Crown Point route to Sectional title game a mental challenge with 11-6 win over Portage

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

6-02-2007

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Portage (12-17)	0	5	0	0	1	0	0	6	8	2
CROWN POINT (27-2)	8	0	0	0	1	2	-	11	12	1

Wednesday, 5-30-2007 - 86 degrees & sunny, Crown Point (4A) Sectional Semifinal in CROWN POINT, IN

WP - Eric Clayton (4-0) 2K, 2 walks (4 2/3 innings)
LP - Steve Bryan (2-5) CG,1K, 2 walks

Portage (12-17)
Nate Hall (SS) Double, single, 2 RBIs
Andrew Bustos (2B) Triple, single, walk, 2 runs scored
Bobby Barnas (RF) Single, walk

CROWN POINT (27-2)
Nick Hladek (C) HR, 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Joey Patrick (RF) HR, Sac. Fly, 3 RBIs
Tim Mummery (2B) Triple, single, single
Blake Mascarello (1B) Double, walk, 2 RBIs
Andrew Peretin (DH) Double, single

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, Gart West Side 1
Lake Central 7, Highland 3
Lake Central 16, LOWELL 3 (title)

Class 4A Regional
6-5 (Tues) LC (16-12) at CP (28-2) 7:00 p.m.

CROWN POINT (5-30-2007) - The Class 4A sectional semifinal game between Crown Point and Portage was more mental than physical. Both sides knew who the better team was and when Crown Point scored eight times in the first inning, the game should have been over.

The Bulldogs couldn't add on, though, and Portage made a game of it, closing to within 8-6 in the fifth inning. But CP pulled away for an 11-6 win. Early in the season, this would have been a less than stellar cause for worry. Under the circumstances, it's just one more step in the direction the Bulldogs want to go.

Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) champion Crown Point (27-2) will play DAC runner-up Chesterton (20-5) at 5:00 p.m. Friday for the sectional championship.

No one connected with Crown Point on any level thought their draw was easy and the fact that the first two games, a come-from-behind 8-7 win over Valpo and a 11-6 struggle with sub.-500 Portage have been struggles surprises no one who has watched the DAC this year. DAC records are misleading because the eight big schools beat each other up.

"It's a little tough," said Strayer of being DAC champs and the team that carries the No. 1 ranking. "I think it's the mentality of how teams come at us. They know we have pitchers who throw hard and have good stuff. We have good coaches in this sectional and they know us so well they get their players prepared for us. Every game is going to be a battle. We found that out again today."

Crown Point had a batting practice first inning, sending 11 batters to the plate. Jon Sertich smacked a line drive off the leg of pitcher Steve Bryan for a single and Tim Mummery lined an RBI triple to right center. After Chris Saroff walked, CP called for a double steal with Mummery scoring to make it 2-0. Clean-up hitter Tommy Parks' infield single upped the lead to 3-0 and Nick Hladek blooped another hit to center.

Blake Mascarello hit a long fly ball that dropped barely fair deep down the right field line to score two more runs for a 5-0 lead. Designated-hitter Andrew Peretin drove an RBI double to the left field fence and Joey Patrick lifted a two-run homer over the left field fence to make it 8-0.

"I think they thought it was going to be easy after eight runs," said Portage coach Tim Pirowski. "I think they thought the game would be over in five innings. But our guys didn't fold their tents. We came back strong and I'm sure they didn't expect that when it was 8-0. Steve (Bryan) is only a sophomore. He's got his best days ahead of him. He just pitched against the No. 1 team in the state. We're happy with how he did. We played them tough twice in conference. I think they beat us 4-2 and 3-1. We knew we could play them tough again, but we got down by eight early and it's hard to recover from that."

Portage did rally. Andrew Bustos laid down a bunt single against CP starting pitcher Mike Kozlowski (3-0) to lead off the second inning and two outs later, Sam Fazekas singled in Portage's first run with a slicing single to right. Bobby Bernas answered with another opposite field single before CP had a down. Portage's Billy Doll hit a ground ball to third base and Eric Clayton, who was playing third base only due to the absence of Matt Ernest in the infield, turned his back on the base runner as he walked to third base for an inning-ending force play. Fazekas beat Clayton to third base to fill the bases.

Kyle Schiller then lined a two-run single to center field and Nate Hall followed with a two-run double to make the score 8-5. That inning would have continued had not Hall been thrown out at third base attempting to stretch his run-scoring double into a triple. The game then began to drag in high humidity and 85-degree heat. Bryan retired seven Bulldog batters in a row and pitched three scoreless innings. The crowd of about 150 knew that this wasn't going to be a 10-run rule game.

"I thought their guy adjusted," said Steve Strayer of Portage's Steve Bryan. "He started to mix in his change up for strikes and he got us off-balance. I give him a lot of credit. Offensively we were not horrible. I thought we hit the ball right at them with runners in scoring position."

Crown Point also began to swing at the first pitch and got themselves out quickly. Bryan, who pitched a complete game, threw only 100 pitches, an amazingly low total for a hurler who faced 11 batters in the first inning. Despite 11 runs and 13 hits, CP did not distinguish themselves as the kind of offensive team that can reach the state title game. A great offensive team ends this game in five innings.

Leading just 8-6, Crown Point scored again on a fifth inning sacrifice fly by Patrick after hits by Hladek and Kozlowski. In the sixth inning, Saroff singled and Hladek hit his second home run in as many playoff games, this one a long 390-foot drive to left center, to up the lead to 11-6 with two out in the sixth.

