Crown Point defeats Northridge 5-2, readies for playoff run

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

5-25-2009

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Northridge (17-7)	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	3	1
CROWN POINT (25-2)	0	0	0	2	0	3	-	5	5	1

Saturday, 5-23-2009 - 78 degrees, CP Classic Championship at CROWN POINT, IN

WP - Brian Holloway (4-0) CG, 1K, 3 walks, 4 HBPs
LP - Cody Troyer (5-2) CG, 7K, 6 walks

Northridge (17-7)
Alex Summy (SS) 2-for-3, HBP
Luke Hofsommer (C) 0-for-2, walk, sac bunt
Damion Buck (2B) 1-for-3, double HBP
Gatlin Rassi (3B) 0-for-3, HBP
Dustin Peterson (CF) 2-for-3, RBI
Cody Troyer (P) 0-for-1, HBP
Scott Troyer (RF) 0-for-3
Garrett Yoder (DH) 0-for-2, walk
Cameron Nord (LF) 0-for-3

CROWN POINT (25-2)
Brian Holloway (P) 1-for-4, RBI
Scott Donley (SS) 1-for-4, 2 RBIs
Mike Kozlowski (3B) 0-for-3, walk
Jeff Limbaugh (1B) 1-for-3 double
Josh Negele (LF) 1-for-2 walk
Jake Lindeman (RF) 0-for-2, walk
Matt Zurbriggen (C) 0-for-1, 2 walks
Beau LaSalle (2B) 1-for-2, walk, RBI
Miles Atherton (DH) 0-for-2, walk

CROWN POINT (5-23-2009) "We're not going to be intimidated by them," said Northridge coach Scott Brabender. "Our guys are unhappy they got beat tonight. We've got a couple of teams just as good as them in our league."

I don't know what the coach of Penn (25-3) said after the Kingsmen defeated CP 15-3 but I think the Northridge coach is the first one this season to say that soon-to-be 4A No. 1 Crown Point isn't worthy of that rating. Understanding that logic can often be clouded by competitive bravado. Brabender may not have known that his team was being complimented on their play in a 5-2 loss to a Bulldogs (25-2), a team that has twice 10-runned 4A No. 1 Lake Central.

Maybe when you've won as many games as CP has recently, Crown Point needs to be pushed a little right now. Crown Point finished a week where they ran away from Lake Central 16-5, bombed Merrillville 13-3, turned back 2A No. 5 Boone Grove 3-1 and routed St. Joseph's 11-0 to make the come-from-behind three-run win over Northern Lakes Conference champion Northridge CP's eighth victory in a row. So many CP games (12) have ended in 10-run blowouts this season that, as strange as it may sound, CP needed to look bad and fall behind so they could come back.

"We needed this," said CP coach Steve Strayer. "You saw us the first few innings. It was 2-0. Maybe we thought we were going to just walk out there and win. Then we saw, 'Holy Cow. This guy is pretty good.' This was a big win. We needed this game."

Northridge came at CP the way playoff teams probably will. An aggressive attack. A noisy bench fan following. And an attitude.

"I think Cody pitched all right," said Brabender. "Five hits against the No. 1 team in the state. But there were too many walks. He walked seven. That kid (senior right-hander Cody Troyer) is going to pitch in college somewhere and seven walks just won't get it done. You know what I mean. We had a tailor made double play and if we convert it, they don't score. They're a good team, but we're a good team too. The seven walks were a huge difference in the ball game."

So was Brian Holloway. Holloway, arguably, is CP's fifth starter. But playing their fifth game in five days, Brian got the ball, and after some early control problems, he showed himself worthy, even on a day when the Bulldogs did not appear worthy of the state's top ranking.

"I don't know a team that can come out and play their best every single day," said winning pitcher Brian Holloway, who suggest that the No. 1 ranking carries a burden.

"Sometimes you're flat. I don't care what you say. But everybody comes here gunning for us now. They give us their best. We've got to show up and play our best. Some of these teams coming in here... It's like a state championship to them."

Holloway epitomizes CP as a team. The present roster has just three seniors. I know CP has won 16 games by eight runs or more THIS year. But the truth is, the entire team, like Holloway, may be a year away from truly dominating.

"When Brian gets focused," said Strayer, "he's got a world full of potential. But that focus is the key. Once he got locked in today, he did a nice job. We didn't think he'd pitch the entire game, but he did. He's probably our No. 4 or 5 pitcher. Today, he threw like a No. 2 or No. 3."

Northridge scored twice on the fourth of four hit batters by Holloway. The CP pitcher nicked Northridge's Damian Buck with two out and clean-up man Gaitlin Rassi smacked a two-out bouncer in the hole between shortstop and third. Mike Kozlowski grabbed the ball on a diving stop. But his throw was wide of shortstop Scott Donley, allowing a run to score. Dustin Peterson followed with an RBI single for a 2-0 Northridge lead after three innings.

But CP rallied in the fourth when the Raiders' shortstop Alex Summy fumbled an inning-ending double play ball off the bat of CP's Jake Lindeman. Matt Zurbriggen then walked with the bases full and Beau LaSalle singled to tie the game 2-2. CP's game winning rally came after walks to Lindeman and LaSalle at the bottom of the batting order. If it's hard to believe Crown Point's success the last three years it's because it's unprecedented. To record 83 victories in three seasons is not only a CP record, it may be the best three year win total of any team in Lake County in the 43 years of the baseball state tournament. Miles Atherton said he's not surprised the success continued this year with a younger team.

