LaPorte outslugs Bulldogs to 8-1 Semistate win, but lose 7-1 to Brownsburg in Class 4A Baseball Tournament

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

6-13-2005

Saturday, 6-11-2005 - 90 degrees at South Bend's Covaleski Stadium

WP - Andy Weeks (15-1) 1K, 2 walks (6 walks)

LP - Adam Quinn (5-5) 1K, 1 walk (1.7 inn.)

CROWN POINT (21-11)

Matt Ernest (SS) Single, Sac bunt, RBI

Greg Eberhart (LF) Walk, run scored

LaPORTE (30-4)

Joel Chrobak (RF) HR, double, 2 RBIs

Nick Overmeyer (2B) 2 doubles, 3 RBIs, walk

Joel Matheny (SS) Double, single, 2 RBIs

Blake Hindsley (Catcher) HBP, walks

Andy Weeks (P) Single, walk, RBI

Class 4A Regional Championship game

MUNSTER (19-14) 0000 000 = 0-2-1

CROWN POINT (21-10) 1000 10 = 2-7-0

6-8-2005 - 78 degrees in Crown Point

WP – Matt Jansen (9-2) CG, 9K, 4 walks (101 pitches)

LP - Paul Malayter (5-2) 2K, 0 walks ( 3 1/3 inn.)

MUNSTER (19-14)

Andrew Bilse (RF) HBP, walk

Brent Banach (3B) Single, stolen base

Matt DeRolf (LF) 2 walks, sac bunt

CROWN POINT (21-10)

Nick Ullman (2B) 2 singles, run scored

Dave Dickerson (RF) Double, singles

Matt Ernest (SS) Double, sac bunt, run scored

SOUTH BEND (4A) SEMISTATE (6-11-2005)

Brownsburg 10, (Allen County) Carroll 0 (6 inn.); LaPorte 8, CROWN POINT 2

Brownsburg 7, LaPorte 1 (title)

EVANSVILLE (4A) SEMISTATE (6-11-2005)

Evansville North 2, Noblesville 1 (8 inn.)

Cathedral 9, Northview 1

Evansville North 10, Cathedral 0 (title)

State (4A) Championship (6-18-2005)

Brownsburg (34-0) vs. Evansville North (24-6)

June 18 (Sat) at Loeb Stadium – Lafayette (Time TBA)

SOUTH BEND, IN (6-11-2005) - Baseball is a beautiful thing. And the beauty of it is, all things eventually seek and find their correct level.

The Yankees won't be under .500 all season. Dustin Hermanson won't save every game for the White Sox.

2005 LaPorte, more often than not, will beat 2005 Crown Point. And 2005 Brownsburg, rated in the top five in the nation, will most times beat LaPorte.

That, in a nutshell, was the Class 4A South Bend Regional Saturday in downtown Covaelski Stadium.

LaPorte (30-4), the all-time kings of Indiana high school baseball, turned back the young whipper snappers from Crown Point 8-1 in the semifinals on a damp gray June afternoon.

Then, at night, in front of 1,000 LaPorte fans, undefeated Brownsburg showed why they may be the best Indiana baseball team of this generation, with a 7-1 domination of the Slicers.

After all four teams speculated how this matchup of four 20-game winners would go, the thoroughbreds ran true to form. Brownsburg led Carroll 6-0 after one inning on the way to a 10-0, six-inning win. LaPorte led Crown Point 4-0 after two innings of the second semifinal.

And Brownsburg, the state's top-ranked school every day of the 2005 season, led LaPorte 4-0 after three innings of the title game. Reality hits as hard as Mike Tyson used to. Carroll and Crown Point were in over their heads and Brownsburg (34-0) is too legit to quit before they become the state's second undefeated state baseball champion. I wouldn't want to be Evansville North in this Saturday's 4A state championship game at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette.

What about Crown Point? Well, after Brownsburg graduates seven seniors, including five senior starters. And after LaPorte graduates eight seniors, including seven senior starters, maybe 2006 will be CP's turn.

“That's what we talked about,” said coach Steve Strayer after his CP team fell in the quarterfinals of the big school 4A bracket. “I thought that. If we were shaky, it would be at the plate and not in the field. We didn't have many strikeouts. We battled. They (LaPorte) did a good job today. I'm not ashamed to lose to a good team like that.”

The game began late due to a rain delay in Brownsburg's 10-0 six-inning semifinal win over Carroll, but LaPorte led 4-0 after 20 minutes. The Slicers scored in the first inning after Nick Overmeyer walked, moved to second base on a wild pitch and scored on Joel Matheny's long single off the left field wall at spacious Covaleski Stadium.

In the bottom of the second inning, CP shortstop Matt Ernest made an error on a routine play when his throw pulled first baseman Matt Jansen off the bag.