Sophomore right-hander Mike Kozlowski started the game and was the victim of Portage's 5-run second inning rally. Strayer took Kozlowski out of the game with two on and one out in the third inning, and went to junior Eric Clayton, who pitched two innings two days earlier in the 8-7 win over Valpo. Clayton, a junior who played on the Crown Point American Legion Post 20 'B' team state championship team last year, came through for CP again, pitching the final 4 2/3 innings, allowing one run on one hit and two walks.

To have a realistic shot to beat Chesterton night Friday without Ernest (4-0), who is serving a six game suspension for team rules violations, CP had to get through the semifinals without using Chris Saroff (8-0) and Blake Mascarello (5-2), the teams other two top starters. Clayton's relief job not only won the game; it allows Saroff and Mascarello to go into the Friday night title game with three full days' rest. But Clayton has been the only truly effective pitcher in the post-season so far.

"I think he's fine," said Strayer. "We don't know how his arm comes back because we haven't used him extensively this year. I would put him in the category of a normal pitcher where recovery is concerned. He isn't the kind who gets sore easily, but he doesn't have a rubber arm like Blake (Mascarello) who can throw forever."

"They're starting to hit us," said Strayer. "I'm not so concerned about our offense. We're going to have to get it done on the mound or we're going to be out of the tournament in a game or two."

Ernest, who is on the bench for every game, even during his suspension, has been missed. CP must win two more games before they could regain the pitcher and shortstop, who would probably pitch at the Lafayette Semistate on June 9. The Bulldogs' batting order is lopsided without him, but they miss him most defensively in the middle of the infield, especially when Saroff, the team's other true shortstop, is pitching.

Joe Patrick, the ninth place hitter, has four hits and five RBIs. To get home run power out of the ninth place hitter is a bonus.

"I was just looking for a pitch to hit," Patrick said. "Keeping my hands in. These first two games... we just have to keep trying and hitting the ball. I think we're back in order pitching-wise."

Strayer didn't want to name a starting pitcher for Friday's championship game with Chesterton, even though senior Chris Saroff (8-0), despite allowing six runs in the quarterfinals, would be an obvious choice. The coach suggested that he wanted to see if Saroff was physically 100% before he made the pitching choice.

SECTIONAL NOTES: The IHSAA brackets are always confusing, but it would appear that Chesterton will be the home team for the championship game, meaning that the Trojans would bat last even though the game was at Crown Point high school. The sectional championship game between Crown Point and Chesterton was moved to 5 p.m. Friday due to a troublesome weather forecast which almost promised occasional rainstorms Friday. The CP athletic department wanted to allow time for rain delays.

CP's Joe Patrick said he likes to play at home, even if CP is not the 'home' team on the scoreboard.

Patrick, who with Tommy Parks, Matt Ernest, Tim Mummery and Andrew Peretin, played on the 2001 Little League all-star team that went 10-2 and lost the state championship game 7-5 to Brownsburg, will continue his baseball days in Indiana.

"I'm going to Franklin College," he said Wednesday. "It's 20 minutes south of Indianapolis. It's a Division III school. We start off in Jacksonville, Florida. I could have played football there, too, but I'm going to stick to baseball. I'm taking physical therapy."

Patrick was a starting linebacker on CP's DAC and Sectional championship football team last fall.

Chesterton ace right-hander Sean Green came on to strike out five of the last six batters to preserve a 1-0 win for the Trojans over Merrillville in the other semifinal game Wednesday night at Crown Point. Steve Patterson gave up a hit and a walk to start the sixth and Chesterton coach Jack Campbell called to the bullpen to get Green, a slim 6-foot-7 senior with a 9-1 record. The Trojan pitcher fielded a bunt and got a force at third base before striking out RJ Zambrano and Dustin Blaylock to end the inning. In the seventh inning, Green walked one, but struck out the side to boost the Trojans (2-5) to the 20-win mark and advance them to the sectional final.

Crown Point defeated Chesterton and Green 2-1 at Crown Point on April 16 and the Bulldogs lost 2-1 to the Trojans on May 4 in Chesterton. Green pitched all 13 2/3 innings, allowing four runs and 12 hits, striking out 16 and walking six. CP's Blake Mascarello started and pitched five innings in the 3-2 loss. Chris Saroff pitched seven innings to get the 2-1 win.

CP catcher Nick Hladek, moved up to the fifth spot in the batting order, has benefited from not being so quick at the plate.

"He used to throw his front shoulder out," said Strayer. "He's always had power. He used to pull everything foul. Now, he's keeping that front shoulder in and driving the ball to left center field. There's a big difference."

Crown Point's Tim Mummery, a CP baseball mainstay for two seasons, has decided not to play baseball in college.

"I just want to go to school," he said. "I want to get on with my life. I'm going to school four years for engineering. I want to get to it."

Crown Point's 2006 graduate Nick Ullman said the same thing his senior year, but he then ended up playing at Purdue North Central in Westville. Mummery has led Crown Point in walks, stolen bases and RBIs much of the 2007 season.

4A No. 1 CROWN POINT (28-2)
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 (13-17)
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 (16-12)
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 (22-7-1)

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 (Tu.) Lake Central (16-12) 7:00 p.m.

South Bend (4A) SemiState
6-9 (Sat) SB Clay (17-12) or Penn (23-7) TBA

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