"No," he said after the win over Boone. "We expected this. We expected to come out here and play well again. I think other people may be surprised. But we knew what was here. We've seen all these guys in practice and over the winter. They don't worry about things. They know that baseball doesn't go your way all the time and when it doesn't, they don't get all freaked out about it." Catcher Matt Zurbriggen added, "You have to come out like you're playing LaPorte or Chesterton. No matter who it is. You have to play every game like it's your last because it could be. You could be done."

NOTES: Crown Point, which won 29 games in each of the last two seasons, won for the 25th time this season with one game to play Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. against 1A No. 7 Washington Township (20-3). CP, which is 83-11-3 the last three years, has never won 30 baseball games in the same season. The last NW Indiana team to win 30 games was Andrean, which went 30-2 last season. LaPorte was 30-5 in 2005.

The best three-year span ever in Northwest Indiana baseball was, again, compiled by LaPorte, which won 97 games in the 1979 (34-4), 1980 (29-8) and 1981 (34-3) seasons. That record win total will be hard to break because before 1997, you often needed to win nine playoff games to win the state title.

Either CP (25-2) or Cathedral (23-0) will be the new No. 1 team next week after this week's No. 1 team, Lake Central lost 16-5 to Crown Point and 10-3 Saturday to Penn (25-3).

Crown Point edged Boone Grove 3-1 Friday night as Scott Donley made his second start of the season and held the Wolves to two hits in six innings. Holloway, who pitched a complete game Saturday, pitched the final inning Friday night to post a save. One of the unnoticed aspects of CP's 25-2 season is that Donley, a long-armed junior, was supposed to be a regular pitcher. He had some slight arm trouble early and sophomore Mike Manion (5-1, 2.77 ERA, 52 strikeouts in 36 innings) stepped in as the No. 3 starter behind Mike Kozlowski and Josh Negele (7-0, 1.48 ERA, 71 strikeouts in 43 innings).

The interesting thing about Brian Holloway is that he's an outfielder, a pitcher and a catcher. That won't work. You really can't pitch and catch for any long period of time because it tears up your throwing arm. Coach Steve Strayer wants to decide what he's going to do with Holloway but that's for much later.

"I don't know. We'll have a decision about that after next season," Strayer said. "We'll talk about that at the end of the summer. Right now, he knows his role. It may change. It may not. We'll see."

Crown Point's American Legion Post 20 team has struggled with getting CP players the last two years. But word is, they'll do better this year.

CPHS varsity players Josh Negele, Matt Zurbriggen, Mike Kessler and Miles Atherton have indicated they want to play, as will North Newton stars Mike Schroeder and Bobby Anderson. Word is that the Spartan's center fielder Steve Groh may join them along with Hebron's Larry Spore. If CPHS 2008 grad Mike Hernandez (now at Butler University) and Munster grad Jack Standley returns, this could be one of Post 20's stronger teams in recent years. CP Post 20's season begins in mid-June but truthfully, it begins when the CPHS season ends.

2009 CROWN POINT (25-2)
Coach Steve Strayer (7th year) 141-51-4 (6 seasons) 29-6-2 (2008) 29-3 (2007)
4-4 (W) 6-1 at Elkhart Memorial (13-11)
4-8 (W) 11-1 (5 innings) Highland (12-9)
4-9 (W) 14-2 (6 innings) Munster (10-14)
4-10 (W) 22-7 at Griffith (11-15)
4-11 (W) 9-0 Lowell (9-18)
4-14 (W) 9-0 MICHIGAN CITY (7-13)
4-16 (W) 11-0 (5 innings) at LaPORTE (18-9)
4-17 (W) 24-0 (5 innings) at Hanover Central (8-14)
4-18 (W) 13-1 (5 innings) Clay (11-12)
4-18 (W) 13-2 (5 innings) Mishawaka (17-9)
4-22 (W) 5-2 at CHESTERTON (12-12)
4-23 (W) 13-3 (6 innings) at VALPARAISO (6-10)
4-24 (W) 14-6 PORTAGE (14-11)
4-28 (W) 12-2 (5 innings) LAKE CENTRAL (23-2)
5-1 (wet grounds) Illiana Christian (17-3)
5-2 (postponed) at Morton (6-6)
5-2 (W) 7-0 at MERRILLVILLE (4-20)
5-4 (W) 6-0 at Michigan City (3-7)
5-6 (W) 9-4 LaPORTE (18-9)
5-8 (L) 9-10 (8 inn.) CHESTERTON (12-12)

Plymouth Invitational (with Penn, CP and Carroll)
5-9 (L) 3-15 Penn (25-3)
5-9 (W) 9-5 Carroll (19-7)

5-12 (W) 11-3 VALPARAISO (6-10) .
5-14 (W) 7-4 at PORTAGE (14-11)
5-16 (postponed) Illiana Christian (22-6)
5-19 (W) 16-5 (5 inn.) at LAKE CENTRAL (22-2)
5-22 (W) 3-1 Boone Grove (20-5)
5-21 (W) 13-3 (5 inn.) MERRILLVILLE (6-20)

Crown Point Classic
5-23 (W) 11-0 (5 inn.) St. Joseph's (15-7)
5-23 (W) 5-2 Northridge (17-7)

5-26 (Tues) Washington Township (20-3)

Chesterton (4A) Sectional
5-28 (Thurs) Hobart - 5:00 p.m.
6-1 (Mon) semifinals - 5:00 p.m.
6-1 (Tues) Sectional Championship - 7:00 p.m.

LaPorte (4A) Regional
6-6 (S) vs. Elkhart Memorial Sectional champ (Warsaw, Northridge) - 11:00 a.m.
6-6 (S) Championship