Griffith snaps three-year Andrean streak in LAC with 4-3 win

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Griffith (3-8)	0	2	1	1	0	0	0	4	10	2
ANDREAN (9-1)	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	3	7	2

4-25-2003 at RailCats Stadium - Gary , sunny, 50 degrees

WP - Brian Miles (2-3) CG No. 4, 5Ks, 1 W
LP - Garret Wiejak (4-1) 1K, 3 W, 2 earned runs (4 inn.)

Griffith (9 singles, double, 1-1 stolen bases
Brian Miles (G) Double, 2 singles, RBI
Sean Sexton (G) 2 singles
Jeff Konopasek (G) 3 singles

ANDREAN (6 singles, 1 double)
Jeff Mojzik (A) Double
Mike Staehle (A) Single, RBI
Roco Marcinak (A) 2 singles

GARY (4-25-2003) - Eventually, someone would beat Andrean in a Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) baseball game. The 59ers had won three consecutive league titles and 40 LAC games in a row.
There aren't that many good baseball programs in the LAC. If somebody was going to beat Andrean, it figured to be Munster, who appeared in the last two state finals or Griffith, the 2001 Class 3A state finalist, which had a won-loss record of 96-36 over the past four years.

So, it came to pass Friday. Griffith built up a 4-0 lead and played through some late mistakes to beat the 59ers 4-3, the first LAC loss for Andrean since Munster beat the 59ers 6-5 on May 10, 2000.

With almost 500 fans (483) looking on in the 5,800-seat Railcats Stadium in downtown Gary, the Panthers (4-8) used the RailCat Invitational as their stage, shaking off some early season losing ways and scoring an upset of the second-ranked (Class 3A) 59ers (9-1).

"I'm not just saying that because he's standing here listening," said Griffith coach Brian Jennings in the radio interview room, " but it's a great win for us against a program like Dave (Pishkur) has over at Andrean. I have a lot of respect for him and his program. His teams are always fundamentally sound."

The key early on was that Andrean, which had gone 9-0 against a semi-tough portion of their schedule, was not solid defensively.

In the second inning, Jeff Konopasek singled and moved to second base on Jason Lewis' slow ground ball. Griffith's Joe Wagman than lined a single to left. Konopasek, who thought the ball might be caught by left fielder Roco Marcinak, held up momentarily and had to hustle to beat Marcinak's throw to third base. Griffith got a bonus on the play when the ball got past third base and the batter Wagman took second.

The next pitch from Wiejak (2-1) has high and outside and tipped off the glove of 59er catcher Jeff Mojzik, allowing Konopasek to score. When Raul Larios followed with a ground out to Andrean shortstop Mike Ryan, Griffith led 2-0.

Sean Sexton made it 3-0 with an RBI single in the third and Brain Miles stroked a run-scoring base hit to deep short to make it 4-0 in the fourth inning.

"Give all credit to Brian Jennings and his team," said Pishkur, who wasn't really devastated that the long league win streak had ended. "We were going to lose again eventually," he said. "We made a rally late in the game but we didn't deserve to win. They got their game going -- the way they want to play. They put pressure on us. And we played like high school kids do sometimes."

Griffith, playing the the pro ballpark for the second time, relied on senior right-hander Brian Miles (2-3) to keep the Panthers on track to victory.

"Brian is a tremendous competitor," said Jennings. "We have our best defense on the field when he's the pitcher and he was pretty much going all the way today."

Miles, a 5-9 breaking ball pitcher, carried a two-hit shutout into the fifth when his defense got shaky. With two out in the fifth, Roco Marcinak lined a single to center and he raced to third base when Sexton, the Panther centerfielder, missed a shoe top catch. Miles covered that mistake by getting Nick Stockwell to fly out to center field.

In the sixth inning, singles by Tommy Finn and Mike Ryan set up a two-out pinch hit single from Mike Staehle that cut the lead to 4-1. Andrean pinch hitter Bobby Sawin then hit a high fly ball to right field which the Panthers' Jim Swienconek appeared to lose, looking west into the setting sun behind the stadium grandstand. Two Andrean runners scored to make it 4-3. But Miles then got the 59ers' Jim Jaworski to ground out to third base to end that threat.

