Morgan surprises Wildcats 9-4 in PCC Baseball Tournament Semifinals

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

5-21-2012
(Posted to website late on 7-15-2012)

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
HANOVER CENTRAL (17-10)	1	0	2	0	0	0	1	4	11	2
MORGAN TOWNSHIP (20-4)	1	0	0	3	2	3	-	9	14	2

Saturday, 5-19-2012 - 90-degrees at PCC Semifinals at Washington Township

WP - Ryan Klikus (5-2) 2K, 2 walks (2.7 inn.)
SAVE - Joe Daugherty (MT) 2K, 2 walks (2.7 inn.)
starting pitcher - Brandon Murphy (MT) 0K, 2 walks (2.7 inn.)
LP - Jesse Wilkening (3-2) 1K, 2 walks, 3 runs (1.3 inn.)
starting pitcher - Tyler Trepton (HC) 2K, 2 walks (3 inn.)

HANOVER CENTRAL (17-10)
Zac Maciejewski (C) 1-for-4, RBI
Danny Balich (2B) 1-for-4
Jesse Wilkening (LF) 2-for-3, Sac. Fly, RBI
Danny Stum (3B) 1-for-3, double, walk
Nick Bollenbacher (SS) 1-for-3, walk
Riley Welch (RF) 1-for-4
Tyler Scott (DH) 0-for-3, walk, RBI
Danny Nowak (1B) 2-for-4
Tyler Trepton (P) 1-for-2

MORGAN TOWNSHIP (20-4)
Matt Polito (CF) 2-for-3, double, sac bunt
Adam Rettinger (C) 2-for-4, double, 2 RBIs
Ryan Klikus (SS) 3-for-3, double, walk, RBI
Brandon Murphy (P) 0-for-4
Austin Porter (3B) 2-for-3, double, walk,. RBI
Mark Ehrstein (2B) 1-for-3, walk
Will Swisher (DH) 1-for-2, walk, 2 RBIs
Jacob Gourley (RF) 1-for-3
Joe Dougherty (1B) 2-for-3, double

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (5-19-2012) If Hanover Central gets to play Andrean Saturday night in the Class 3A Sectional 18 championship, they won't be overconfident. That was guaranteed by a tired performance in 90-degree weather at last Saturday's Porter County Conference (PCC) tournament semifinals.

Hanover (17-10) had a hit in all seven innings but they left 11 runners on base, had two others picked off base and misplayed some balls in the field in a 9-4 loss to Class 1A No. 5 Morgan Township.

"We didn't string anything together," said HC coach Doug Nelson. "We didn't string anything together. We've got to do a better job of execution."

HC was in position to win this game. The Wildcats led 3-1 in the fourth inning when Tyler Trepton singled and went to second base on an error. Pinch runner Nick Myszkowski was then picked off second base by Morgan relief pitcher Ryan Klikus, blowing up a potential rally. Morgan scored three in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead, aided by two wild pitches by relief pitcher Jesse Wilkening and a long RBI double off the wall by Morgan's Joe Daugherty.

In the fifth, Danny Stum was picked off first base with one out, killing another rally. Morgan, which finished at the top of the PCC regular season standing for the first time since 1973, scored two more in the fifth on a two-run single by sophomore Will Swisher.

"We had some tired arms," said Nelson. "But everybody's arm is tired this time of year. Everybody's a little sore. You have to fight through it right now. We have to get mentally tougher. I think that comes with age. We only have three seniors."

"We got picked off on a hit-and-run. There's no way you can get picked off by a right-handed pitcher on a hit-and-run."

Hanover had 11 hits, four walks, two errors and a hit batter donated by the Cherokees pitching and defense and still scored just four times. If the Wildcats had won, they'd have played the PCC championship game Monday, the regular season finale with North Newton Tuesday and the Class 3A Sectional 18 quarterfinal against Calumet Wednesday at KV. It may not hurt their playoff chances not to play Monday.

In the quarterfinals, only the scoreboard operator was happy. Hanover had a bizarre baseball experience, winning by the score of 28-15 at South Central. Taking into account that it's only 291 feet down the right field line at South Central, the 28-15 final score still is hard to believe. HC led 12-0 and pulled starting pitcher Jesse Wilkening. South Central scored 15 runs in the fourth inning including a two-run homer by Blake Geskey. Hanover answered with nine runs in the fifth and seven more in the sixth, the final inning of a three-hour game.

