2005 - Final Top-10

High School Baseball Teams in

Northwest Indiana: 6-29-2005

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

(6-29-2005) The baseball season stayed true to form all the way to the end as the top-ranked teams in 4A (Brownsburg) and 3A (Andrean) won state titles and ranked teams in 2A (North Posey) and 1A (Blackhawk) also won crowns.

Brownsburg staked their claim as one of the all-time great teams with an undefeated season and Andrean won for the first time in 26 years under coach Dave Pishkur. The biggest surprise might have been Lafayette Catholic falling at the semistate, but they did lose to Blackhawk, which is becoming quite a sports power.

The best things about baseball is that the prep season does not really end in June. The boys go straight into junior and senior Little League, Senior Babe Ruth and American Legion ball. The American Legion is the easiest to follow because it has post-season playoffs that are very similar to high schools, except they are double-elimination. And the Little League is where the new stars are born.

The true baseball season is during the summer. Here's our 2005 Final list of top-10 teams:

1.) 4A LaPORTE (31-5)

25-7 (2004), 22-10-1 (2003), 20-9 (2002) 28-2 (2001)

LaPORTE - You can't honestly say that Andrean was better than LaPorte. The 59ers faced no one in the state tournament remotely the equal of Brownsburg, the team that defeated LaPorte in the South Bend Semistate title game.

This was one of LaPorte's greatest teams led by all-state lefty Andy Weeks (15-1) and a team that averaged 10 runs per game, but they will have second baseman Nick Overmeyer (.450) and right-hander Matt Antos (10-3) back in 2006.

Look for Andy Weeks' cousin Nolan Weeks, to contribute on the mound after missing 2005 with an arm injury. The Slicers will change to a singles and speed team in 2006 because they won't hit 38 home runs like they did in 2005.

LaPorte cannot replace Weeks, their No. 1 pitcher for three years, who was unable to start against Brownsburg because he'd beaten Crown Point 8-1 earlier in the semistate day.

But player-for-player, LaPorte was Andrean's eqaul. Andrean had all-stater Tommy Finn (.495) at short. LaPorte had Joel Matheny (.452, 10 Hrs, 38 RBIs) the MVP of the Duneland Conference. Andrean had pro draft choice Greg Yersich at catcher but LaPorte had all-stater Blake Hindsley (.454, 8 Hrs, 51 RBIs), who had ridiculous numbers against elite competition. And Andrean had no one like Weeks, who was almost a guaranteed win, even though he started games on two and three days rest.

If you are being honest, on performance, LaPorte was the top team in NW Indiana in 2005.

2.) 3A Andrean (33-2)

27-8 (2004), 26-8 (2003), 27-7 (2002), 25-5 (2001)

MERRILLVILLE - A triumphant victory for Andrean's 600-win coach Dave Pishkur as the 59ers won the state title with a 10-1 win over three-time state champ Evansville Memorial.

And it was just as good for senior shortstop Tommy Finn (.495, 45 runs scored, 33 RBIs, 22 steals) who was the MVP on the 59ers 3A state football championship team in November of 2004 and the top player on Andrean's 2005 baseball championship team seven months later. No one had ever before done that in Indiana and odds are, no one in our lifetime is going to do that again.

Why are they not No. 1? Pitching. I thought the 59ers' 10-runs-per-game attack greased the skating for a pitching staff that was good, but not great. As much as Greg Yersich (.398, 47 RBIs) and Joe Mack (.431, 41 RBIs) and Steve Augsburger (8-1, 2.13 ERA) meant to the team, relief pitcher Anthony Cera (4-0, 0.97 ERA, 7 saves) was the unsung hero.

Other than Finn, Cera is the player the 59ers will miss most. In 2006, the 59ers will return Mack, football star Chris Skinner (.367, 24 steals) and Nick Murphy (9-0, 2.75 ERA) plus a lot of good looking younger players like Jeff Strbjak and Austin Sutter. With all due respect to Griffith, Andrean should be in the state finals every year and, with what they have coming up, I think winning is only beginning.

3.) 4A Lake Central (28-3)

24-7 (2004), 23-6-1 (2003), 21-9 (2002) 21-10 (2001)

ST. JOHN - Everything went wrong for Lake Central in the late going of a 6-3 extra-inning loss to host Munster at the 4A Munster Sectional championship game.