In the seventh inning, it appeared that Andrean would rally for the victory. Marcinak lined a single to right field and Nick Stockwell beat out a sacrifice bunt for a single. When Ryne Pishkur bunted both runners into scoring position, Griffith chose to intentionally walk Tommy Finn to fill the bases.
After a meeting on the mound, Miles got Mike Ryan to hit a ground ball to Panther third baseman Ben Bartley. Instead of going for a second-to-first double play, Bartley threw home to catcher Lewis for a force out.

"That was what we wanted to do," Jennings said later. "We had the shortstop and second baseman back for double play but if the ball was hit to third base, we wanted the throw to go home."

Pishkur commented. "That's a situation where you've got to hit the ball to the middle of the field. We work a lot on situational hitting. The middle of the infield was playing back, almost giving us the tying run. There's no way they could have doubled up Mike Ryan. But you can't just swing the bat and hope it goes where you want. You have to hit the ball to the middle of the diamond there."

With two out and the bases full, Mojzik hit a 2-1 pitch to Bartley who stepped on third base to end the game and start a Panther celebration on the perfectly cut, green Railcat infield.

"There were a lot of chances where we could have given up in the last inning," said Jennings. Miles is a great competitor but I thought this was a total team victory."

"One of the greatest things I saw was when the right fielder dropped the ball, the second baseman (Konopasek) went out and hugged him. That's great team spirit."

Pishkur added, "I want to congratulate Brian Jennings for stopping the steak. We'll meet again and the stakes will be higher."

NINER NOTES: Coach Jennings isn't used to losing and he has been frustrated with his team.

"These kids have been a challenge for me," he said. "They've had some problems with my personality and I've had some problems with theirs. What I've started to do lately is just leave them alone and let them play."

When the bases were loaded, Jennings reminded his team of the bigger picture.

"This is why you play," Jennings told his teammates. "You've got to want to be in game situations like this. This is why you're here."

He also reminded his squad that Ryan, a Bishop Noll transfer who came from the Griffith Little League, was hitting.

"You guys all grew up with him," Jennings said "You guys all know him. He went to Noll when he could have played with you."

Andrean does not have a set infield. Wiejak plays short when Ryan pitches but Ryan Pishkur was making his debut at first base and Steve Walsh is not a regular at third.

"The tough part of our schedule is still coming," said Pishkur. "Our batting averages are outrageous. We came in batting .480 as a team. Louis Grugel went 3-for-5 and his batting average dropped 50 points. It's still early in the season. We're still trying to get people in the right spots."

ANDREAN (9-1, 2-1 LAC)

Head Coach Dave Pishkur - 2002: 25-5, 2001: 25-5, 2000: 26-6 - LAC Games in CAPS

4-7: 8-0 Portage (5-4)
4-12; 18-6 Washington Township (6-4)
4-14: 12-5 Bishop Noll (6-3)
4-15: 10-9 (Chicago) Mount Carmel (14-5)
4-16: 15-1 at Gavit
4-19: 12-3 Chesterton
4-21: 22-0 (5 inn.) Hammond (0-8)
4-22: 12-0 (5 inn.) Wheeler (7-3)
4-23: 11-1 Lake Station (1-9)
4-25: 3-4 Griffith (in Gary)
4-26: 2-1 Thornwood (South Holland, Ill.)
4-28 (M) at Whiting (7-2)
4-30 (W) CALUMET (2-6)

5-2 (F) at Highland (8-1) 4:30 p.m.

(West Lafayette) Harrison Classic
5-3 (S) 2 games
5-5 (M) at MORTON (3-7)
5-7 (W) at KANKAKEE VALLEY (7-4)
5-8 (Th) at Clark (7-3)

Plymouth Invitational
5-10 (S) 2 games
5-12 (M) LOWELL (9-3) 4:30 p.m.
5-14 (W) MUNSTER (8-4) 4:340 p.m.

Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) tournament
5-19 (M)   first round
5-21 (W)    quarterfinals
5-23 (F)   semifinals
5-24 (S) championship
5-29 (Th) MERRILLVILLE (7-4)
5-30 (F) at (South Bend) Clay -   5 p.m.