Crown Point blasts Lake Central 10-0 in 5-innings to capture Regional title

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

6-06-2007

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
LAKE CENTRAL (16-13)	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	2	2
CROWN POINT (29-2)	3	2	0	2	3	-	-	10	11	0

Tuesday, 6-05-2007 - 56 degrees & cloudy, Crown Point (4A) Regional Championship in CROWN POINT, IN

WP - Blake Mascarello (6-2) CG No. 2, 7K, 2 walks (74 pitches)
LP - Scott Handley (6-4) 9K, 1 walk, 5 ERs (1 1/3 innings)

LAKE CENTRAL (16-13)
Ryan Boss (1B) Double
AJ Doyle (3B) Single, walk

CROWN POINT (29-2)
Jon Sertich (CF) Double, 3 singles, 2 RBIs, 3 stolen bases
Nick Hladek (C) Single, RBI
Chris Saroff (P) Triple, single, 3 RBIs
Tommy Parks (1B) Single, 2 RBIs
Joey Patrick (RF) Single, RBI

Class 4A Sectional Two (2)
   CROWN POINT 8, Valparaiso 7
   Portage 16, Hobart 4
   CROWN POINT 11, Portage 6
   Chesterton 1, MERRILLVILLE 0
CROWN POINT 5, Chesterton 2 (title)

Class 4A Sectional One (1)
   Highland 3, Munster 2
   Lake Central 4, East Chicago 9
   LOWELL 19, Gary West Side 1
   Lake Central 7, Highland 3
Lake Central 16, LOWELL 3 (title)

Class 4A Regionals
6-5 (Tu) CROWN POINT 10, LAKE CENTRAL 0 (5 innings)
6-5 (Tu) Penn 6, (SB) Clay 0
6-5 (Tu) Kokomo 1, Zionsville 0
6-5 (Tu) Homestead 11 Columbia City 1 (6 innings)

Class 4A Northern Semistate - at Covaleski Stadium - South Bend
6-9 (S) 4A No. 1 CROWN POINT (29-2) at Penn (24-7-1) 11:00 a.m., EDT
6-9 (S) 4A No. 3 Kokomo (26-3) vs. 4A No. 9 Homestead (26-4) 1:00 p.m.
6-9 (S) Northern Semistate championship - 8:00 p.m., EDT

Class 4A Southern Semistate - at Evansville Bosse
6-9 (S) Bloomington North (24-7) vs. Noblesville (22-9) 11:00 a.m. EDT
6-9 (S) 4A No. 5 Cathedral (26-4)* vs. 4A No. 6 Castle (27-5) 1:00 p.m.
6-9 (S) Southern Semistate championship - 8:00 p.m., EDT
   *Snider beat Cathedral 4-2 in the 2006 state title game.

Class 4A State Championship - at Victory Field - Indianapolis
6-9 (S) CROWN POINT (29-2) or Kokomo (26-3)
vs. probably Cathedral (26-4) or Castle (27-5) 8:00 p.m., EDT

TV/Radio: Comcast Cable Channel 27 - live - WJOB (1230) AM or WWCA (1270) AM.

CROWN POINT (6-05-2007) - If you're lucky enough to get home field in the post-season, you have to dominate the home turf. A win's a win, but you need to dominate for your own self-esteem. If you luck by at home, where are you really going? The Bulldogs were very fortunate to get four home playoff games and they certainly didn't dominate at the sectional level. They were very shaky for two games. But the 5-2 sectional win over Chesterton was solid and Tuesday night's regional championship win over Lake Central was what it had to be. It was dominant.

Junior lefty Blake Mascarello allowed two hits and two walks in five scoreless innings pitched and LC pitching gave up five runs in the first two innings to virtually guarantee that CP would advance to play Penn (23-7-1) in the semifinals of the Class 4A South Bend Semistate at Covaleski Stadium in downtown South Bend Saturday, June 9.

It was truly anti-climactic. A lot of the Tuesday night regional title games are. Crown Point, which lost the regional title 2-0 on the road in 2006, was a huge favorite and they won by a large margin, beating neighbor Lake Central for the third time this season, this time 10-0 for CP's sixth regional championship in the 41 years of the Indiana state tournament.

"I was worried about this game," said CP coach Steve Strayer, who always pumps up whoever CP is playing. "I saw Lake Central. I went and watched them and I talked to people who have seen them play. They played well against Griffith. We're coming out against them on a cold day with the wind blowing in, and we usually don't play well on cold days."

But there was another set of realities. Crown Point was 28-2, No. 1 in the state with six seniors in the starting lineup, playing in front of about 400 home fans. Lake Central, playing on the road with six sophomores in the starting lineup, was 16-12. Anybody can lose one baseball game any day, but the Bulldogs aren't just anyone and, before the sun went down on a 7 p.m. start, it was obvious this wasn't Lake Central's day. Four of Crown Point's first five batters reached base against senior left-hander Scott Handley. Three scored, and the Bulldogs led 3-0 after 10 minutes. LC trailed 5-0 after two innings, didn't get a hit until the fourth and was on the bus home by 9:30 p.m.

