Crown Point Bulldogs
Baseball Weekend Recap

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

4-23-2011

2011 CROWN POINT Baseball
27-5 (2010), 30-3 (2009), 29-6-2 (2008), 29-3 (2007)
All games - 4:30 unless otherwise indicated

March 29 (W) 8-4 Warsaw
April 1 (rained out) at (Chicago) St. Rita
April 2 (W) 7-3 at Elkhart Memorial
April 4 (W) 4-1 Highland
April 5 (W) 5-4 (8 innings) Lowell
April 7 (L) 4-5 at Munster
April 8 (rained out) at Griffith
April 12 (L) 1-7 at VALPARAISO
April 14 (L) 1-5 PORTAGE
April 16 (rained out) (South Bend) Clay .
April 16 (rained out) Mishawaka
April 18 (L) 0-1 at LaPORTE
April 20 (rained out) at CHESTERTON
April 22 (rained out) at MICHIGAN CITY
April 23 (rained out) Bishop Noll

April 25 (M) at CHESTERTON (6-3)
April 26 (Tu) LAKE CENTRAL (13-0)
April 27 (W) at MICHIGAN CITY
April 28 (Th) at MERRILLVILLE (6-5)
April 30 (S) at (Indianapolis) Cathedral (9-1) 2 p.m.
May 2 (M) VALPARAISO
May 4 (W) at PORTAGE
May 6 (F) LaPORTE (9-4)

PLYMOUTH INVITATIONAL
(with Carroll, Penn, CP and Plymouth) at Bill Nixon Field
May 7 (S) semifinals - 12 noon
May 7 (S) finals - p.m.

May 10 (Tu) CHESTERTON
May 12 (Th) at MICHIGAN CITY
May 13 (F) Boone Grove - 7 p.m.
May 17 (Tu) at LAKE CENTRAL
May 19 (Th) MERRILLVILLE

BENTON CENTRAL INVITATIONAL
in Oxford, In (with Heritage Christian, Western and Benton Central)
May 21 (S) semifinals - 9 a.m.
May 21 (S) finals - p.m.

May 23 (M) at Kankakee Valley

Class 4A SECTIONAL 2
May 24 (Tu) quarterfinals - p.m.
May 26 (Th) semifinals - p.m.
May 28 (S) championship game -a.m.

June 4 (S) LaPorte (4A) regional

June 11 (S) South Bend (4A) semistate

May 18 (S) 4A state finals at Victory Field - Indianapolis

CROWN POINT (4-23-2011) I'd like to tell you that Crown Point boys baseball had stepped out and broke a three-game losing streak last week. I'd like to tell you that the Bulldogs came roaring back with wins over Bishop Noll or Michigan City. I'd also like to tell you that my Easter Bunny laid chocolate candy eggs with nuts inside. But that didn't happen either.

I take it back. After a 1-0 loss in miserable, almost unplayable weather at LaPorte on April 11, Crown Point did not play a baseball game last week, losing matchups with Chesterton, Michigan City and Bishop Noll to some typical NW Indiana spring rain, wind and cold.

Before Monday, Crown Point had won four games this season, lost four games and had seven games postponed. It's getting old.

"It's frustrating," said Coach Steve Stayer Saturday, probably speaking for everyone involved with CP baseball. "Because I think we have a pretty good team if we can get on the field and work out some of our mistakes. But we can't get on the field."

The Bulldogs hoped to make up game with Chesterton Monday, but if rain wiped that game out as expected, CP would have to push that game to this Friday afternoon because every other date this week was already taken.

Since Indianapolis is not in Northwest Indiana and has a totally different weather pattern, the nonconference highlight of the season, Saturday's visit to Class 4A No. 3 Cathedral (9-1) is very much 'on' for 2 p.m. on the north east side (56th street) of Indianapolis. The Indianapolis weekend forecast is for sunshine and a high of 72 degrees. Upper 50s and rain here.

The Fighting Irish feature two of the state's top-10 ranked players in little (5-foot-10) left-handed pitcher Dillon Peters (12-1, 0.57 ERA, 154 strikeouts, 90 innings last season) big (6-foot-2) shortstop Phil Mosey (44 of 108, .407, 6 HRs, 44 RBIs last season). Cathedral, the state's largest Catholic school, was 31-2 last season, losing 1-0 in nine innings to Carroll in the Class 4A state championship game.

You would hope that Peters, perhaps the state's premier player, will pitch. The left-hander struck out 16 in the state championship game. Peters also batted (.382, 41 of 107) last season, scoriig 41 runs in 33 games. Cathedral also features senior first baseman Corey Colquitt, who hit .360 (35 of 97) in 2010. Sophomore outfielder Luke Cureton (18 of 55, .327 in 2010), had four triples in 55 at bats last year as a freshman, a stat which tells you something about him without ever seeing him.

If Peters does not go, Cathedral will pitch junior right-hander Nick McCarty, who was 7-0 with a 2.61 ERA (60 strikeouts in 46 innings) last year or senior right-hander Jake Toneges, who was 5-0 with an 0.31 ERA (24 strikeouts in 23 innings) last season.

Crown Point will not make up the postponement with St. Rita and it will be difficult for them to make up the game with Griffith, which did not count against their total of games played because it was part of the four-game Northwest Indiana Challenge. Add in the postponements against Clay and Mishawaka and CP has three nonconference games they can reschedule.

There was talk about finding another Indianapolis-area team to play this Saturday when CP is in town. Class 4A No. 6 Lawrence Central (6-1), a next door neighbor of Cathedral, is a possibility. Cathedral handed Lawrence Central its first loss of the season, 7-3 last week at Victory Field, the site of the state finals.

As always in the spring, schedules are likely to change at any moment without notice.

DOG NOTES: One problem with the Indiana high school baseball season is the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), which decided about 10 years ago, that the baseball season had to end in mid-June rather than at the end of June, which had been the case for almost four decades. Some masterminds got in a room and also decided that the state tournament had to be finished in 3 weeks instead of four, as it also had been for almost four decades. So a season that doesn't need to start until mid-April begins the last week in March and lots of games get axed by the weather.

To be honest, the April 'winter' that Lake County outdoor sports suffer through annually is largely is a Northwest Indiana and northern Indiana problem. Talk about extending the prep baseball season until the end of June fall on deaf ears because it doesn't ever snow in Bloomington in April.

Crown Point's Brian Holloway, a mainstay for two seasons, is academically ineligible and not on the team roster this spring. Coach Steve Strayer reports that Holloway, a pitcher and outfielder, will continue his career at South Suburban College in South Holland, Ill with CP teammate Steve Lowe and Whiting star Elliott Bajda. CP senior right-hander Nick Nuaracy is likely to play at Vincennes Junior College next fall while Jose Andrade has already signed with Goshen College.

Goshen needs Andrade and more like him. The Maple Leafs were 10-37 after 47 games this season, batting .230 as a team with a total of five home runs all season.

The former Lake Central star Anthony Olund (2009) is starting at Vincennes (25-16) and batting .322 (42 of 115) this season after 41 games. Lowell's Keith Greer (2009) is 7-2 with a 2.41 ERA at South Suburban (21-20), which is a Division I junior college.

Crown Point Bulldogs Baseball Weekend Recap

Crown Point Bulldogs
Baseball Weekend Recap