There must have been some fun discussions on the bench of Hammond American legion Post 168, which features both LC and Munster players.

Seniors Brandon Peters (9-0, 0.50 ERA) and Steve Apostol (6-0, 0.94) finish with winning records, but this is what I mean when I say that pitching depth, like LC and CP have, only matters during the regular season. Once the state tournament begins, you're only going to use two starting pitchers and you lean heavily on one.

Here's another point. LC closed the season with an 11-0 win over Benton Central and opened the playoffs with wins 10-0 over Lowell and 10-0 over East Chicago. All three of those games went just five innings. So much for momentum going into the state tournament.

LC returns 1B Ranko Ivertic and SS Troy Russell, who was injured for a portion of 2005. The Indians will have no experienced pitching so they won't win 28 games in 2006.

4.) 4A Crown Point (21-11)

17-11 (2004), 23-10 (2003), 13-12 (2002), 15-12-1 (2001)

CROWN POINT - Crown Point ended the season with a disappointing 8-1 loss to LaPorte. Two of CP's losses were to state finalists (Evansville North, Andrean) but the Bulldogs just didn't give LaPorte a battle in the South Bend Semistate semifinals.

CP returns 75% of a pitching and defense team including lefty Matt Jansen (9-2, 1.57 ERA) and two solid young right-handers in Matt Ernest and Chris Saroff.

Second baseman Nick Ullman (.394, 15 steals) is one of six returning starters who will spend the summer trying to improve their offensive efficiency. Ernest is an elite defensive shortstop and Adam Kennedy returns at catcher. Saroff could develop into a No. 3 hitter with speed. If LC and LaPorte step back to the pack as expected in 2006, the Bulldogs could step up into first place.

But Crown Point in 2005 was fortunate to go as far as they did with the offense they had. The Bulldogs have to produce more runs in 2006 and I believe they know it.

5.) 4A Munster (19-14)

2004 (23-6), 2003 (20-10), 2002 (25-9) 2001 (26-8)

MUNSTER - It may have been an upset to some, but Munster over Lake Central was predicted here. The 6-3, eight inning win over a neighbor and rival was the highlight of the 2005 season for Munster.

Munster-LC is the new rivalry in NW Indiana, Munster-Highland is old school until Highland gets better.

The Mustangs are another team that stumbled down the stretch and found out how little that means. They got crushed like bad grapes in the final week of the season 12-1 by Andrean and 11-3 by Chesterton.

But sometimes getting spanked does a boy good. The Mustangs lacked the pitching to go much further, but they got good efforts from Paul Malayter and Tim Lukoshus during the season ending 2-0 loss to Crown Point in the 4A Crown Point Regional.

Matt DeRolf (4-1) pitched two victories against second line competition in the final 10 days. It will be hard to replace Matt Nowak (.342, 27 RBIs) and Mike Hawryskow (.394, 5 Hrs, 27 RBIs) but Munster will get that done.

Nobody would call this a great season for the ponies but one late rally turned it into a successful year.

6.) 3A Griffith (19-10)

19-14 (2004), 17-12 (2003), 17-15 (2002), 27-7 (2001)

GRIFFITH - Griffith could not beat Clark a second time, losing 2-1 in the Hammond Sectional championship game. It had to hurt more when Clark was annihilated five days later by Andrean (33-2) a team Griffith had beaten. But the Panthers were not ready to beat Andrean in a playoff game and they would probably agree with that.

The Panthers lose Jim Swienconek (.460, 4 Hrs, 30 RBIs), an elite hitter, but top sophs Ryan Bridges and Matt Kuna return with juniors Matt Nellemen and catcher Trent Bierman. This team has a bright future and, while I don't know exactly what they have coming up in youth leagues, the window of opportunity to beat Andrean opens up next year and this might be the only team that believes they can do it.

7.) 4A Chesterton (12-12)

19-9 (2004), 8-20 (2003), 9-18 (2002), 16-15 (2001)

CHESTERTON - I though this team had one big push left but I thought the Yankees were good this year, too. Chesterton lost 7-0 to a Portage team that got washed away 15-1 by Crown Point two days later in the Chesterton 4A sectional.

Matt Maple, Alex Montegano and Casey Martin, the heart of this team, graduate but pitchers John Lambert and Kevin Scott plus and big prospect Zack Novak return. The Trojans should have done better in the post-season.

