Portage edges Bulldogs 6-5 at Crown Point; Injuries may hurt more than two losses last week
	A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith 5-06-2012

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
PORTAGE (16-3)	3	0	1	1	0	0	1	6	6	0
CROWN POINT (14-4)	1	0	3	0	1	0	0	5	5	3

Thursday, 5-3-2012 — 84 degrees, sunny in CROWN POINT, IN

WP - Chris Bruno (1-0) 4K, 3 walks (4.7 inn.)
starter - David Kepshire (CP) 1K, 3 walks (2 inn.)
LP - Noah Burkholder (1-1) 4K, 5 walks (5 inn.)
starter - Travis Marsh (P) 2K, 3 walks (2.3 inn.)

PORTAGE (16-3)
Andrew Brown (CF) 0-for-2, walk, sac bunt
Justin Newcombe (CF) 0-for-3, walk, 2 runs scored
Gabe Acevedo (3B) 1-for-3, HR, walk, 2 runs scored
Dave Jercha (1B) 0-for-2, 2 walks, stolen base
Zach Simmons (C) 3-for-4, double 2 RBIs
Zach Thorn (DH) 1-for-3 double, walk, RBI
CJ Haupt (CF) 0-for-3, walk
Tyler Kniola (2B) 0-for-1, sac bunt
Chris Bruno (SS) 1-for-2 , walk RBI

CROWN POINT (14-4)
Jake Lindeman (2B) 1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI, walk
Brett Bayer (SS) 1-for-3, triple, walk, stolen base
Zach Plesac (1B) 1-for-4
Joe Hopman (RF) 0-for-1, 3 walks, 2 stolen bases
Adam Kutemeier (LF) 0-for-3, sac fly, RBI
Alex Nickla (3B) 1-for-3, double, RBI
Aaron Orosz (CF) 0-for-2, walk
Jake Carey (C) 0-for-2
Chris Dietrich (DH) 1-for-3

CROWN POINT (5-3-2012) Through 16 games, most luck had gone Crown Point's way. They pulled a few games out in the late going, most notably the day Zach Plesac hit a two-out, three-run homer to beat Chesterton in the seventh inning. But unless you are the Indianapolis Colts, you can't count on 'Luck' to be on your side all year.

So fate laid somewhat of a smack down on the Bulldogs last week and the big news was consecutive home losses 10-1 to 4A No. 2 Lake Central and 6-5 to rival Portage.

In a practice early last week, CP first baseman-pitcher Johnny Lynk and catcher Bobby Morgan collided on a pop up, knocking both players out of the lineup indefinitely. Against Lake Central, outfielder Kevin Brunski tripped awkwardly over first base and hurt his knee. He is also out until further notice. To a team that has already lost junior left-handed pitcher Ronnie Plesac and sophomore pitcher/first baseman Jake Jatis for the season, three more losses created a shortage of manpower for a CP team that won 14 of its first 16 games.

Coach Steve Strayer didn't want to hear that his team would be okay when all the boys got back into the lineup. He didn't want his team to mentally be waiting for the injured boys to return, largely because they may not return.

"David wasn't sharp today," coach Steve Strayer said of starting pitcher David Kepshire. "I wasn't happy about that. We were down 3-0. Noah (relief pitcher Noah Burkholder) has got to get better. I know he's a freshman, but he can throw strikes in the bullpen. He's got to be able to throw them when he gets out on the mound."

Burkholder, a 6-foot-5 freshman, pitched five innings in relief against Portage Thursday, allowing just three hits but five walks. The right-hander has above average velocity, but his control was off and he gave up a lead off home run to Portage power hitter Gabe Acevedo in the seventh inning that broke a 5-5 tie.

"I wasn't unhappy about the home run," Strayer admitted. "I was more upset with the walks they scored runs on. We left a lot of guys in scoring position. I know we're shorthanded, but these are the nine we have to put out there. They're going to have to play the game if we want to get back on the winning track. As much as we've lost guys, I think the guys we're playing now have the ability to win. Well find out."

