Bulldogs shell-shocked by Penn Kingsmen, 9-2 at Semistate Semifinals

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

6-10-2007

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (29-3)	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	8	5
PENN (25-7)	0	2	1	2	0	4	-	9	10	1

Saturday, 6-09-2007 - 79 degrees & sunny, South Bend (4A) Semistate Semifinal at Covaleski Stadium - South Bend, IN

WP - Brian Van Duyn (8-3), CG, 2 K, 2 walks (90 pitches)
LP - Matt Ernest (5-1) 3K, 4 walks, 5 runs, 2 ERs (75 pitches)
Chris Saroff (CP) 2K, 1 walk (2 1/3 innings)

CROWN POINT (29-3)
Nick Hladek (CP) 2 singles
Tim Mummery (2B) Double, RBI
Chris Saroff (P-SS) 2 singles
Joe Patrick (RF) Walk, HBP

PENN (25-7)
Mike Carroll (DH) Double, 2 singles
Garrick Dikos (1B) 2 singles, RBI
Ryan Kaczmarksi (3GB) 2 singles, walk, 4 RBIs
Steve Depositar (RF) Single, 2 walks, 2 stolen bases, RBI
Brady Iams (2B) Single, 2 RBIs

SOUTH BEND (6-09-2007) - I took the long way home. Took a long time to grasp that the 2007 baseball season ended like this.

A final record of 29-3 with a Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) championship, plus Sectional and Regional titles, is an outstanding season any way you look at it. Just so you don't look at this last game.

Crown Point went to South Bend's Covaleski Stadium with a full roster and hopes of winning a berth to the state finals later Saturday night. The Bulldogs were home in time for a late lunch. CP played poorly and went home empty-handed after a 9-2 rout at the hands of South Bend area power Penn.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 1 in the state at the end of the year, hit into three double plays, made at least five errors and their top two pitchers, undefeated seniors Matt Ernest and Chris Saroff, gave up a combined 10 hits, five walks and six stolen bases in what was easily CP's worst loss in several years.

Give credit to Penn, which lost 11-1 to CP in the championship game of the Plymouth Invitational in early May. Playing on what is virtually their alternate home field, the Kingsmen outplayed the DAC champs from the first inning on. Everybody knows that anything can happen in one game, but the Bulldogs were blind-sided by this one on a hot dusty day in the 5,500-seat pro ballpark. The Bulldogs fully expected to win and so did all of the CP fans among the early morning crowd of about 350 fans.

"It just didn't go our way today," said a shell-shocked coach Steve Strayer. "Nothing went our way. I'm not complaining about the calls, but there were a lot of close calls and we didn't get any. Our guys didn't make some plays. We had guys in scoring positions and we didn't get a key hit. I guess I didn't get 'em ready. It doesn't look it. Penn was fired up."

"We played a great team," said winning pitcher Brian Van Duyn, who threw 90 pitches in stopping CP's state finals' run. "And we really put it to them today. It (the closeness of Covaleski to Penn) is definitely a factor. We played here twice this year. Its a 15-minute drive from our school. It was a 2 1/2, 3-hour bus ride to Lafayette (the semistate was at Loeb Stadum in Lafayette in 2006). We got more rest. We felt better. It was just a case of us being at home this time."

Give Strayer credit, at least, for giving senior Matt Ernest a chance to redeem himself. The three-sport star, a hard-throwing right-hander who was suspended for seven games for an undisclosed violation of team rules, not only got reinstated for Saturday, he was penciled in as the starting pitcher ahead of undefeated Chris Saroff (9-0), who had seven days rest. Saroff was to pitch the semistate championship game against either Homestead (26-4) or Kokomo (26-3), two teams that appeared stronger than Penn, a school CP had defeated decisively last month. It wasn't a crazy plan, even though CP had not lost a game Saroff had started all season.

"Matt threw against us in practice," explained Strayer. "He dominated us. Plus, Penn runs like crazy and he's got the best pickoff move on our team. It was a hunch."

Ernest gave up a first inning single, but was bailed out on a fine diving catch by Tommy Parks in left field. In the second inning, the Bulldog defense let the pitcher down. Penn scored twice in the second inning after Mike Carroll hit a lead off fly ball that carried over the head of CP's Jon Sertich in the deep Covaleski left center field for a double. Ryan Kaczmarski laid down a sacrifice bunt and he reached first when CP second baseman Tim Mummery was late covering first base and missed the bag on what should have been (it was ruled a hit) an error.