Here's a situation where playing a tough schedule (CP twice, LaPorte twice, LC twice, Harrison, Mishawaka, Benton Central Andrean and Jefferson) didn't pay off. They could have gone 25-5 playing chumps but they'd have ended up in the same place.

Chesterton crushed 3A state champion Andrean 9-2 in a game that, as it turned out, meant about as much as Tom Cruise's opinion's on psychiatry.

8.) 3A Kankakee Valley (19-10)

19-14 (2004), 14-17 (2003), 21-10 (2002), 17-11 (2001)

DeMOTTE - KV could not in any way handle Andrean losing 6-0, 15-1 and 15-9. The Kougars can't have many regrets because they had three chances to get the job done. Here's a team, like Lake Station, that was largely seniors and knew there was a lot of weight on this season.

The disappointment may ease somewhat after Andrean won the state title but the Kougars have a lot of holes to fill for 2006.

KV will rebuild around elite No. 3 hitter Matt Dobin (.411, 7 Hrs, 34 RBIs, 17 walks), who scored a NW Indiana-best 50 runs in 29 games. Dobin will also be a starting pitcher and will be joined by solid shortstop Troy Jackson (23-68, .338 in 21 games).

There is no hitter that I know of in NW Indiana like Dobin, which gives KV a leg up in a hitters ballpark. Jackson is a quality shortstop and he can also pitch. The Kougars may have lost too much to win the 3A sectional and regional title next year, but let's wait and see how Andrean and Griffith progress before we say that for sure.

9.) 3A Clark (25-6)

24-5 (2004), 21-8 (2003), 20-5 (2002), 16-9-1 (2001)

HAMMOND - Like Kankakee Valley, Clark ends up losing three times to Andrean, which is certainly not a mark of dishonor.

Clark stumbled down the stretch, getting blown out by LaPorte 20-3 and Crown Point 8-4 in the final week, but it paid off as the Pioneers hung with a superior Griffith team and grabbed a 2-1 win.

Clark says goodbye to returning coach Gary Ridgley and it will be interesting to see if they play the same schedule which helped them roll up the wins but doesn't take on the tough guys until the final two weeks. They could be better served by a more adventurous slate.

The Pioneer numbers continue to dazzle with Mike Carpen (39-78, .500) and Drew Polak (.465) having big fun at the plate. Clark had eight players batting over .400 in the final week of the season.

Polak (6-2, 2.36 ERA) and Trent Howard (10-1, 1.63 ERA) will anchor what could again be a 20-win team. But, at the risk of not winning 20, Clark should add all the Duneland schools to their schedule to prepare them to get past Griffith and Andrean in the state tournament, something they have never done.

10.) 2A Boone Grove (24-7)

17-12 (2004), 21-7 (2003), 27-5 (2002), 20-10-1 (2001)

28-7 (2000) 22-11 (1999) 21-12 (1998)

PORTER TOWNSHIP - The win over Bishop Noll 10-8 put the Wolves into the top-10 and losing to Lake Station (18-13-1), as it turned out, wasn't a bad thing.

Boone burned all their pitching on Noll and had little remaining for Lake Station but, to be fair, the Eagles did win the 2A regional title 11-7 over Rochester four days later.

I thought Boone played over their heads all season, which means that they got the most (and more) out of limited ability. Very few of these boys would have been starting players on some of the Boone teams of the last decade. But this team put up a record similar to those more-talented teams competing against half of the Lake Athletic and Duneland Conference.

Boone should (and could) play LaPorte and Crown Point but that's a different subject. The Wolves lost all-PCC star Shawn Bishop (10-1, .485 batting average) and 6-4 right-hander Danny Borys to graduation but they have good young players in Ryan Cupp and Joe Johnson so they'll return as the favorite again in the Porter County Conference.

Four for 2006...

CF - Darryl Evans (Merrillville) Senior

2005: .429, 4 HRs, 27 RBIs, 16 stolen bases

MERRILLVILLE - Evans is a natural born center fielder who can save games by running down flyballs. Blessed with well above average speed, Darryl can demoralize the opposition by stealing line drives that would be base hits against lesser outfielders.

