Mustangs hand Bulldogs first loss of season, 5-4 at Munster
	A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith 4-10-2011

Brett Bayer (14) talking to CP coach Steve Strayer. Bayer is the starting second basemen for the Bulldogs early in the 2011 season.

Senior Mike Manion (18) pitching at Munster last Thursday (4-7-2011). Manion gave up five runs on four hits.

Third baseman Eric Haniford (15) fires to CP second baseman Brett Bayer for a force play against Munster. Haniford was making his first start for CP.

Senior Mike Manion (18) struck out 4 Mustang batters in 4 innings or work on April 7.

Munster second baseman Adam Larimer (20) scoops up a ground ball against CP as the Mustangs topped the Bulldogs 5-4, Munster's first win over CP since 2006.

Senior catcher Jose Andrade (at right) and the Bulldogs in the dugout at Munster.

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (4-1)	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	4	6	0
MUNSTER (5-2)	0	0	2	3	0	0	-	5	5	3

Thursday, 4-7-2011  -  47 degrees at MUNSTER, IN

WP - Anthony Gomez (1-1) 4K, 0 walks (6 inn.)
SAVE - Jim Hinkleman (Save) 0K, 1 walk
LP - Mike Manion (1-1) 4K, 5 walks (4 inn.)

CROWN POINT (4-1)
Kevin Brunski (CF) 0-for-3
Aaron Orosz (RF) 2-for-4, 2 runs scored, stolen base
Jake Lindeman (2B) 0-for-3
Jose Andrade (C) 2-for-3, RBI
Mike Manion (P-LF) 0-for-3
Brett Bayer (SS) 1-for-1, Sac Fly, HBP, RBI
Joe Hopman (DH) 1-for-2, sac bunt, RBI, stolen base
Eric Haniford (3B) 0-for-2
CJ Becerra (LF) 0-for-2, walk, stolen base

MUNSTER (5-2)
Adam Larimer (2B) 1-for-4, RBI
Nate Eagan (CF) 1-for-4, double, RBI
Scott Crilly (1B) 0-for-2, 2 walks
Colin Mudroncik (LF) 0-for-1, HBP, Sac. Fly
Mark Strbjak (RF) 1-for-3
Brooks Platt (2B) 1-for-2, walk
Christian Catania (DH) 0-for-1, sac bunt
Tony Cress (3B) 1-for-2, walk
Kyle Wargo (C) 0-for-1, sac bunt, walk

MUNSTER, IN (04-07-2011) It was a throw back game played in cold weather with wooden bats and featuring a lot of bunts and sacrifices. Two old Lake Suburban Conference teams playing a single and doubles game decided by one run.

"We've been doing a lot more bunting and moving of runners this whole week," said Munster's 300-win coach Bob Shinkan. "It's a little bit different of a game and I love it. We're old timers. We're used to the wood bats from way back. This is pure baseball."

Shinkan was understandably happy that the Mustangs defeated Crown Point 5-4 in a 'pure baseball' game on day three of the annual Northwest Crossroads Classic, matching NW Indiana's two largest baseball leagues.

Crown Point used steals, singles and flyballs to take a 2-0 lead, but Munster tied the game on an RBI double by Nate Eagan and a sacrifice flyball from Colin Mudroncik in the third inning. Then the Mustangs scored three times in the fourth inning on a single, a sacrifice bunt, three walks and two wild pitches to take a 5-2 lead. Crown Point (4-1), which won its first 10 games in each of the past four seasons, took a somewhat rare early April defeat.

CP did not play that badly, but they didn't hit the ball well and that cost them the game. The Bulldogs almost got the tying run to second base in the final inning after a leadoff walk to Alex Doppler. With pinch runner Adam Kutemeier at third base, Aaron Orosz smacked a ground ball up the middle on which Munster second baseman Brooks Platt made a sliding stop. Platt's hurried throw went past first baseman Scott Crilly as Kutemeier scored. Orosoz rounded first base and slid into second, called out on a throw from catcher Kyle Wargo, who backed up first base.