After a five pitch walk and a force out at home, Garrick Dikos sliced a single to left to make it 1-0. Ernest struck out Corey Moore but Steve Depositar walked with the bases full to make it 2-0. In the third inning, Van Duyn started the inning with a harmless-looking ground ball to short. But Saroff fumbled it and then threw past first for two errors on one play. One out later, Kaczmarski walked on a 3-2 pitch and Adam Auter hit a grounder to third. Mike Kozlowski fumbled that one and the bases were full again. Penn's Brady Iams hit a high bouncing ball to short which drove in the 3-0 run.

In the fourth inning, CP got singles from Saroff and Nick Hladek, but Blake Mascarello popped up the first pitch with two out. When Ernest walked two of the first four batters in the bottom of the fourth, Strayer replaced him with Saroff. Carroll then chopped a swinging bunt down the third base line for a bases-loading single. Kaczmarski lined an 0-1 pitch to center for a two-run single and the score mounted to 5-0.

"I just thought it was time for a change there," said Strayer, of going to Saroff. "I thought it did change the momentum for a while."

CP scored twice in the fifth with two out. Joey Patrick walked, Sertich singed to left and the ball got past left fielder Brian Lares, allowing Patrick to score. Mummery then doubled down the left field line to score Sertich. But Saroff flied out on the first pitch and CP would not threaten again.

The bottom of the sixth was as ugly as it gets. Mike Zuidema singled and Van Duyn, while bunting, was hit by a pitch. This was a hotly contested play as Van Duyn turned into the ball and got himself hit. Carroll then popped up a bunt over the head of the pitcher to fill the bases. Kaczmarski then lined a base hit to right field. Zuidema scored, but Patrick's throw got to Hladek the catcher with Van Duyn still 20 feet up the line. Hladek apparently assumed the runner had already scored and fired to second to try to get Kaczmarski. Van Duyn completed his run up the line uncontested to make it 7-2.

One out later, Penn called for a double steal and when Hladek threw the ball to second base, neither Mummery or Ernest covered the bag. The ball sailed into center field, allowing the 8-2 run to score before Iams' RBI single completed the scoring. Kozlowski, Sertich and Hladek all grounded sharply into double plays, killing three potential CP rallies.

"Those were huge," said Van Duyn, who won for the seventh consecutive start. "They got eight hits and they were all hard hits. I can't say anything about that. But the key was mixing my pitches. I threw a lot more change ups today than I normally do. A lot more curve balls. That set up the fastball when I had to jam them or 'paint' the outside corner."

Van Duyn also said, "We wanted to get back at them. We heard before the game, that they were saying that we don't belong on the field with them. You get that mindset that you don't want to hear that. I think we're one of the best teams in the state, too, and we showed that today."

CP returns four good starting pitchers in Mascarello (6-2), Kozlowski (4-0), Eric Clayton (4-0) and Mike Hernandez in 2008 plus Hladek, the starting catcher. But this was a nasty high school end game for a senior group that had won three consecutive sectionals and two regional titles. Two years ago, when CP reached the semistate, no one expected them to defeat LaPorte (30-5) and Brownsburg (35-0) to reach the state finals. But a lot of us did expect the top-ranked to prevail this time and they just didn't have a good game in them.

On his way out of Covaleski, Strayer thanked the seniors and their parents for sticking with the program, but he was as shocked as anyone by the decisiveness of the loss.

"I don't think we were flat," he said. "We knew they had some players who didn't start against us early in the year. I don't think that was it at all. The kids had a good beat about that. We knew they were a little flat when we played them. They certainly turned the tables this time."

"Maybe it was that we were home for so many games (four in a row) and then we're on the road here in what is a home game for them," he said. "But I don't know. I really don't."

NOTES: No one from the six county area (Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, Jasper and Starke) survived the semistate round of the 41st state baseball tournament Saturday. Not only did 1A Crown Point lose 9-2 to Penn, 2A Boone Grove (25-6-1) lost to unranked Heritage 4-2. Washington Township was not favored to beat Lafayette Catholic and they were defeated 8-1. Andrean beat Western and was then eliminated by top-ranked Norwell 4-1. This is the first time in the class sports era that no NW Indiana baseball team has reached the state finals.

Despite good weather, the crowd was small. At best, 200 followers represented each school. Fans of Penn, which is 15 minutes from Covaleski Stadium, had no excuse but the format, which starts games at 11:00 a.m. (10 Central Time) and discourages attendance from Lake County. You had to leave Crown Point at 8:00 a.m. to get to downtown South Bend by game time and few who aren't next of kin love their team that much. Semistate semifinal games could easily be played Friday night but the IHSAA stubbornly sticks to an antiquated format that is a relic of the one class era.

4A No. 1 CROWN POINT (29-3)
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 (25-7-1)

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 (14-16)
5-24 (W) 5-0 at Rochester (16-12)

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
6-5 (L) 2-9 Penn (25-7-1)