Mascarello's pitching problems in 1st inning leads to Boone Grove 7-1 upset win over Bulldogs
	A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith 5-13-2007

Thursday, 5-10-2007  -  51 degrees & clear, Non-conference in CROWN POINT, IN

WP -  Kyle Ferber (7-1) CG, 6K, 4 walks
LP - Blake Mascarello (2-1) 1K, 2 walks (1/3 inning)
Michael Hernandez (CP) 4K, 2 walks, (6 2/3 innings)

BOONE GROVE (14-2-1)
Bryce Palleson (RF) 2 singles, walk
Joe Johnson (SS) Double, 3 RBIs
Nick DiMarco (CF) 2 singles, RBI, run scored
David Diaz (1B) Single, walk

CROWN POINT (19-2)
Jon Sertich (CF) Double
Nick Hladek (C) Triple, single, RBI
Chris Saroff (SS) Single, 2 walks

CROWN POINT (5-11-2007) -  You knew it would be a different night for Crown Point when Joe Johnson drove in three runs with a first-inning, two-base hit.  Top-ranked Crown Point had not given up three runs on one hit all season.  Boone went on to score seven times in the first inning and they coasted to a 7-1 win over big neighbor Crown Point in the first-ever 'County Line Classic'.

In a match up of state-rated teams, Porter County Conference (PCC) leader Boone (14-2-1) jumped all over the 4A No. 1 Bulldogs on a cold, windy night in South Lake County.  Folks who showed up late missed most of the action as Boone bombed out CP left-hander Blake Mascarello with the help of two infield errors.

"I know that's not the way Steve (CP coach Steve Strayer) wanted to script things defensively," said Boone coach Rollie Thill, who succeeded Strayer as Boone's varsity baseball coach five years ago.  "But we hit the ball.  To put up 10 hits on them is pretty good.  I thought we should have scored more.  But it was good."

"That's a good team over there," Strayer said of Class 2A No. 3 Boone."

Boone always has to prove themselves.  The Wolves' wins are doubted.  The Porter County Conference (PCC) is not a very tough baseball league.  So the Wolves play tough non conference foes and they hear and read how they are winning non conference games that the larger schools don't take seriously.

That wasn't the case Friday night.  CP (19-2), which has swept two games from LaPorte and Merrillville and has also routed Penn and Carroll, started their regular starting lineup and used left-hander Blake Mascarello (2-1) who, at the very least is their No. 3 pitcher.  Boone loaded the bases with nobody out and got a three-run double from senior Joe Johnson.  An error by CP second baseman Tim Mummery extended the inning and Zak Ursitti's RBI single to right made it 4-0.  When David Diaz walked, Strayer replaced Mascarello with junior right-hander Mike Hernandez, who got Bryce Palleson to bounce into a bases-loaded force play at home.

But a throwing error by third baseman Tommy Parks on what should have been an inning ending ground ball, allowed two more runs to score and Nick DiMarco's RBI single made it 7-0.
None of the 200 or so fans in the grandstand on a chilly night knew it at the time, but that was the game.  Hernandez pitched six shutout innings the rest of the way and Boone junior right-hander Kyle Ferber (7-1) pitched a complete game, allowing six hits and four walks.

"He's been a stud for us," said Thill.  "He's 7-1 for a reason."

Boone Grove also defeated Munster 12-6 last week and Thill says that Munster did play some of their regular players, adding validity to the six-run rout.

"I take that with a grain of salt.  (Munster first baseman Kevin) Enright was in there the whole game.  They played a lot of their starters.  We're trying to take a page out of Bishop Noll's book.  They play in the LAC Black so they play bigger schools all the time.  Who cares if you win 25 games?  We're going to toughen up the schedule.  We've got to do our best to get better.  We've got to do it."

"We've 14-2-1 now.  We should have beaten South Central.  That may have had something to do with tonight."

Bryce Palleson, the Wolves' basketball MVP, who plays right field for the Wolves, confirmed it's big to beat the big schools.

"Anytime you can beat a school that's in a higher class -- it's big for us.  You've got to take them down.  It can only help us down the line."