"They're a great team," said Lake Central coach Todd Iwema. "They could very easily bring home the state title if things go right. It's not easy in baseball. But they're playing with confidence. They're playing aggressively. They hit the ball to the right side and their pitchers are throwing strikes."

"We came out today and got the job done," admitted Strayer. "We needed a good job from Blake and we got it. I know the kids were giving him a hard time in the middle of the season when he was struggling, but he's really focused now."

Mascarello struck out four of the first seven LC hitters while CP scored early. Jon Sertich singled to start the game and went to second base on a wild pickoff throw by Handley. Tim Mummery walked on a 3-2 pitch and Sertich scored on a ground out to third base. Tommy Parks singled to right to make it 2-0 and Nick Hladek lined a similar opposite field hit to up the count to 3-0.

When Sertich, Mummery and Saroff filled the bases on consecutive one-out singles in the second inning, LC coach Todd Iwema switched to his other senior pitcher Matt Murphy. Tommy Parks picked up another RBI on a ground out to shortstop and Mummery scored on the front end of an attempted double steal to make it 5-0.

Sertich had three singles and the bases loaded one-out, two-base hit that created the 10-run margin of victory in the bottom of the fifth inning.

"He had a slump during the season," said Strayer. "And then he started hitting the ball hard and it was right at people. He had four hits."

Sertich (.300, 34 runs scored, 13 stolen bases) is CP's key position player. By his own admission, he is not a true leadoff man because he doesn't like to take walks. But when he's hitting and stealing bases (4 hits, 3 steals Tuesday) CP is very difficult to control.

"I needed this tonight," Jon admitted. "I'd been hitting the ball pretty good. I hit the ball down the third base line, it hits the bag and pops up 30 feet."

The win over Lake Central could easily be a turning point in the state title run for Crown Point. The flip side of being the No. 1 team in the state and being lucky enough to get four home playoff games is that you simply must win them all or you are big-time losers.

"Anything can happen," said Strayer. "A couple of games here and a couple of plays there and we could have lost to Valparaiso. Portage came back to where it was 8-6. You have to keep on fighting. We seem to be doing that right now, but we'll find out what we're made of when we go to Covaleski on Saturday."

"They know Ernest is coming back, too," Strayer said. "But Penn is going to be hungry for us after we 10-runned them (at the Plymouth Invitational on May 5) and they're going to be virtually at home."

"I think the crowd helps us," said Sertich. "We've been having some pretty good turnouts and that fires us up. It's good to know that the community is supporting us. There's a lot of pressure but it was good to play here. Now we get 'Ern' (Matt Ernest) back and that really helps us. His pitching has been missed. He's doing fine. He definitely would have felt bad if he hadn't been able to play again."

Whatever happens the rest of the way, Crown Point boys can be proud they survived the loss of a core player like Ernest (32-78, .410, 10 stolen bases; 5-0, 0.83 ERA, 33 Ks in 34 innings) for four playoff games.

"We just kind of looked at it like when (former CP quarterback) Matt Jansen went down (and missed six games with a football knee injury in 2005)," said Sertich. "That's how we faced it."

Now that the sectional host pressure and the absence of Ernest is over, whether they admit it or not, CP was obviously very tense at the sectional and you cannot play good baseball well unless you relax. There is a chance you'll see an even more dominating CP team Saturday in the big downtown pro ballpark in South Bend.

"I don't think we're going to relax," said Strayer, not liking the word. "I was worried about today, but the kids showed me they were ready. Doesn't mean we're going to win this weekend, but I think we're going over there and give it our best shot."

SECTIONAL NOTES: Crown Point defeated Penn 11-1 in the championship game of the Plymouth Invitational on May 5. Penn (24-7-1) won the regional title on their home field with a 6-1 rout of Clay (17-13). Brian Van Duyn (8-3) was the winning pitcher, which will allow Penn's senior right-hander Mike Thoma (8-3) to face the Bulldogs on a full week's rest. Thoma got 11 ground ball outs in a 7-2 complete game win over Mishawaka (16-15) in the Elkhart Sectional championship game on June 1. In the final start of the regular season, Thoma gave up 10 hits in a 3-1 loss to Andrean and he gave up six runs in three innings of the loss to Crown Point. Van Duyn was the winning pitcher on May 25 in a 5-4 win over Lake Central (16-13).

Mike Kozlowski pitched against Penn. The Kingsmen have not see Chris Saroff (9-0), who figures to get the start for CP. Lake Central coach Todd Iwema says that CP looks good for Saturday's semistate semifinal at South Bend but the title game is another story.