That's when it became obvious that CP's tall senior pitcher Adam Quinn (5-5) was not long for the game. Overmeyer hit a hard line drive to Bulldog left fielder Greg Eberhart for the second out of the inning but Matheny's first-pitch line drive reached the 360-foot sign on one hop for an RBI double.

Then Joel Chrobak hit the first pitch hard down the left field line about 25 feet off the ground. The ball hit the foul poll, which is 336 feet from then plate, for a two-run homer. Strayer was halfway to the mound before Chrobak had rounded the bases and that was the end of the pitching day for Quinn.

“He wasn't hitting his spots and he knows that,” said Strayer. “We needed his best stuff to beat LaPorte and he just didn't have it.”

It appeared that if Chrobak's home run ball had curved foul, that Strayer would have replaced Quinn at that moment. CP had right-hander Jimmy Wilson, warming up.

“I don't know what I would have done,” he said.

“They had a lot of big hits. We didn't score but one so when it was 4-1, that was pretty much it. We hit the ball some time and they made the plays. Weeks did a good job to keep us off balance. I was more impressed with their defense. They made the plays. That's the sign of a team that wants a championship.”

LaPorte wanted to play for a championship but they'd lost too many games to Crown Point (5) over the last three seasons to overlook their Lake County friends.

“I didn't talk about Brownsburg at all,” said Coach Scott Upp, who then amended that. “We stressed Crown Point all week. Whenever anyone talked about Brownsburg, we stopped it.”

LaPorte leadoff man Nick Overmeyer, a three-year starter was an impact player with two long doubles and a walk, three RBIs and at least three above average plays in the field.

“That's why we started him as a freshman,” said Upp. “He soaked everything up like a sponge. Now, he's more of a seasoned guy. Strength-wise he's not too bad. He's just very solid.'

Chrobak, who batted .467 through 33 games, finished with a home run and a double and the reason was Upp's comments about him told the LaPorte-CP story on this day.

“He's very experienced,” said the coach. “He's been through this before. He wanted an opportunity to do something he couldn't do last year. We lost to Brownsburg 6-5 and I think he struck out twice.”

Crown Point scored in the third when Matt Ernest slapped an RBI single to left with two out. But Weeks struck out Chris Saroff to end the inning.

The Bulldogs batted twice with the score still 4-1. Jansen singled with one out in the fourth inning but Overmeyer made a good stop on Quinn's hard hit grounder. And CP's Jon Sertich hit a line drive right at LaPorte center fielder Brent Herwehe for the third out.

In the fifth, CP went down in order before LaPorte filled the bases with two out against Jansen, who was pitching on borrowed time.

Overmeyer, who came in to the game with a DAC-leading 54 base hits in 117 at-bats (.462), hit a line drive into right center that rolled to the wall scoring three more runs and putting the game out of reach.

Obviously Strayer could have started the game with Jansen (9-2), his ace pitcher, who had shut out Munster 2-0 three days earlier. The problem was that Jansen had thrown 112 pitches just 72 hours earlier and he wasn't going to be able go seven innings.

“I didn't want to start him,” said Strayer. “I told him to give us what he could without injuring his arm. I told him to be careful. I told him that we might have to use him right away and unfortunately, we did. He gave us what he could. We didn't have a plan. We were hoping Adam would have his good stuff. We knew from Matt testing his arm that he was feeling decent so we thought if we'd gotten to the fifth, sixth or seventh that he was coming in. But that's not the way it worked.”

“I'd have like to have seen a healthy (fully rested) Matt Jansen against a healthy Weeks but it didn't happen.”

Strayer had a surprising comment when asked if his team's 21-11 finish against ten Top-10 teams was “overachieving.”

“I really thought we could do better than that,” Strayer said. “When I saw the pitching we had. We knew that (second baseman) Nick Ullman was a great addition. Where we are today (semistate semifinal) was about my expectation. We did that but it's really tough to match up against a team like this.”

Next year's goal is for Crown Point to be a “team like this.”

Click Here for CP's season schedule/record.

SEMI-STATE NOTES:  One of the myths of high school baseball is that pitching and defense wins. It does in April when you're playing in 45-degree wind chill. But when the south winds blow in June, you'd better have some big sticks or you'll be on summer vacation quick.

Crown Point lost 11 times even though they allowed only 95 runs in 32 games (2.9 per game) and made only 32 errors.

Pitching-wise, you can't do any better than that against big school competition. But LaPorte and Brownsburg averaged 10 runs per game. CP averaged almost six runs a game (5.9), a low total for a 20-game winner.

“Our hitting is going to have to improve,” said coach Steve Strayer, who saw his team score three runs in the final two playoff games and only eight runs in a five-game May losing streak. “That's something we're definitely going to have to work on.”

In none of CP's 11 losses did they score more than three runs. “Hopefully,” said Strayer, “we can score more runs during the regular season and not go on that roller-coaster ride that we went on.”

