Crown Point wins own invitational, 10-5 over Heritage Christian

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

5-22-2006

Saturday, May 20, 2006 - sunny & 71 degrees at Crown Point Centier Classic championship

WP - Chris Saroff  (3-2)   5K, 0 walks (2.7 inn.)
Jon Sertich (SP) 1K, 1 walk (4.3 inn.)

LP - Garrett Meador (0-1)  0K, 1 walk ( O inn.)
Josh Lyon (SP) 3K, 2 walks (4 inn.)

Heritage Christian (14-9)
Robert Lyon (CF-2B) 2 doubles, RBI
Andrew Znachko (SS) 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Mark Gianinni (C) Double, RBI

CROWN POINT (18-8)
Matt Jansen (P) Double, single, RBI
Chris Saroff (P-3B) 2 singles, RBI
Mike Kozlowski (LF-3B) Single, 2 RBIs
Tommy Wise (DH) Single, HBP, RBI
Adam Kennedy (C) Single, RBI, 2 walks

Saturday, May 20, 2006 - sunny & 71 degrees at Crown Point Centier Classic semifinal

WP - Chris Saroff  (2-2)   3K, 2 walks (3 inn.)
LP - Zac Weldy  (0-3)   0K, 2 walks ( 1/3 inn.)

(SB) Riley (6-16)
Adam Schultz (SS) 2 singles, RBI

CROWN POINT (17-8)
Tim Mummery (C-2B) 2 doubles, single, 2 RBIs
Matt Jansen (1B) HR, double, single, 5 RBIs
Chris Saroff (P-3B) Triple, double, walk, RBI
Adam Kennedy (C) Double, walk, RBI
Tommy Wise (DH) triple, single, HBP 3 RBIs
Jon Sertich (CF) 2 doubles, 2 RBIs
Joe Patrick (LF) 2 singles


2006 Crown Point Classic
Semifinals
CROWN POINT 17, (SB) Riley 1 (5 inn.)
Heritage Christian 4, Northridge 1
3rd place
Northridge 4, (SB) Riley 1
Championship
CROWN POINT 10, Heritage Christian 5

Friday, May 19, 2006 - 60 degrees - DAC at CROWN POINT

WP - Jon Sertich (2-0)  0K, 0 walk  (1 inn.)
Matt Jansen (SP) 4K, 4 walks (5 inn.)
LP - Phil Keene (1-2)  1K, 1 walk
Jeremy Maynard (SP) 3K, 4 walks (6 2/3 inn.) 

Merrillville (18-4)
Bo McClendon (RF) Double, RBI
Drew Dawson (2B) 2 singles, RBI
Alfredo Arredondo (C) Single, walk

CROWN POINT (16-8)
Matt Ernest (SS) 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Chris Saroff (P-3B) Triple, 3 RBIs
Adam Kennedy (C) 2 walks
Tommy Wise (DH) Double , run scored
Blake Mascarello (PH) Single, RBI 

Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - 68 degrees  DAC at PORTAGE

WP - Matt Ernest (2-0)  6K, 3 walks (6 inn.)
LP - Chris Murray (2-4) 3K, 5 walks 

Portage (8-16)
Billy Doll (OF) Double, run scored
Nate Hall (OF) 2 singles, RBI

CROWN POINT (15-8)
Chris Saroff (SS-P) Single, double, 3 RBIs
Nick Ullman (SS) Double, 2 RBIs

CROWN POINT, IN (5-20-2006) -  Let me get the straight.  Crown Point won the first six games of the 2006 season.  Then the Bulldogs lost four in a row.  Then CP won four straight to go 10-4.  Then the Bulldogs lost four out of six to drop to 12-8.  And, after beating Heritage Christian 10-5 in the finals of the Crown Point Classic late Saturday, the Bulldogs had again won six in a row.  And that means that, with one week left in the season, the Bulldogs (18-8) are....well.....I'm not 100% sure where they are.

"I think we're back," said Chris Saroff, who was the winning pitcher in both games.  "I think we're ready to go now."

Catcher Adam Kennedy, who caught both ends of the double win, agreed. "This is what we needed." 

Crown Point had quite weekend.  Trailing Merrillville 5-0 in the seventh inning Friday (5-19-2006) in a make-up game, the Bulldogs scored six times for a stunning 6-5 victory.  Saturday at 10 a.m. they blasted Riley 17-1 and Saturday night, after trailing 5-1, the Bulldogs rallied to win going away.  The comebacks were the two biggest of the season for CP and the run scoring (CP outscored six foes 63-17 in the latest wining streak) was a blessing for the occasionally very light-hitting Bulldogs.

You can take all five wins last week and the victory over Merrillville (19-5) stands tallest.  The Pirates finished first in the Duneland Conference and they defeated Crown Point 4-2 in April, a game where CP left 11 men on base and came home believing they should have won.

