Boone Grove lights up scoreboard at US Steelyard in 15-6 win over Lowell

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

4-12-2005

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
BOONE GROVE (4-2)	0	0	2	3	1	9	0	15	15	3
LOWELL (0-4-1)	5	0	0	1	0	0	0	6	10	3

Saturday, 4-9-2005 - 61 degrees – at US Steelyard in Gary

WP – Shawn Bishop (2-0) 8Ks, 0 walks - 6 innings
LP – Ryan King (0-2) 5Ks, 5 walks - 5 innings

Boone Grove (4-2)
Danny Borys – 3 singles, RBI
Danny Stombaugh – Triple, 2 singles, walk
Kyle Amore – 2 singles, 2 walks
Joe Johnson – Single, walk, RBI
Ryan Cupp – Double, single, 2 RBIs

LOWELL (0-4-1)
Zak Voss – 2 singles
Mike Smith – 2 singles
Matt Kuzma – Single, 2 RBIs
Mike Marino – 2 doubles, RBI
Dean Basso – Double

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Kankakee Valley (7-0)	0	4	0	2	5	-	-	11	11	2
LOWELL (0-5-1)	0	0	1	0	0	-	-	1	2	0

Monday, 4-11-5 - 71 degrees, windy in Lowell

WP – Gentry Brown (3-0) CG, 11Ks, 1 walk
LP – Jon Cap (0-3) 3Ks, 6 walks - 4 innings (8 runs)

Kankakee Valley (7-0, 1-0 LAC)
Kyle Jansma – 3 singles, 2 runs scored
Gentry Brown – Double, 2 walks
Cory Bifoss – 3 walks, RBI
TJ Jackson – Single, Sac. Fly, RBI
Zach Prairie – 2 singles, 2 RBIs, walk
Matt Dobin – HR (#4), double, single, 4 RBIs, walk

LOWELL (0-5-1, 0-1 LAC)
Zak Voss – Single, RBI
Mike Smith – Single
Clayton Miller – Walk, run scored

LOWELL (4-11-2005) - When Lowell followed a 3-3 eight-inning tie with Rensselaer with five first inning runs Saturday at the Railcats' Steelyard stadium in Gary, it looked like Lowell's early season 2005 struggles with an inexperienced lineup and young pitching staff might be short-lived.

But it just doesn't work like that.

Boone Grove rallied for a 15-6 win over the Red Devils Saturday and undefeated Kankakee Valley bombed Lowell 11-1 Monday. The hard truth is, a team with a largely new starting lineup and a totally new pitching staff is going to lose more often than not against teams with senior starting pitchers and lineups with 75% returning starters.

“I know it sounds like a broken record,” said Lowell varsity coach Tom Stoner. “But we have a lot of people who are starting for the first time. I can't complain about any of them. We're not seeing anything we didn't know was coming. It may sound like a crutch or an excuse. But it's what we are. With only three starters returning from last year's squad, this what's going to happen for while.”

Monday, Kankakee Valley, a team with 12 senior varsity players, dominated Lowell, led by senior left-hander Gentry Brown (3-0), who struck out 11 in the five inning contest.

While Lowell is rebuilding, 2005 is the year KV has been building for. The Kougars (7-0) might be a little short on pitching but no Northwest Indiana team has more experience and few have more offense.

Sophomore Matt Dobin, a gifted left-handed hitter, slashed a single, double and 350-foot home run, driving in four runs against two pitchers he'd never faced before.

“He's the kind of hitter that when he's 3-for-4,” said longtime KV coach Doug Greenlee, “he's upset about the fourth at bat. He's the kind of kid who sleeps with Ted Williams' book, the 'Art of Hitting' under his pillow. Matt doesn't play football or any other sport. This is all he does.

He's just a great hitter. And we've had some good ones. “Matt was our leading hitter last year as a freshman. He hit two home runs Friday (April 8 against Knox) and another one Saturday (April 9) against Crown Point. He just has almost perfect mechanics.

The home run he hit wasn't a bad pitch. He just went down and got it.”

KV scored four runs in the second inning after Zach Prairie singled and sophomore right-hander Jon Cap walked three batters in a row to make it 1-0. KV's Matt Lane grounded into a force play at the plate but senior TJ Jackson pulled a long single down the left field line to make it 3-0. Dobin's two-out hit over the head of the left fielder made it 4-0.

Lowell rallied in the bottom of the third inning when Clayton Miller walked, moved up on Mike Smith's single and a bunt by Dave Erpelding, and scored on an error by Jackson, the KV shortstop. The Kougars, who scored 10 or more runs in six of their first seven games, scored two runs in the fourth inning when Jansma walked, Dobin singled and Prairie drove them both in with a one-out single to right center.

In the fifth inning, Brown doubled and soph Corey Bifoos walked. Stoner pulled Cap, who threw 88 pitches, for relief pitcher Ryan King. Two pop fly singles and a sacrifice flyball preceded Dobin's fourth homer in three games, on a 2-2 pitch.

“It's not like he hasn't hit a home run before,” said Stoner, of King's pitch, which seemed to be over the plate and low. “That was a good pitch. He just had a good swing and he got it up into the wind and it was gone. He has done that before. He (KV coach Doug Greenlee) has got a pretty good team. They've got so many seniors.”