CP (14-4) allowed eight unearned runs against Lake Central (17-1) including a six-run sixth-inning. Less than 24 hours later, Portage scored three two out runs in the first inning against Kepshire on Zach Simmons two-run single and Zach Thorn's RBI double.

Trailing 4-1, Crown Point tied the game in the third on a two-run homer from Jake Lindeman and a sacrifice fly ball from Adam Kutemeier. Portage led 5-4 in the fourth when Portage strung together two walks and two sacrifice bunts. Chris Bruno's squeeze bunt broke the 4-4 tie. Alex Nickla's RBI double tied the game 5-5 in the fifth and Acevedo's third home run of the season broke the tie in the seventh.

"I knew I had to come up and hit the ball hard," said Acevedo, who likes home runs, but knows that in an inning where he's leading off, he has another role. "You're not trying to do so much leading off," said the third baseman, who will enroll at Western Illinois this fall. "You just try to get on base. They beat us up the first time. We really didn't talk about it much (on the bus Thursday). But this was a big game."

Portage pitcher Chris Bruno, a sidearm right-hander, got his second win in two days in relief. After tossing 16 pitches in a 6-5 win over Merrillville, Bruno tossed 61 pitches in 4-2/3 innings at CP.

"He's our regular reliever," said Pirowski. "He only threw 16 pitches yesterday so we could bring him back. Their pitcher (Burkholder) was so wild that he couldn't settle in on him. He'd throw one right down the middle and then he'd throw one head high. He was effectively wild."

Portage has won a lot of games this season, but they didn't want to be 0-2 against CP heading into sectional play where they could draw Crown Point a third time.

"We were anxious to play them again," said coach Tim Pirowski. "We knew we're better than 10-1, but (Zach) Plesac was very good against us the first time. It would be nice to (to beat them once), but Crown Point proved last year you don't have to. We beat them twice during the regular season and they beat us in the sectional."

In a tie game leading off the final inning, Acevedo was in the situation where Pirowski wanted him.

"We wanted Gabe up there in that situation," said Pirowski. "He's as clutch as they come. I was worried there for a second. I thought the wind (20 miles an hour from the southwest) might knock it down."

Crown Point was remaking the batting order after the personnel losses. It looked like Aaron Orosz was gong to take over for Brunski defensively in center field. Junior catcher Jake Carey showed a strong throwing arm substituting for Morgan. Burkholder figured to get more innings out of the bullpen as Zach Plesac, Jake Lindeman and David Kepshire were the only regular pitchers CP has left. Losing the players was a lot more serious than losing for the fourth time in 18 games.

"I'll take the loss," said Strayer. "If it helps us get better. If we learn from it. But if not, it stinks."

DOG NOTES: Pitcher and first baseman Johnny Lynk and catcher Bobby Morgan ran into each other in practice last Wednesday and both won't play for a while. Coach Steve Strayer didn't go into details, but the word is the Lynk is out for the year with head injuries and Morgan has a concussion, which took him out of all games last week.

Senior Kevin Brunski hurt his ankle at first base running out a ground ball. He left the field not knowing how serious his injury was.

Junior Ronnie Plesac and sophomore Jake Jatis have not been able to pitch all season. Plesac, who can be a designated hitter, is recovering from arm major surgery, while Jatis, who also can hit and play first base, had an undiagnosed arm injury and isn't expected to pitch this year.

It's hard to guess who will fill these holes. Freshman Noah Burkholder is among those who may take the innings that Lynk would have thrown.

"We're still in the process of evaluating that," Strayer commented after the loss to Lake Central. "We brought up (infielder Jake) Kocher and (outfielder Tyler) Downing. There may be more."

"We brought two up from the JV today. Maybe somehow, someway this will make us a better team. You've got to put a positive light on it. Sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to help. Nobody's going to feel sorry for Crown Point."

CP committed four errors in the 10-1 loss to lake Central as LC's lefty Jimmy McNamara (5-1) struck out 13 in a seven-inning complete game. Lake Central, which has lost only to Portage, swept the season series from CP 12-5 and 10-1.

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