Senior first baseman Danny Nowak had four hits including a home run and a career-high eight runs batted in. Junior Danny Stum had four hits and three RBIs as the Wildcats rolled up 22 base hits. The odd thing was, those two home runs were the only ones in the 43-run game.

PCC NOTES: Hanover Central is changing.

Hanover was accepted into the Greater South Shore Conference (GSSC) beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, an announcement that was made last week. HC will join Bishop Noll, Wheeler, North Newton, Calumet, Lake Station, River Forest, Whiting and (Michigan City) Marquette.

The move is being made for travel purposes and enrollment differences. Hanover is an hour away from PCC members LaCrosse and South Central and those are tough trips in the winter.
Also, Hanover has over 600 students and the schools is still growing. Most of the PCC is Class 1A schools while Hanover is now 3A.

Two things seem obvious: 1. Hanover will also outgrow the GSSC eventually. 2.) This move is being made to coincide and supplement Hanover's start-up of varsity football.

"We'll be the largest school in the GSSC (in 2015) if we don't grow at all and that's not going to happen," said HC athletic director Jeff Brooks, who said that a move to the larger Northwest Crossroads Conference (NCC) with next good neighbor Lowell was not realistic.

"We don't have football yet," said Brooks, who is moving along with plans to field a varsity football team in the fall of 2015. "And we couldn't play Munster in sports like tennis."

"The thing about the move (to the GSSC) is it gives us a schedule of football teams that we can play that we can be competitive with. We didn't want to have to schedule larger schools that we could not compete with and get beaten down."

Hanover's Tyler Trepton, one of three HC senior baseball players, will pitch for Division II Wabash College next season.

"I wanted to play, he said Saturday, and I know I'll play there. It's an all boys school about 30 miles east of West Lafayette. The guys have been on me about going to an all-boys school, but my parents want me to put education first and athletics second and I didn't want any distractions."

Wabash was 18-22 this season including a 6-3 loss to the University of Chicago on May 17 in a game played in the US Steelyard in Gary. The 'Little Giants' need some help on the mound because their team earned run average was 5.28 this season.

2012 HANOVER CENTRAL (19-11)
Coach Doug Nelson (3 years) 22-6 in 2011, 13-10 in 2010

3/28/12 (W) 10-0 (5 inn.) Lowell (10-19)
4/2/12 (L) 5-9 Crown Point (27-5)
4/3/12 (L) 4-14 at Valparaiso (21-11)
4/5/12 (L) 0-5 Lake Central (28-1)
4/6/12 (L) 5-9 Portage (25-7)
4/9/12 (L) 8-11 WHEELER (21-7)
4/12/12 (L) 11-15 at WHITING (17-10)
4/13/12 (W) 2-1at Hebron (18-10)
4/14/12 (W) 11-9 SOUTH CENTRAL (12-13)
4/16/12 (W) 6-2 at BOONE GROVE
4/18/12 (W) 22-1 (5 in.)at Calumet
4/20/12 (W) 20-0 (5 inn.) at LA CROSSE
4/21/12 (W) 12-4 at Beecher, Ill
4/21/12 (W) 19-0 (5 inn.) at Beecher, Ill.
4/23/12 (W) 8-3 Kouts
4/26/12 (W) 17-6 (6 inn.) at RIVER FOREST
4/28/12 (Rain) at Munster
4/30/12 (L) 2-4 Washington Township (19-8)

5/1/12 (W) 6-3 Highland (7-14)
5/4/12 (W) 11-7 at 1A No. 5 Morgan Township (20-4)
5/5/12 (W) 10-9 Hobart (22-7)
5/7/12 (Rain) Merrillville
5/10/12 (L) 5-11 at Morton
5/11/12 (W) 10-6 at Washington Township (18-10)
5/14/12 (W) 7-3 at Clark (13-9)
5/15/12 (L) 3-5 Munster (14-13)

PORTER COUNTY CONFERENCE (PCC) Tournament
(at Washington Township)
5/16/12 (W) 28-15 at South Central (12-13)
5/17/12 (W) 11-6 at Kankakee Valley (17-14)
5/19/12 (L) 4-9 Morgan Township (20-4)
5/22/12 (W) 12-0 (5 inn.) North Newton

KANKAKEE VALLEY (3A) Sectional
5/23/12 (W) 17-0 (5 inn.) Calumet
5/26/12 (L) 4-5 Kankakee Valley (17-14)