Hanover Central leads early before falling 4-3 to Griffith
	A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith 5-13-2007

Friday, May 11, 2007 - sunny, 51 degrees & windy in CEDAR LAKE, IN

Wednesday, May 9, 2007 - sunny, 71 degrees in HAMMOND, IN

WP - Jesse Tomich (4-0) CG, 2K, 2 walks
LP - Dale Sjoerdsma (2-3) CG, 2K, 3 walks

HANOVER (7-11)
Joe Angone (RF) Double, 2 RBIs
Dale Sjoerdsma (P) 2 singles

MORTON (15-3)
Jeremy Jeffries (OF) Triple, double, 2 runs scored
Phil Garza (OF) Single, double, 2 RBIs

CEDAR LAKE (5-11-2007)  It doesn't matter what sport it is and it doesn't matter what level it is.  If you're a small team trying to get experience by scheduling a bigger, more successful team, the game can go one of three ways:

1)  Either you get blown out, which is one type of lesson. Or,
2)  you upset them, which tells you something else.  What happens, more likely than not, is the third option,
3)  Since the game means more to smaller school than the larger one, then small school stays close for awhile before the better team takes control in the late going and goes home with a victory.

So when new Hanover Central coach Jim Nohos called Griffith's Brian Jennings and scheduled the Panthers, a first division team in the Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) for a mid-May open date, everybody knew the score before the game began.  That third eventuality was along the lines of how Griffith rallied to beat Hanover Central 4-3 last Friday in the sun and the wind out behind the Cedar Lake high school.

"I knew this would happen," said Griffith coach Brian Jennings of the close game.  "We come down here and this is a big game for these kids.  Jimmy is a good baseball coach and they are in good shape with him.  He's a great baseball mind.  We were flat and we've got to come out of this.  But give them credit.  Their pitcher (Joe Angone) did a good job out there.  We got ourselves out.  We had some bad at bats.  But we were lucky to get out of here with a win."

Hanover led 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning before an RBI triple by Matt Kuna and a sacrifice fly ball from Ryan Bridges tied the game in the sixth.  The HC defense betrayed Angone in the seventh inning when two infield errors and some aggressive Griffith base running punched across the game-winner.  Nohos, who has watched the Wildcats (7-12) lose six one run games this year, probably realized his team wasn't 'supposed' to beat Griffith (16-7), but he thought they should have.

"It was a good game," said Nohos, without much conviction.  "I'm happy with how we came out.  We played hard for seven innings.  Joe Angone pitched a gem.  I had him at 80 pitches through seven innings.  Whoever gets him next year will be happy, because he's getting better every time."

Nohos talked about the decisive seventh inning where Angone missed the first base bag on a one out grounder to first baseman Jordan Rizo, allowing Ryan Galiher to reach base.  Then, second baseman Eric Leibengood was ruled to have missed the second base bag on a ground ball to shortstop Andrew DeYoung, which should have been a force out on a ground ball by Griffith's Kyle Lidster.  Then, when Dave Konopasek hit a potential double play grounder, Jennings had Galiher round third and attempt to score while the Wildcats tried for a 4-6-3 (second to short to first) double play.  When Konopasek beat the play at first, Galiher was able to slide home before Rizo's throw from first reached catcher Brian Jager.

"We had just shifted (Leibengood) into the hole between first and second because Lidster was hitting the ball to the right side," said Nohos.  "So he was late covering, but I don't know, I thought he got there.  My opinion doesn't really matter, I guess."

"On the play where the run scored, we have a play where the middle man on the double play pump fakes the throw to first and then throws to third.  We'd have had him at third.  But he thought he could get the runner at first.  But I wouldn't trade Andrew DeYoung for anything."

Hanover got the best of things for five innings.  Rizo's first inning double scored Leibengood to give the home team a 1-0 lead on a sun swept Friday afternoon which featured 20-mile-an-hour winds that wrapped outfield play.  HC went ahead 2-0 in the fourth when Jager doubled over to the left field fence and scored on an error by Bridges, Griffith's all-state shortstop.

In the fifth inning, Griffith's Lidster singled and Dave Konopasek doubled out of the reach of diving Hanover left fielder Adam Warn.  But Gaisor, HC's center fielder, picked up the ball and relayed it to DeYoung, HC's shortstop, who threw out Konopasek trying to stretch his double into a triple.

HC took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Gaisor hit a long triple into the wind and sun in right field before Jesse Hernandez' RBI double to left scored the Wildcats' third run.

Griffith tied the game in the sixth with one out.  Corey Nash singled to right and Kuna hit a line drive triple to left center.  Bridges, the senior infielder headed for Purdue, lifted a high fly into foul territory down the right field line on which Hernandez made a long running catch.  Kuna tagged up and scored after the catch to tie the game 3-3.