"Homestead is very, very good," he said. "Kokomo is great. I'd be very surprised if they (CP) lost to Penn. We played Penn and we lost 5-4. Any given day anybody can win, but they shouldn't have much trouble with Penn."

Class 4A No. 3 Kokomo is led by left-hander junior pitcher Bryce Robinson (9-0), who averages 12 strikeouts per seven innings and has never lost a high school game. He was 9-0 last year as well. CP does not figure to see Robinson, who struck out 14 last week in a win over Zionsville, in anything but a relief role as the WildKats (26-3) have to win a semifinal against Homestead (26-4).

Weather conditions are predicted to be perfect for the semistate Saturday with high temperatures said to be in the mid-70s for the afternoon games and upper 60s for the 8:00 p.m. title game. There is almost no chance or rain.

Crown Point expected to see senior left-hander Scott Handley (6-4) in the regional Tuesday night and they worked towards that.

"We prepared to see Handley," said Steve Strayer. "We brought down some of our young lefties to throw at us (in batting practice). We had Ernie (suspended right-handed pitcher Matt Ernest) throw against us, too. So we were ready either way."

"If you are going to beat them (CP), you've got to beat them inside," said Iwema. "If you aren't going to get the inside call, you're in trouble. They hit the ball to the right side so well."

Iwema feels his team, which started six sophomores Tuesday night, can be a dominating group in two years.

"We have six sophomores and we have a lot of sophomores behind them who are good," said Iwema. "That's how they (CP) were two years ago. Our chemistry is good. Even though we wee getting hammered, there were situations tonight where teammates were picking up their teammates. This was a very good year."

There was a misconception that Jon Sertich is going to NAIA national power St. Francis just to play football for a team that's been in the national title game the last two years.

"I'm playing baseball at St. Francis, too," said Jon Sertich, of his future at St. Francis College in Fort Wayne. Sertich, the Duneland Athletic Conference MVP, was recruited as a defensive back and kick returner. But he says, "I'm going to do both. I don't want to give up baseball."

4A No. 1 CROWN POINT (29-2)
Varsity Coach Steve Strayer, 23-9 in 2006 - DAC game in CAPS

4-3 (W) 14-0 (5 innings) Hebron (9-15)

Kankakee Valley Invitational
4-7 vs. Knox (cold-canceled)
4-7 vs. Kankakee Valley (cold-canceled)

4-9 (W) 3-2 at (Lafayette) Jefferson (20-10)
4-10 (W) 8-1 at LAKE CENTRAL (14-11)
4-13 (W) 12-0 (5 innings) Rensselaer (8-21)
4-14 (W) 4-3 VALPARAISO (13-12-1)
4-14 (W) 10-5 Griffith (23-9)
4-16 (W) 2-1 CHESTERTON (20-6)
4-18 (W) 9-1 MERRILLVILLE (12-15)
4-20 (W) 9-4 LaPORTE (22-9)
4-21 (S) Harrison (canceled)

4-24 (W) 8-1 at MICHIGAN CITY (8-20)
4-26 (W) 4-1 at PORTAGE (12-17)
4-28 (W) 16-2 (5 innings) at Highland (13-13)
4-28 (W) 3-2 Kankakee Valley (20-11)
4-30 (W) 10-0 (5 innings) LAKE CENTRAL (16-13)
5-2 (W) at VALPARAISO (13-12-1)
5-4 (L) 2-3 at CHESTERTON (20-6)

Plymouth Invitational
5-5 (W) 8-2 Carroll (25-4)
5-5 (W) 11-1 Penn (23-7-1)

5-8 (W) 8-3 ( 9 innings) at MERRILLVILLE (12-15).
5-10 (W) 5-2 (9 innings) at LaPORTE (22-9) .
5-11 (L) 1-7 Boone Grove (25-5-1)

5-15 (W) 10-0 MICHIGAN CITY (8-20)
5-17 (W) 3-1 PORTAGE (12-17)

Crown Point Classic
5-19 (W) 10-2 Northridge (13-16)
5-19 (W) 14-2 (5 innings) Heritage Christian (20-10)

5-22-7 (W) 15-0 Lowell (13-15)
5-24 (W) 5-0 at Rochester (16-11)

Crown Point (4A) Sectional
5-29 (W) 8-7 Valparaiso (13-12-1)
5-31 (W) 11-6 Portage (12-17)
6-1 (W) 5-2 Chesterton (20-6)

Crown Point (4A) Regional
6-5 (W) 10-5 (5 innings) Lake Central (16-13)

South Bend (4A) SemiState
6-9 (Sat) Penn (23-7-1) 11:00 a.m., EDT
6-5 (S) vs. Kokomo or Homestead - 8:00 p.m., EDT

State Finals, Victory Field, Indianapolis
6-15 (Fri) TBA
6-16 (Sat) TBA