, we're not even through the sectional yet. He's still saying, 'Hey baby, we're going to state.'”

“Now I can go up to him and say, “hey, baby, we're going to state.”

SEMISTATE NOTES: Anthony Cera does something that you would not teach pitchers to do.

He delivers the ball underhand most of the time, which is fine. Occasionally, Cera, who first stated using the submarine style two years ago, changes and fires overhand, as he did to strike out Harry Jauret on a 1-2 pitch leading off the sixth inning.

Andrean lost to Norwell 9-3 in the 2003 state semifinals (the format was different then) but only 2005 second baseman Harry Jauret played in that game. There is a likelihood that the 59ers, if they go deep in the state playoffs, will see Norwell against in the near future.

The Knights had two freshman and four sophomores in the starting lineup. Freshman catcher Rhett Goodmiller bats third, an almost unheard of situation. Jauret was the only senior.

“They made some really nice plays,” said Andrean coach Dave Pishkur. “They say they've got a freshman pitcher who's really special. It's a good thing we got them now when they're young and we're old.”

Steve Augsburger (8-1) tossed his third consecutive shutout in the 11-0 win over a young West Lafayette team which had reached the semistate for the first time in 25 years. The Red Devils' junior starter Andy Barnes (11-0) had a 1.10 ERA before the game. West Lafayette had a predominantly junior and sophomore dominated team that, from the way they gave up runs early and often, may not have been ready to face the senior-dominated (8 senior starters) 59ers in a winner-take-all game.

The only school to win state titles in football and baseball in the same calendar year is Penn, who has done it twice. Evansville Memorial is one of the state's premier baseball schools with five state title game appearances and three state championships.

Dave Pishkur (608-210) leads all NW Indiana coaches with over 600 wins but Memorial's coach Quentin Merkel won his 800^th game in 35 years on Saturday, May 7, a 7-2 win over Jeffersonville. Now-retired New York Yankee Hall-of-Famer Don Mattingly played for Merkel.

Five years ago, Steve Augsburger's brother Andy Augsburger lost 2-1 in nine innings to Plymouth in the Plymouth 3A Regional championship game as the 59ers left 11 runs on base.

Two years ago (6-20-2003), Norwell, which refers to northern Wells County in eastern Indiana, spotted the 59ers a 3-1 lead before winning 9-3. Tommy Finn and JR Rodriguez are the only present-day 59ers who played that night.