Crown Point, coming off a 5-2 nine-inning win at LaPorte the night before, was embarrassed to be so inept in front of a big prep baseball crowd plus radio and TV.

"We were shocked by the first inning," said Strayer.  "But we weren't shocked by anything after that.  We knew they were good.  We knew Ferber was good.  I thought it was going to be a good ball game and it turned out not to be one.  But, after the first inning, we were okay."

One baseball loss means nothing, but Crown Point's coaches are concerned that left-hander Blake Mascarello often seems to have problems in the first inning before he settles down.  Boone didn't give the CP junior a chance to settle down.  On April 20 in a another high profile home night game, Mascarello walked the first two batters of the game and gave up two first inning runs before he got straight and the Bulldogs rallied to win 9-4.  The way Mascarello is preparing for games simply isn't working for him.

"At the start of the year.  We thought Blake would eventually be our No. 1 pitcher," Strayer said.  "It's a little too late for that this year.  It (his bad first innings) is getting worse and nobody wants to win more than he does.  But we've still got big plans for him.  We've got to get him straightened out."

This game should start a tradition where Boone plays Crown Point every year.  The idea of the 'County Line Classic', is that Boone plays Crown Point at night in May every season.  Boone Grove does not have lights for baseball and it gives the Wolves a chance to prepare for what they hope is a long post-season run by playing their big neighbor in a game abut 20 minutes from home.

"He (Strayer) wanted to get something going with us," said Thill of Strayer.  "He wanted to wait until all the players he'd had gone through school and I understand that.  I thought the weather held down the number of people here.  But we're not going anywhere.  We may get it handed to us in the future but we'll be playing this game for years."

On this night, Crown Point got 'it' handed to them, in the form of a seven run inning, the most runs scored against CP in any of the 21 games played so far.

"Every move I made was wrong tonight," admitted Strayer.  "Everything thing we tried failed.  I didn't expect Blake to start like that.  I didn't expect Tommy (Parks) to hurt his thumb, so he couldn't throw the ball.  I should have done things differently, but it probably wouldn't have changed the overall outcome.  They are a very good team.  It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'm glad they threw Ferber.  Everybody will say that we lost, but we need to see good pitching.  We're making decisions at the plate we shouldn't be making.  We swing at a lot of balls outside of the strike zone.  Tonight was just a messed up night for us.  But it was a nice atmosphere.  I hope we can do it every year."

NOTES:  Boone Grove had an 11-game wining streak broken in a 5-4 loss to South Central the night before, a game where Boone led 4-1.  On Saturday, in the Northwestern Classic in Kokomo, 2A No. 3 Boone Grove lost 7-6 to 2A No. 5 Northfield (17-3) before they defeated Delphi 6-1.  Boone (15-3-1) did not get to face Class 2A No. 1 Northwestern (18-3), which won its own tournament.

The Boone Grove-Crown Point game was taped by the Region Sports Network and will be shown on Comcast Cable public access Wednesday night at 9:00 p.m.  The game will be shown on Channel 4.  It will be shown again several times this month.

Crown Point is going through some injuries, the most serious of which was to sophomore all-purpose player Mike Kozlowski, who was hit in the face by a thrown ball in warm up sessions prior to the LaPorte game.

"We may get 'Koz' back next week," said Strayer.  "He was seeing double for a while.  But he's getting better.  I think we'll have him back next week."

Crown Point pitcher Chris Saroff (6-0, 1.09 ERA) has 36 strikeouts in 37 innings.  Saroff also has led CP with 21 RBIs in 21 games.  Tim Mummery has 23 RBIs, 11 walks and 14 stolen bases, all team bests.  Crown Point has 64 stolen bases in 21 games.

Boone Grove, which is 4-1 against Class 4A teams and 2-0 against 3As, hosts 3A power West Lafayette (18-5) Friday night, May 18 at 5:00 p.m.