Stoner didn't think Cap pitched badly. “He's got a fastball that tails inside to right handed hitters and the winds were taking it further inside,” explained the new coach. “He had to make some adjustments and it threw him out of sync a bit.”

“He's a sophomore pitcher and he's going to be around for awhile.”

Lowell played without junior infielder Kyle Metz, arguably their best hitter, who was spiked on a stolen base attempt Saturday against Boone Grove. Metz said he hoped to be back by the end of the week and Lowell certainly needs him for Friday's home game against 3A No. 1 Andrean (6-0).

Lowell also has the misfortune to be in the Lake Athletic Conference Black Division with defending 2A champion Bishop Noll, 2002 Class 4A state champion Munster and the two-time defending 3A semistate champion 59ers.

“We're inexperienced,” said Stoner. “The guys who came back from last year did not play that much. We have a couple of guys who started here and there but we don't have a lot of innings. It's just not working right now. We're taking some knocks and we're learning. I hope we're learning. I think it will turn around for us.”

DEVIL NOTES: KV's Gentry Brown (3-0) got a lot of his strikeouts on a breaking pitch that he saves for two-strike situations.

“He's got a knuckleball,” said KV coach Doug Greenlee. “But I don't think that's it. It could be a split finger pitch. I'm not sure what it is.”

“That's what Jon (Stoner) was saying,” Lowell manager Tom Stoner said. “He came back and said, 'I was ready to swing and it was gone! How do you fight that? Especially when you're a sophomore at the varsity level. Mike Malino, who had been hitting a ton for us... He couldn't get the ball up in the air today. He'd hit all year. So we moved him up into the third spot today. But he couldn't get anything going.”

Boone beat Lowell with a nine-run sixth inning Saturday afternoon in Gary.

Five consecutive hits, a couple of them catchable balls, off relief pitcher Ryan King, broke open a 6-6 tie.

Senior Mike Smith gave up seven hits and five walks, but he left a 6-6 tie after throwing more than 100 pitches.

“That's the second time in a row he's pitched well,” said Stoner. “It's good that he's doing the job for us. As a senior, we need that.”

Malino had two doubles against Boone Grove (4-2) and Zac Voss had two singles. “Zac is on base every game. That's all we can ask. We got 10 hits against Shawn Bishop and he's a good pitcher.”

KV batting coach Jim Pint, who coached the DeMotte Senior Little League (16 and under) to back-to-back state finals in 1997 and 1998, says that Matt Dobin, who batted .383 last year with four homers and 28 RBIs, is the best hitter he's seen at his age.

“He moves his hips perfectly,” said Pint, whose son played for KV in 2002. “He doesn't have to swing that hard. He's the best hitter I've ever seen at his age.”

Dobin played Little League and Babe Ruth baseball in Crown Point, and he might play American Legion baseball on Crown Point Post 20's 'B' team (age 17 and under) this summer with CP varsity players Jon Sertich and Matt Ernest.

Parents and fans talk a lot of smack but more than one KV watcher claims that Dobin has a younger eighth grade brother who is bigger and better than he is. But the younger Dobin reportedly does not like baseball the way Matt does.

“I'm going to have to have a talk with him,” smiles Greenlee. “We're going to have to do something about that.”

Lake County sports writers expect Griffith and Andrean to battle for the Lake Athletic Conference championship. But both will have to beat back Kankakee Valley, which has outscored it's first seven foes 122-20. Only 4A Crown Point gave 3A KV a game, before losing 6-2.

The LAC has a double round robin (everybody plays everybody twice) and KV hosts Griffith (5-0) Wednesday, April 13 at 5 p.m.

ON DECK...

3A No. 1 ANDREAN at LOWELL

Friday, April 15 - 4:45 p.m.

LOWELL (4-14-2005) Andrean is a superpower, ranked No. 1 in Class 3A. They have reached the state finals in each of the past two seasons.

The 59ers beat Penn 5-2 Saturday to improve to 5-0 on the year. Two top of the order hitters, power-hitting catcher Greg Yersich and line-drive hitting lefty first baseman Joe Mack transferred in this year and have juiced up a squad that was a already a state contender.

Shortstop Tommy Finn has two game winning hits this month and submarine-style relief pitcher Anthony Cera has two saves. Sophomore Jon Cap will probably get the call to

pitch for Lowell, which may be coming off a victory the day before at South Newton. Junior Kyle Metz, Lowell's No. 2 hitter and shortstop, wants to be back in the lineup for this game.

The scary thing about this game. Andrean beat Lowell 15-5 and 21-0 last season and the 59ers may have more offense this season.

2A No. 2 Bishop Noll at LOWELL

Monday, April 18 – 4:30 p.m.

LOWELL (4-18-2005) If Lowell has a big upset in them in April, it may come here. Bishop Noll has lost ace pitcher Ryan Bobos (10-1 in 2004) to a hamstring injury and he's out until May. Noll graduated five starters off the 2A state title team and they gave away a 4-3 loss at Munster Monday night with two seventh inning unearned runs. That loss dropped Noll to 2-4 and

The Warriors No. 2 pitcher Danny Faulkner, probably wont go in this game because of Lowell's W-L record. Noll might use junior Jimmy Flores, a sophomore right-hander. Unless there's a rain out, this will be the ninth game of the year for Lowell and they should start producing a little more on offense.

On a Monday afternoon with Noll having a very long bus ride from the north end of Hammond, I just have a feeling here's where Lowell beats somebody they shouldn't.