Evans is not physically impressive but you are surprised when the ball jumps off his bat. You may like the 2005 numbers listed under his name here but Evans probably doesn't because he hit .429 with nine HRs and 23 stolen bases in 2004. He actually had a 'down' year in 2005.

You can never be sure of how a young player will hit at higher levels and, since he's just 5-10, Evans does have to get stronger physically. But he's a Division I outfielder and base runner right now and while he should go to college, I wouldn't be stunned to see him take a shot at pro baseball immediately if he's drafted in June of 2006.

P – Matt Jansen (Crown Point) Senior

2005: 9-2, 1.57 ERA, 96Ks in 76 innings, .330, 26 RBIs

CROWN POINT - Baseball loves left-handed pitchers, which is why Matt Jansen will probably become more of a baseball prospect than he is a football star. Jansen was dominant in games against Lake Central, LaPorte and Munster -- opening eyes of those who thought of him only as the QB who threw for 2,000 yards in the fall of 2004.

Jansen has been clocked in the mid-80s which suggests that, with the right instruction, he could be in the low 90s by the time he's in his early 20s. Matt has a very strong arm, probably because his football and baseball throwing activities work hand in hand. He can throw 110-120 pitches in a game without losing much. Jansen has control problems at times, but even that's a positive sign because his ball has a lot of natural movement. He also seems to throw everything hard but advanced pitching coaches could work on his breaking pitches.

Pitching in cold spring conditions in late afternoon sun, Jansen is a pain to bat against and because he's a lefty, he'll get every chance to advance to higher levels of baseball.

One thing though. If Matt Jansen throws for 3,000 yards in the fall of 2005 on the football field (not at all impossible), disregard everything I've said here because Matt will probably be playing college football.

OF-P - Matt Dobin (Kankakee Valley) Junior

2005: .411, 7 HRs, 34 RBIs, 50 runs scored

DeMOTTE - Matt Dobin is very much like Merrillville's Daryl Evans in that he doesn't appear to be big enough to do what he's doing. A good but not great player out the Crown Point Babe Ruth league, Dobin has developed one of those perfect Mark Grace, Don Mattingly-type left handed swings and the ball jumps off his bat.

Originally a Hebron native, Dobin is not well known because he plays in Jasper County. But he was 36 of 94 (.383, 4 Hrs, 28 RBIs) as a freshman in 2004 when I swear he was no taller than 5-9. I do not know of anyone who was not a leadoff man who scored 50 runs in one season in recent NW Indiana baseball history.

Defensively, he's average and his speed is also nothing special. I don't know if he's a better than average pitcher. But Matt's still growing and was up to 6-foot in the spring of 2005. Dobin played American Legion ball in 2005 so he saw some 19-year-old pitchers during the summer, too, which can only help him hitting line drives.

Let's be honest. If a left-handed hitter bats third on a team with 11 seniors (as Dobin did in 2005) as a sophomore, he's a child prodigy. A chosen one. Obviously, Dobin needs to increase his strength and work on his defense. Like Lowell all-time hit leader Ryan Basham (2003), Dobin does not have a natural position. I think he'll grow into a first baseman.

But Matt Dobin is an intriguing combination. Not only is he already NW Indiana's best hitter, his physical growth during the 2004-2005 off season indicates is also the one with the most upside.

SS-P-3B - Ryan Bridges (Griffith) Junior

2005: .500, 3 HRs, 26 RBIs, 12 doubles

GRIFFITH - A dominant right-handed hitter with power, Bridges has been a star since his days in the Griffith Little League. A natural clean-up hitter because he will have a nice power stroke, Bridges, who batted .397 as a freshman in 2004, had the advantage of top competition with the Hammond Seminoles traveling team in the summer of 2005 and he appears to be developing the body of a power hitter.

Bridges, like Matt Dobin, does not truly have a permanent position yet and insiders say he'll end up as a corner infielder. Also like Dobin, here's another one-sport guy who will improve faster than players like Jansen and Evans, who are two-sport players. I would not be surprised to see Ryan reach double figures in home runs in 2006.

But unlike Dobin, who is still somewhat unknown, Bridges carries the weight of someone who was always expected to star. And Griifith has been to the state finals in this decade. Nobody likes being eliminated at the sectional level as the Panthers were in 2005.

Having defeated the pressure of being highly-touted, Ryan Bridges now goes to work on high team expectations.

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