Hanover Central falls 3-0 to Boone Grove in PCC showdown

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Hanover Central (5-5)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2
Boone Grove (6-6)	0	0	1	0	1	1	-	3	4	0

4-28-2003 in Porter Township - cloudy, 71 degrees

WP - Steve Rathjen (2-3) CG No. 2, 6K, 1 walk
LP - Jon Radosevich (3-2) CG No. 3, 3k, 1 W

HANOVER CENTRAL - 3 singles
Billy Rickey (HC) Single, walk

BOONE GROVE - Triple, 3 walks
Steve Georgian (BOONE) Triple, single, RBI

PORTER TOWNSHIP (4-28-2003) Hanover Central has been down. Boone Grove has been on top. At least in the Porter County Conference. But Boone Grove was 5-6 and coming off a 4-1 loss to Michigan City two days earlier. Hanover was 5-4 and coming in with a three-game winning streak. This was the biggest game of the year for Hanover.

"We're everybody's biggest game," said Boone Grove coach Rollie Thill.

If there is to be a changing of the guard in the PCC, it'll come later on. The Wolves were still on duty and in first place after Monday's 3-0 victory over the visitors from Cedar Lake.

Boone's Steve Rathjen held Hanover to just three singles, removing any chance that the Wildcats could hand the home team an upset loss.

"He did a good job on us," said HC coach Ron Szayni. "He changed speeds and he had a good breaking ball. I'm not happy about the loss but we didn't break down. A lot of times we've come over here and the score's something like 3-2 and then suddenly its 10-2. That didn't happen today."

Boone Grove had few complaints in a game that took just 90 minutes to play. Facing Jon Radosevich, HC's best pitcher this season, the Wolves used bunts, wild pitches, errors and a couple of hits by Steve Georgian to score the three runs in different innings. They won a game where they really didn't hit the ball much. Largely because Rathjen (2-3) didn't let HC hit the ball at all.

"He pitched very well against Rensselaer," said Thill. "He pitched well against Munster the first time through their order and then he hit the ninth place batter and everything fell apart. I don't know what happened there. Today he had that look about him. He was confident."

The game was never out of reach. Boone led 1-0 in the fifth inning when Curtis Blackburn walked, moved to second on Matt Langbehn's sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Then, Hanover showed some inexperience under pressure. Catcher Larry Pempek tried to pick Blackburn off third base and threw wildly down the left field line to make the score 2-0.

In the sixth inning, Steve Georgian's leadoff triple to the center field fence set up the 3-0 run. After Luke Losinski's squeeze bunt failed, Rathjen hit a ground ball to shortstop. The throw to the plate might have gotten Georgian but Pempek did not tag the runner, possibly believing he had a force play. The third run scored easily.

"We made some mistakes," said coach Szayni. "I did point out that the pickoff play at third base was a poor decision. You don't even need to try that in that situation."

Hanover only got more than one hit in the same inning once. Trailing just 1-0 in the fifth, freshman Todd Sheehy hit a line drive single to center on which Losinki, the Wolves' center fielder barely missed a diving catch. After Luke Besse bunted Sheehy to second base, Rathjen spun around on his delivery and picked Sheehy off second base. Larry Pempek followed with another single to center field.

"We ran ourselves out of a couple of innings," said Szayni. "But I did think that pickoff was a balk. We just didn't hit very much."

Thill sees good times for his side after splitting the first 12 games.

"We could be 9-3 at this point," he said. "We should have beaten Michigan City. Six errors in that game. We could have beaten Merrillville. We could have beaten Munster. We had the lead. That's the tough part of our schedule."

"We could run off 9-10 wins in a row now. We're getting better."

The Wildcats also have a string of 10 games they certainly could win before a May 21 date at Wheeler and a return trip to Boone Grove for the May 24 PCC tournament quarterfinals. That's when Hanover will check again to see if the guard is still on duty.

CAT NOTES: Hanover Central is still not 100 percent healthy as Todd Szayni was still unavailable to pitch. "He wanted to go in on Saturday (against Beecher) said Ron Szayni, his dad. "But I'm going to wait as long as I can before I send him out there. It's his elbow, not his shoulder."

Boone Grove's coaching staff hopes the boys understand that a tighter defense must appear or the post-season will be short.

"We've made 41 errors in 12 games so far," said Thill. That's way too many. They made 53 errors all last year (in 32 games) and a lot of those boys are back."

The surprise for Boone has been Marcus Banning, who is 3-1 as a pitcher including a 3-2 win over South Central last Saturday. Banning, a senior who reportedly hadn't pitched since 12-year-old Little League, also beat KV and (Chicago) Harlan.

Boone's other starting pitcher is sophomore Shawn Bishop, a promising left-hander, who allowed just four hits and a walk in the 4-1 loss to Michigan City Saturday. Six of Boone's first 12 foes were Class 4A schools. Boone is a 2A team.

2003 HANOVER CENTRAL (5-5, 1-2)

Ron Szayni (6th year) 2002: 9-18-1 - 2001: 9-13

PCC games in CAPS

4-11 -   2-12 (5 innings) at Lowell (8-3)
4-12 - 10-5 Gavit (2-5)
4-15 -   0-2 at Clark (7-2)
4-16 - 8-1 River Forest (3-6)
4-17 -   5-18 Wheeler (6-3)
4-21 - 9-11 WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (4-3)
4-24 - 3-1 MORGAN TOWNSHIP (3-7)
4-26 - 16-4 Beecher, Ill.
4-26 - 4-2 Beecher, Ill
4-28 - 0-3 at BOONE GROVE (6-6)

4-29 (Tu) Hammond - 4:30 p.m.

5-1 (Th) Gary West Side - 4:30 p.m.
5-5 (M) at South Newton - 4:30 p.m.
5-6 (Tu) at Wirt - 4:30 p.m.
5-8 (Th) at East Chicago - 4:30 p.m.
5-9 (F) KOUTS - 4:15 p.m.
5-12 (M) at HEBRON - 4:30 p.m.
5-13 (Tu) Calumet - 4:30 p.m.
5-14 (W) LaCROSSE - 4:45 p.m.
5-15 (Th) at Morton - 4:30 p.m.
5-19 (M) at North Newton - 4:30 p.m.
5-20 (Tu) Lew Wallace - 4:30 p.m.
5-21 (W) at WHEELER - 4:15 p.m.

PCC Tournament
5-24 (S) quarterfinals - (TBA)
5-26 (M) semifinals - 4:30 p.m.
5-28 (W) PCC championship - 4:30 p.m.

5-29 (Th) at Lake Station - 4:30 p.m.
5-30 (F) Gary Roosevelt - 4:30 p.m.

Lake Station (2A) Sectional
6-2 (M) quarterfinals (TBA)
6-5 (S) Semifinals (morning)
6-6 (S) Championship (afternoon)

Jimtown (2A) Regional
6-13 (S) semifinals (morning)
6-13 (S) championship (night)