Crown Point trailed Merrillville 5-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday in a game that had previously been rained out three times.  But with no warning, they turned the game and possibly, their season around.  Kennedy started the rally with a one-out walk and sophomore pitcher Blake Mascarello lined a double into the right field corner.  Disabled pitcher Tommy Wise pinch hit and slapped an RBI single to left, breaking the shutout.  Pinch hitter Vince Dawson walked on a 3-2 pitch, but leadoff man Tim Mummery struck out on a 3-2 pitch from starting pitcher Jeremy Maynard.

Junior shortstop Matt Ernest lined a two-run single to right center and Merrillville coach Zac Wells, who had wanted Maynard to finish the game, pulled him for senior right-handier Phil Keene, a move that just didn't work out.  Keene walked Nick Ullman on four pitches to re-fill the bases and Saroff, sliced a 1-1 pitch towards the right field corner.  As all three runners took off at full speed, Merrillville right-fielder Bo McClendon raced toward the foul pole and dived through the air.  The ball hit the tip of McClendon's glove and bounced away.  All three runners scored to win the game for the Bulldogs.

"I really thought he was going to catch it," said CP coach Steve Strayer.  "I really did.  We got a big break today.  Hopefully, we can take advantage of it."

Wells said, "We've had some one run wins this year, so you can't win them all.  The thing we wanted to impress on our guys is to come in focused and ready to play and I think we did that.  They got a couple of dink hits and then they hit the ball hard with the bases loaded.  If we come out with that kind of focus the rest of the year, we'll be okay."

Crown Point, which blasted South Bend Riley (6-15) and rallied past Heritage Christian (14-9) Saturday to win the Crown Point Classic tournament, appears to be having a power surge at the right time.  The Bulldogs scored in every inning but one in Saturday's tournament and core hitters like Matt Jansen (5-for-6), Tommy Wise (4-for-5) and Jon Sertich (3-for-4) were very productive against pitchers they had never seen before.

That won't be an issue in the state tournament as CP has drawn Valparaiso in the semifinals of the Valparaiso Sectional. 

"That's okay," said Kennedy. "We owe them.  We wanted to ply them again."

Strayer added, "If we play with the attitude we played with today, we'll be okay."

CP NOTES:  Back-to-back leadoff errors by Class 2A Heritage Christian in the fifth inning sparked a key three-run rally that gave CP a 7-5 lead in Saturday's tournament championship game.  Junior Chris Saroff was the winning pitcher in relief against HC after winning the 17-1 semifinal victory over Riley as a starter.   It could not immediately be determined when the last time a CP varsity pitcher won two games in the same day.  Blake Mascarello pitched the complete-game 8-0 win at Michigan City Thursday (5-18-2006).

Riley and Northridge have agreed to return to the CP Classic in 2007.  Heritage Christian, which is a north side Indianapolis school, is not sure if they will be able to return.

Coach Steve Strayer suggested that he will bring up sophomore center fielder Russell Chick off the junior varsity whenever regular center fielder Jon Sertich is pitching.

"We know he can play defense," said Strayer.  "We don't have anybody who can run the ball down.  When Jon is pitching, we don't have anybody who can run them down. We want him to get some confidence and hit."

Freshman Matt Kozlowski played left field and third base for CP in place of Tommy Parks, who broke a finger two weeks ago and is out until the playoffs.

"He gives us some stability," said Strayer.  "I like his demeanor. He doesn't get overly emotional like a lot of us do.  He's like Mummery.  He doesn't get excited and we need somebody like that."

It's ironic how Parks, a third baseman and outfielder, broke his finger.   

"I quit basketball this winter," he said, "and I get hurt playing basketball in the park.  Right now, I can't hit with it.  But I think I'll be ready for the sectional."

Senior all-area second baseman Nick Ullman sat out the double-header after playing Friday night in the 6-5 win over Merrillville.  

"Nick Ullman could have played," said Strayer. "His arm has just been so sore he's dragging his bat.  We may sit him all week and let him bat against Memorial. That should be a pretty good game."

Memorial (21-4), which defeated Crown Point 5-0 last year in Elkhart, is led by shortstop Ryan Stausborger, who is a high Division I player.   Strausborger hit two home runs Saturday as Memorial defeated South Bend Washington 6-5 in 10 innings in the Clay Colonial Classic.  Strausborger, who CP boys may remember from American Legion competition, had eight homers in Memorial's first 25 games while senior Anthony Nobles has 10 home runs.

Strayer does not like the entire week off before the Valparaiso Sectional playoff game against the host Vikings (15-10).   

"I don't like sitting around," he said. "I'd rather play. A really good draw would be... get a good draw, but play three games.  You spend too much time sitting around thinking about how important this one game is."

USA-365 Internet Radio has announced the spring baseball and softball schedule, which can be found by clicking here.  Our final Internet Radio broadcast of the spring will be Friday, May 26 when Crown Point (19-8) hosts Elkhart Central (13-11) in boys baseball.  Our pre-game show starts at 6:15 p.m., with the first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m., CDT.