Both Angone and Griffith junior Tim Cooper (6-2) pitched well.  Angone was better early and Cooper was stronger in the late going.  Cooper appeared to be throwing harder after Griffith tied the game.

"We told him to go with the fast ball after that," Jennings explained.  "If he gave up one hit in the seventh, we were going out to get him.  We were happy to take the 'W' and get out of here."

Hanover, as expected, looked at it totally differently.  They get ready for Lake Central coming up Wednesday

"We want to play these teams because we want to get better," Nohos said.  "The more experience he gets against good teams, the more it will help us down the line."

CAT NOTES:  Hanover coach Jim Nohos confirms that juniors Dale Sjoerdsma and Andrew DeYoung will join the Hammond Chiefs Senior Babe Ruth summer team this year to get some high level experience.  The Chiefs are a multiple time Indiana state champ and they are a traveling team that plays in national caliber tournaments.

"We've got Andrew and Dale both playing with the Chiefs," said Nohos.  "I'm trying to get Jordan Rizo onto the (the Chiefs' age 17-and-under junior team) Seminoles roster.  Hanover will play at Lake Central (10-10) Wednesday and they drew the 9:00 a.m. game at LaCrosse Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Porter County Conference (PCC) tournament at South Central.  If they win, HC will face the winner of the Boone Grove-LaCrosse semifinals Monday at 4:30 p.m. at Boone Grove.

Griffith's win was the 11th in a row for the Panthers since a 7-5 loss to Kankakee Valley on April 19.  Bridges batted .465 in 2006 and was walked 15 times.

Hanover's pitching has shown marked improvement in the last few weeks even though the won-loss record has not.  Joe Angone, Dale Sjoerdsma and Jesse Hernandez all pitched complete games last week.  Sjoerdsma (2-3) pitched a complete game in a 4-3 loss at Morton on Wednesday.  Angone went all the way against Griffith and Hernandez pitched a complete-game 5-3 win at South Central Saturday afternoon.  HC's Jake Huppenthal hit his team-leading fourth home run of the season in the seventh inning Saturday.  Hanover is 1-6 in one run games, 3-0 in two-run games and 2-2 in games decided by three runs.

HANOVER CENTRAL (8-12)
Coach Tom Nohos (1st Year), 13-15 in 2006  - PCC game in CAPS

3-31 (L) 4-5 (8 innings) at Bishop Noll (6-13)
4-3  (W) 4-2 at North Newton (6-9)
4-4 -     Calumet (cold) 
4-6 -     Gary Roosevelt (cold)
4-10 (L) 0-10 (5 innings) at Clark (10-5)
4-12 -     Whiting (cold)
4-16 (L) 4-8 WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (7-5)
4-17 (L) 2-3 Lowell (7-10) at the US Steelyard
4-19 (L) 5-6 MORGAN TOWNSHIP (6-5-1)
4-21 (L) 7-10 Beecher, Ill.
4-21 (W) 11-8 Beecher, Ill.
4-23 (L) 4-7 at BOONE GROVE (14-2-1)
4-26 (Th) Gary West Side (wet grounds)
4-27 (F)  Gavit (rain)
4-26 (W) 4-3 Wheeler (14-7)
4-30 (W) 11-1 at South Newton (4-7)
5-1  (W) 6-4 East Chicago (9-8)
5-3  (W) 5-3 Whiting (7-9)
5-4 (L) 8-9 KOUTS (10-3)
5-5 (L) 0-0 Lincoln-Way East (New Lenox, Ill.)
5-7 (W) 10-5 at HEBRON
5-9-7 (L) 4-9  at LaCROSSE (12-8)
5-10 (L) 3-4 at Morton (16-5)
5-11 (L) 3-4 Griffith (16-7)
5-12 (W) 6-3 at SOUTH CENTRAL  (10-7).

5-15-7 (Tu) at Lew Wallace - 4:30 p.m.
5-16-7 (W) at Lake Central (10-10) 4:30 p.m.
5-18-7 (F) River Forest - 4:30 p.m.

Porter County Conference (PCC) Tournament
5-19-7 (S) Morgan Township (6-5-1)  9 a.m.
5-21-7 (M) semifinals - 4:30 p.m.
5-23-7 (W) PCC championship - 4:30 p.m.

5-24-7 (Th) at Lake Station - 4:30 p.m.
5-25-7 (F) Hammond - 4:30 p.m.

BOONE GROVE (2A) Sectional
5-29-7 (M) quarterfinals
6-2-7 (F) semifinals
6-3-7 (S) championship

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Revised: May 16, 2007.