CROWN POINT (21-2, 12-1 DAC)
Varsity Coach Steve Strayer, 23-9 in 2006  - DAC game in CAPS

4-3 (W)  14-0 (5 innings) Hebron (9-11)

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

4-9 (W) 3-2 at (Lafayette) Jefferson (13-6)
4-10 (W) 8-1 at LAKE CENTRAL (10-10)
4-13 (W) 12-0 (5 innings) Rensselaer (2-2)
4-14 (W) 4-3 VALPARAISO (10-9-1)
4-14 (W) 10-5 Griffith (16-7)
4-16 (W) 2-1 CHESTERTON (13-4) 
4-18 (W) 9-1 MERRILLVILLE (10-10) 
4-20 (W) 9-4 LaPORTE (15-7)
4-21 (S) Harrison (cancelled)

4-24 (W) 8-1 at MICHIGAN CITY (7-12) 
4-26 (W) 4-1 at PORTAGE (5-5) 4:30 p.m.
4-28  (W) 16-2 (5 innings) at Highland (3-1)
4-28 (W) 3-2 Kankakee Valley (14-10)
4-30 (W) 10-0 (5 innings)  LAKE CENTRAL (10-10)
5-2  (W) at VALPARAISO (10-9-1)
5-4 (L) 2-3 at CHESTERTON (13-4)

Plymouth Invitational
5-5 (W) 8-2 Carroll (17-2)
5-5 (W) 11-1 Penn (15-7)

5-8 (W) 8-3 ( 9 innings) at MERRILLVILLE (10-10)
5-10 (W) 5-2 (9 innings) at LaPORTE (15-7)
5-11 (L) 1-7 Boone Grove (14-2-1)

5-16 (W) 12-0 MICHIGAN CITY
5-17 (W) 3-1 PORTAGE

Crown Point Classic (with Riley, Northridge and HC)
5-19-7 (S) vs. Heritage Christian (13-6)  a.m.
5-19-7 (S) 3rd place or championship (p.m.)

5-22-7 (Tu) Lowell - 4:30 p.m.
5-25-7 (F) at Elkhart Memorial - 7 p.m.

Crown Point (4A) Sectional
5-29-7 (M) quarterfinals
6-2-7 (F) semifinals
6-3-7 (S) championship

BOONE GROVE  (15-3-1, 5-1 PCC)
Coach Rollie Thill - 26-4 in 2006  - PCC game in CAPS

4-3 (W)  5-0 Kankakee Valley (12-10)
4-4 (L) 0-2 Merrillville (10-10)
4-9 (W) 8-1 at Portage (7-12)
4-11 (T) 7-7 (Michigan City ) Marquette (20-1)

4-13 (W) 7-2 Knox (9-10)
4-14 (W) 5-2 Griffith (16-7)
4-20 (W) 4-3 North Judson (9-6)
4-21 (W)  6-3 Michigan City (9-12) at US Steelyard
4-24 (W) HANOVER CENTRAL (8-12)
4-27 (Fri) HEBRON (10-12) rain

Boone Grove Invitational
4-28 (W) 16-0 North Newton (8-14) semifinals
4-28 (W) 2-1 Lowell (8-11) championship

4-30 (W) 7-1 at LaCROSSE (12-7)
5-3 (W) 10-4 at WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (12-5)
5-8 (W) 12-6 at Munster (16-6)
5-10 (L) 4-5 at SOUTH CENTRAL(10-7)
5-11 (W) 7-1 at Crown Point (19-2)

Northwestern Invitational at Kokomo
5-12 (L) 6-7 (8 innings) Northfield (16-4)
5-12 (W) 6-1 Delphi (6-13)

5-14 (Mon) MORGAN TOWNSHIP (12-9)
5-18 (F) West Lafayette  (18-5)

Porter County Conference  (PCC) Tournament
5-19 (Sat) vs. LaCrosse (12-7) 11 a.m.
5-21 (M) semifinals at Boone Grove
5-22 (Tu) at Wheeler  (14-7)
5-23 (W) PCC championship at South Central

5-24 (Th) at Valparaiso (12-9-1)
5-25 (F) at Hobart (9-13)

Boone Grove (2A) Sectional
5-28 (M) quarterfinal - TBA
5-30 (W) semifinal - TBS
6-1 Th) semifinal - TBA
6-2 (F) championship - TBA