Junior Nick Ullman ended the season with 41 hits in 105 at-bats (.382) in his varsity debut. Ullman also stole 15 bases and made just three errors at second base. Matt Ernest batted (33-98) .336 with 16 walks and 18 stolen bases.

Outfielders playing in Covaleski Stadium have to beware of the nature of winds of a stadium in the middle of several factory-style structures as opposed to a high school field.

“When the ball gets up over the roof,” explained Upp, “you'll see the outfielders thinking they have the ball and all of a sudden they're backing up.”

CP's center fielder Jon Sertich had an interesting day defensively. He dropped a line drive by Ian Eldridge after he made a nice run to the ball in the sixth. In the first inning, Sertich charged in from deep center field and made a sliding catch. Joel Chrobak's sixth-inning double cleared Sertich's head and rolled to the wall near the 405-foot sign. Most high school fields are no bigger than 370-380 to center field.

Tentatively, the 4A semistate will move back to Lafayette in 2006 but would return to South Bend in 2007. All this is tentative because the highly unpopular mid-week regional format could be (hopefully will be) changed by that time.

Crown Point American Legion Post 20 (age 19 and under) carries on with many CPHS varsity players including Ullman, Dave Dickerson (30-96, .312), Greg Eberhart (21-73, .287, 10 steals), pitcher Jimmy Wilson (3-3, 2.56 ERA) and catcher Adam Kennedy.

Football stars Ernest, Sertich and Jansen will not be with Post 20 although Jansen may pitch selected games. Younger players Tommy Parks, Tim Mummery and Joey Patrick will play on CP's 'B' team, the 17-and-under version of Post 20.

The “A' team plays at Lowell Post 101 Wednesday night (6-15-2005) at 6:00 p.m. and hosts Highland Post 180 Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. The 'B' team hosts Cedar Lake Post 261 Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m., and travels to Terre Haute for a four-day tournament June 16-19.

USA-365 plans to provide live Internet Radio coverage of the Highland-CP game Thursday, June 16 beginning at 7:15 p.m.

American Legion Baseball 

CROWN POINT Post 20

Coach: Tony Samano

JUNE 9 (TH) at Hammond (168) 6 p.m. (postponed)

JUNE 10 (Fri) Whiting (80) 6 p.m. (postponed)

JUNE 11 (Sat) Cedar Lake (261) 2 p.m. (postponed)

JUNE 13 (M) Whiting (80) 6 p.m. (double header)

JUNE 15 (W) at Lowell (101) 6 p.m.

JUNE 16 (TH) Highland (168) 6 p.m.

JUNE 20 (M) at Hammond (168) 'B” 6 p.m.

JUNE 21 (Tu) at Plymouth (27) 7:30 p.m.

JUNE 22 (W) South Haven (502) 7:30 p.m.

Terre Haute Invitational

June 23 (TH) TBA

June 24 (F) TBA

June 25 (Sat) TBA

June 26 (Sun) TBA

JUNE 28 (Tu) at Calumet City (330) 6:30 p.m.

JUNE 29 (W) Hammond (168) 6:30 p.m.

JUNE 30 (Th) at South Haven (502) 6 p.m.

JULY 1 (F) Cedar Lake (261) 6 p.m.

JULY 2 (Sat) Kokomo (6) 2 games – 1 p.m.

JULY 3 (Sun) Post 20 A vs. B - 2 games – 2 p.m.

JULY 5 (TU) Lowell (101) 7:30 p.m.

JULY 7 (TH) at Highland (180) 6 p.m.

CROWN POINT INVITATIONAL

JULY 8 (F) TBA

JULY 9 (Sat) TBA

JULY 10 (Sun) TBA

JULY 11 (M) Hammond (168) 'B” 6:30 p.m.

JULY 12 (TU) at Valparaiso (94) 6 p.m.

JULY 13 (W) at South Bend (50) 7 p.m.

JULY 14 (TH) Valparaiso (94) 6 p.m.

JULY 15 (F) 1^st District all-star game - 7 p.m.

JULY 16 (Sat) Anderson (127) 2 games – 1 p.m.

JULY 17 (Sun) Muncie (19) 2 games – 12 noon

CROWN POINT Sectional

-- Double-elimination - at Teagle Field- Crown Point

JULY 21 (TH) 1st round – TBA

JULY 22 (F) 1st round – TBA

JULY 23 (Sat) 2nd round – TBA

JULY 24 (Sun) Championship – TBA

PLYMOUTH Regional

-- Double elimination – at Bill Nixon Field – Plymouth (27)

JULY 28 (TH) 1st round

JULY 29 (TH) 1st round

JULY 30 (Sat) 2nd round

JULY 31 (Sun) Championship round

2005  CROWN POINT (21-11, 9-5 DAC)
Coach Steve Strayer (3rd Year) 

Varsity Assistant: Rick Florkiewicz

23-10 in 2003, 17-11 in 2004  
DUNELAND ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (DAC) GAMES IN CAPS 

Copyright © 2005 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: June 13, 2005.