"I didn't think it was a bad play at all," said coach Steve Strayer of Orosz' bid for second base with two out. "What a lot of people didn't see was that they called him out for over-sliding the base. To take the other side of it, he could have stayed at first and probably stolen second. We did have Jake (No. 3 hitter Jake Lindeman) coming up. But I didn't think it was a bad gamble."

It was some of that 'pure baseball,' not the barnstorming home run derby that Crown Point has played for the last four years, rolling up four consecutive 25-win seasons. But this is a light-hitting CP team, which is clearly going to finish the season with more stolen bases than home runs. The Bulldogs will be a winning team this season, but the days of winning every other game by 10 runs are gone for a while.

"Munster just reached down and battled a little more than we did today," said CP coach Steve Strayer after the team's first loss. "We're going to get beat some this year. This just happened to be one of those days."

Stayer also said that the use of wooden bats forced both sides to play a more strategic game.

"With the wooden bats it is a little different game," he said, "which is good. We're going to have a lot of these games in our conference. We're not going to blow people out with the pitching that's in our conference. It's good we're doing this right now. We're in situations where if we can't do this (bunt or sacrifice), then we're going to lose. We got away with a win on Tuesday (5-4 over Lowell) and came up short today."

Both starting pitchers Anthony Gomez of Munster and Mike Manion of Crown Point did well in stretches, but struggled in other moments. Gomez didn't walk anyone, while Manion's two wild pitches cost him the victory.

After two walks filled the bases in the fourth, Brooks Platt scored on a wild pitch to give Munster a 3-2 lead. Larimer's ground out to first base made it 4-2 and Manion's swinging 'strike three ' pitch to Eagen also bounced in and by catcher Jose Andrade to make the score 5-2. Munster scored three runs on one hit in the decisive rally.

"Nate has been struggling with the bat," said Shinkan of Eagan, an all-area defensive back on the Mustang football team that lost to Crown Point in sectional play last October. "He's one of our co-captains and it's good to see hit get a big hit like that. That's good for his confidence."

CP didn't make any official errors, but the two wild pitches pushed home Munster's fourth and fifth runs in a 5-4 game.

"Sometimes Mike locates the ball pretty well," said Strayer, "and sometimes he's all over the place. We've got to do a better job. It's one of the reasons we lost today. They (the wild pitches) were tough to block, but maybe Jose's got to do a better job of blocking that ball. Mike's got a split finger pitch that really breaks straight down. He located it well for a couple of innings, but not so well after that."

DOG NOTES: The last time Munster defeated Crown Point was the Class 4A Regional on June 6, 2006 championship game where the Mustangs shut out CP 2-0 in front of a standing room only crowd at Munster. This was the first time that Crown Point has ever lost a game in the four-year old Northwest Indiana Challenge.

Crown Point scored four single runs as Jose Andrade was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.

Coach Steve Strayer said that the Bulldogs will not be able to make up the postponed April 1 game with Chicago Catholic League power St. Rita.

"We will probably play Bishop Noll on April 23," Strayer said after the game with Munster last Thursday. "I want to call Paul (Noll coach Paul Wirtz) to confirm that."

Everyone in the 'Northwest Indiana Challenge,' which pitted four Northwest Crossroads Conference (NCC) teams against four teams from the larger Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC), used wooden bats in the series except for Lake Central. LC used metal bats in all games including a 14-2 win over Munster on April 5.

"I wish they'd have used the wooden bats," said Mustang coach Bob Shinkan. "They're pretty good hitters anyway but they used the metal bats. Their coach said they wanted to use the metal bats like always and we said 'okay'."

Crown Point used junior varsity third baseman Eric Haniford in a starting role at Munster and brought in catcher Alex Doppler as a relief pitcher.

"He had been doing well over there," said Strayer of Haniford. "So we thought we'd give him a shot. He was very nervous. I was impressed with his second at bat. He struck out, but he took some good cuts."

"Alex did a good job. I think he can give us some innings. We threw him in (American) Legion ball last summer. We want to go with him this week. Tonight was a perfect opportunity."

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Revised: April 13, 2011.