Hanover wins Jimtown 2A Regional Title, 10-2 over Eastside

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

6-06-2011

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
HANOVER CENTRAL (20-5)	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	4	9	12	3
WHEELER (18-6)	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	2	0	0	5	9	5

Saturday, 6-04-2011 - 93 degrees - Jimtown (2A) Regional Semifinal at JIMTOWN, IN

WP - Andy Wellwerts (9-0) 13K, 2 walks (10 innings)
LP - Damon Miller (4-5) 1K, 1 walk (one inning)
(starter) Zach Mishler (Westview) 7K, 4 walks

HANOVER (20-5)
Zac Maciejewski (C) 1-for-7
Nic Sampognaro (2B) 1-for-5, walk
Nick Bollenbacher (SS) 2-for-3, HBP, 3 runs scored
Danny Stum (3B) 1-for-4
Mike Balich (DH) 2-for-6, HR, triple, 5 RBI
Nick Spangler (RF) 2-for-6, RBI
Nick Laing (LF) 2-for-6, RBI
Tyler Trepton (1B-P) 0-for-3, RBI
Nick Myszkowski (CF) 1-for-5, walk

WESTVIEW (14-17)
Brant Yoder - 3-for-6, stolen base
Jamar Weaver - 3-for-5, RBI
Judah Zickafoose - 0-for-4
Zac Mishler - 1-for-3, 2 RBIs
Lukas Miler - 0-for-6, 2 RBIs
Adrian Brandeberger - 1-for-5
Tarrin Beachy - 0-for-5
Jared Berkey - 0-for-4
Austin Schlabach - 1-for-1

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
EASTSIDE (15-17)	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	6	3
HANOVER CENTRAL (21-5)	2	0	0	0	8	0	-	10	8	0

Saturday, 6-04-2011 - 80 degrees - Jimtown (2A) Regional Championship game at JIMTOWN, IN

WP - Nic Sampognaro (7-0) 3K, 0 walks (3 inn.)
starter - Tyler Trepton (HC) 4K 1 walk (4 inn.)
LP - Eyon Reas (5-6) 2K, 2 walks, 6 HBP (4.7 inn.)

EASTSIDE (15-17)
Chase Rayle (2B) 1-for-3
Bryce Yoder (3B) 0-for-3
Cody Hein (LF) 0-for-3
Eyon Reas (P) 3-for-3, double, 2 RBIs
Josh Yoder (CF) 0-for-2, walk
Matt Beard (C) 1-for-2, sac bunt
Corbin Yoder (DH) 0-for-2
Nate Mack (1B) 1-for-3, double
Luke Kaiser (RF) 0-for-3

HANOVER (21-5)
Zac Maciejewski (C) 1-for-3, double, walk, 2 RBIs
Nic Sampognaro (2B-P) 1-for-4, RBI
Danny Stum (3B) 2-for-4, RBI
Nick Bollenbacher (SS-2B) 1-for-3, triple, walk, RBI
Mike Balich (DH) 0-for-2, 2 HBP
Nick Spangler (RF) 0-for-2, HBP
Josh Yaverski (1B) 0-for-2
Nick Laing (LF) 0-for-1, 2 HBP, RBI
Tyler Trepton (P-1B) 1-for-3, RBI

JIMTOWN, IN (6-04-2011) I have heard it said that pigs will fly before Hanover Central baseball reaches the Indiana state finals. Well, rumors of pigs calling their travel agents and booking flights to Indianapolis were rampant last weekend after Hanover Central outlasted luck, 90-degree heat and two spunky foes to win the school's first-ever Class 2A regional baseball crown with a 9-5, 11-inning win over Westview and a bizarre 8-2 win over Eastside in last Saturday's Jimtown Regional.

Now, Hanover goes 'big time.' The Wildcats ride the big, yellow bus to downtown South Bend next Saturday to take on second ranked Taylor (27-4) in the Class 2A Northern semistate championship game.

Hanover will take the field for the biggest game in the 43-year history of the program, just seven good innings away from a berth in the June 18 state finals. It's all on the line. Understand that Hanover will be bumped up to Class 3A in 2012 when they will have to defeat perennial state superpower Andrean just to get out of the sectional every year. The future is now and a large chunk of history is within HC's grasp. Not only had no Porter County Conference (PCC) boys team ever won a state title in any sport. No Hanover boys team has ever even reached the state finals in a team sport. This is a major eye-opener in a state tournament where folks at most of the remaining schools don't even know where Hanover Central is.

"It is," said senior Mike Balich, whose three-run homer in the top of the 11th broke a 5-5 tie against Westview in the semifinals. "It's a big statement."

Hanover began celebrating when they scored eight times in the fifth inning with the help of three hit batters by Eastside pitcher Eyon Reas (5-6). Until then, you could see some doubt in the faces of the Cedar Lake boys who wrestled their way through a 10-hour day against teams they had never met before.

"It's just not knowing who there is on a team," Balich said. "Who their ace is. Who's good. It makes it hard. You have to come here open-minded, in a way. Be prepared to face whoever. You've never seen these guys, so you have to be prepared for anything."

Hanover only got 20 hits in 18 innings on the day, none bigger than Balich's three-run homer off losing pitcher Dean Miller in the 11th. Nick Bollenbacher was hit by a pitch and Vince Brazzale drew a four pitch walk at the start the winning inning.

"The lead was back and forth," Balich said. "I wasn't afraid we'd ever lose. I think we 'knew' we'd win. But it was crazy. It really was."

"I'm happy for Hanover Central high school," said Wildcats coach Doug Nelson. "As for the Little League, it's great for the younger people to look up and see that if they work hard good things can happen. As far as making a statement, being in the semistate is a pretty good statement on its own."

There are two different perspectives here. While Hanover understandably hasn't gotten much attention for their school-record 20-win season with the school sitting just a few miles from 4A regional champions Crown Point and Duneland Athletic champ Lake Central, they aren't surprised to be winning.

Nelson is from Portage where, as a player, he reached the semistate with the Indians. And Hanover's senior class of Balich, Josh Yaverski, Nic Sampognaro and Nick Laing started on the Cedar Lake Little League Junior all-star squad that went 13-5 and reached pool play in the 2009 state finals. That was believed to be the first time any Cedar Lake Little League had reached the state finals since the league began in the late 1950s.

Cedar Lake put together a 'big league' team (18 and under) that qualified for state finals play in 2010, a steep climb for a league that didn't even field a 12-and-under all-star team in 2007.

Even though this Hanover senior class was 6-20 at Hanover in 2009, they've never thought they weren't any good.

"All experience is good experience," said Nelson who took that 6-20 squad from former coach Jim Nohos (now the pitching coach at Andrean) and ran with it. "These guys took their lumps on that 6-20 team," said Nelson., "And it's paying off now. I don't know that that's the difference. I don't know experience teaches you how to stand there and get hit by a pitch."

The great thing about baseball is that you can watch 999 games and see something in the 1,000th game you've never seen before. In the regional championship game, Hanover got RBI hits from Danny Stum and Nick Bollenbacher to take a 2-0 first inning lead as Enos, Eastside's right-hander hit Balich and Nick Spangler with inside pitches.

In the fourth, Laing was hit by a pitch and in the eight-run fifth, Balich, Wellwerts and Laing were all hit by inside pitches. Most of the hit batters were just plunked on the leg or the shoulder, although Yaverski was hit hard in the knee and later left the game. Eastside fans were howling that the HC boys were not making acrobatic efforts to avoid getting hit, but Nelson said they didn't have to.

"We've been trying to get them not to dive out of the ay of inside pitches," Nelson said. "Just get hit and get on. I'm happy for them and proud of them. When we beat Clark (21-10) at their place, we knew we could play. You have to win a big game to get over the hump. I'm happy for Balich. Andy pitched 10 innings today. Tyler Trepton pitched very well and then Nic (Sampognaro) came in and threw strikes. It feels good."

Hanover's wins Saturday were not their most impressive. Westview (14-16) and Eastside (15-17) were upset sectional champions and Hanover was the better team in both games, even though Wellwerts had to strike out Westview's Jared Berkey and Brant Yoder with the tying run at third base to save the semifinal game in the bottom of the 10th. HC led 3-0 and 5-3 in the first game only to have Westview tie with a couple of key hits (in the ninth) and a couple of Hanover errors in the sixth and seventh. But lots of favorites lose in the small school classes of the state tournament because of vastly different schedules. These two games were exercises in survival. Hanover (21-5), which won't be able to go anonymous locally this week, won't have to worry about being favored this Saturday either as they will see a Top-10 team. They've made a name for themselves and it's getting louder.

"I was just trying to get the win. I really wanted it," said pitcher Sampognaro, standing under artificial light 100 miles from home in a place where Hanover figuratively and literally had never been before.

"I didn't know if we'd have much energy after the first game. After we won that one, I was sure we'd do it. This puts us on the map."

SECTIONAL NOTES: All of the other three semistate championship games were postponed by Saturday's heavy rains. HC will meet the winner of Monday night's Wabash Regional Championship game between Class 2A No. 2 Taylor (26-4) and Class 2A No. 6 Northfield (25-5) and Hanover will be the home team.

The match between No. 4 Wapahani (26-3) and No. 5 Park Tudor (26-5) was also rained out late Saturday at Park Tudor high in Indianapolis.

No one could remember any one pitcher hitting six batters in the same game at any level of play. There didn't appear to be any harsh words between the two teams. It just seemed like a stubborn pitcher pitching inside and stubborn hitters who didn't move out of the way.

During the 10-2 championship game win over Eastside, Hanover's fan group kept hearing dire reports from back home about the violent electrical storm that roared through Lake County Saturday evening, knocking out power and cracking some trees.

The storm apparently missed LaPorte and Plymouth where Crown Point and Andrean were involved in regional competition. But Andrean's softball team was postponed in Twin Lakes and the Lake Central-Carmel softball game in West Lafayette was delayed for two hours.

The possibility of Hanover and neighbor Crown Point playing back-to-back in Covaleski Stadium for the right to go to the state finals wasn't talked about after HC's win because word got to Jimtown (which is on the far east side of Elkhart) that Elkhart Central had defeated Crown Point. But with the rainouts, the site for game were not determined until Tuesday.