Lowell Post 101 headed in "right direction" despite 13-8 loss to Indiana Heat and 3-9 record

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Indiana Heat (6-9)	0	0	4	2	7	0	0	13	9	2
LOWELL (3-9)	1	0	5	2	0	0	0	8	12	4

6-26-2003   - 74 degrees, sunny at Hanover Central
WP -    Clint Waldron (Heat) 4Ks, 2 walks
Steve Jastremski (Save) 3Ks, 1 walk (3 innings)
LP -   Brain Stamper (1-3) 4K, 4 walks (4.3 inn.)
Luke Besse (101) 3K, 1 walks

Indiana Heat (7 singles, HR, double)
Vince Macielak (Heat) HR, 2 RBIs
Clint Marler (Heat) Single, 2 walks
Pete Lugo (Heat) Single, 2 RBIs
Steve Jastremski (Heat) 2 singles, 4 RBIs
Brandon Barks (Heat) 2 RBIs, walk

LOWELL (10 singles, double, HR)
Scott Denton (Hebron-101) 3 singles
Brian Stamper (LOWELL-101) Double, single, walk
Luke Besse (HC-101) HR, 4 RBIs
Luke Estill (KV-101) 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Adam Suarez (HC-101) Single, walk

CEDAR LAKE (6-26-2003) - Lowell American Legion Post 101 dropped to 3-9 with their 13-8 loss last Thursday against the visiting Indiana Heat all-stars.

But, strange as it may sound, it was a good night.

Post 101, which is made up mostly of 17 and 18 year olds this season, was very competitive against a team of 19-year-old college freshmen. If you can see this summer's squad as a work in progress you can see last Tuesday's game as some of that work.

"I feel like we're headed in the right direction," said manager Greg Ford. "Our 3-9 record is not indicative of how we've played. We were very competitive against Lafayette Post 11 (10-2). We lost both games by one run. Against Plymouth (a 6-1 loss), Nate Oaf pitched well. We went against that kid (Plymouth's Nick Correll, the MVP of the Northern Indiana Conference) who's got the full ride to Indiana University. He throws real well."

"I wonder if I've made the schedule a little too tough because the record looks bad and people start to get down. But the whole idea is, so when they go up against Crown Point in the sectional, the kids say, 'Hey, they aren't as good as Plymouth. They aren't as good as Anderson."

Until right-hander Steve Jastremski came on to stop Post 101 with three shutout innings, the Lowell-based squad was the equal of their older, more experienced foe.

The Heat (7-8), which gears up largely for traveling team tournaments, took a 4-1 lead in the third inning on two-run singles by Jastremski and Pete Lugo.

Post 101 (3-9) rallied when Hanover Central's Luke Besse hit a grand slam home run off the Heat's Clint Waldron to highlight a five-run third inning, giving Lowell a 6-4 lead.

Vince Macielak's two-run homer tied the game 6-6 in the fourth but Lowell went ahead 8-6 on hits by Hebron's Scott Denton, Kankakee Valley's John Estill and a double by Lowell pitcher Brian Stamper.

Stamper, who was 6-3 as a Lowell high senior this season, seemed to tire in the fifth inning and the Heat scored seven times with the help of four Lowell errors. Nobody scored in the final two innings of the 2 1/2 hour game.

Post 101, a sectional champion three years ago, dropped off to 12-24 last season, largely because the legion squad did not get the Lowell high players they had hoped to get this year off last year's 21-11 squad. This year the Red Devils were 25-7 and Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) regular season co-champions. But all-LAC players like Justin Bales, Matt Roberts and CJ Hall passed on baseball to get ready for college. All-stater Ryan Basham (.450, 15HRs, 50 RBIs) has always played for the Hammond Seminoles-Hammond Chiefs Senior Babe Ruth organization and has never played in an American Legion game. Ed Overdorf and Jason Corns reportedly are involved in Senior Little League (ages 17-18) effort that would see them simply enter the state tournament (there are no other age 17-18 Little League squads in this district) and compete for the state title.

But Ford was able to recruit younger players like Hanover Central's Adam Suarez, Luke Besse, Danny Kozlowski, and Mark Myskowski, KV players John Estill and Travis Poisell and Hebron's Scott Denton. With all-LAC right-hander Brian Stamper (6-4 with Lowell this spring) to lead the pitching staff, Post 101 should get better as the July state tournament approaches. Lowell's Danny Baietto, Tom LaFlech, Mike Stoner and Nate Oaf will be counted on to anchor the squad and the position players will eventually be fine. Post 101' s problem will be young pitchers facing older hitters.

"We've got a lot of pitchers," said Ford. "But only one big guy. This is a rebuilding year after what happened last year."

The highlight of Thursday's game was a grand slam home run by Luke Besse, who also did a decent job of pitching in 2 2/3 innings of relief. Stamper may have tried a little too hard against the older Indiana Heat players, throwing very hard in the first three innings but hitting four batters and allowing 11 hits. Behind Stamper, there is Oaf, Adam Suarez (who struck out 13 for HC against Lew Wallace in May) and Jon Cusak as starters. Besse has pitched at least three times in relief.

Post 101 is a young team without a lot of experienced pitchers for this level but they have speed and depth.

Ford was caught by surprise last year when a lot of Lowell players didn't come out for the summer team but he's fully stocked now. 'We've got a lot of good players," he says. "they're just young. I mean, can you imagine what we'd have if we had Matt Roberts or Justin Bales and Mike Lopez pitching? I have a wish list of a couple of kids I wish we had in here."

"But what we do have here is a lot of enthusiasm. Everybody who's here wants to be here and they all play hard. I really like these guys. I really think our team is on the right track."

POST 101 NOTES: "The last time I was at Hanover Central ," said Post 101 Greg Ford, "the field was not good. "But they've spent a lot of money on the mound and it's a much better field now.
Ford, who was worried about the future of Post 101's team last year, now sees the possibility of an 'A' (19 and under) and 'B' (17 and under) teams in the future utilizing boys from Lowell, Hanover and KV under the Legion's increased enrollment rules. Legion teams can draw from any combination of schools that do not equal 5,000 in enrollment.

"If we had two teams," he said, " and we had a 17-year-old who would sit on the bench on one team. That kid would be playing on the 'B' team and then he'd be ready to play when he was 18."

Hanover's Larry Pempek, whom Ford wanted, is playing for the Hammond Seminoles. Lowell's Tim Simmons, who struck out 12 in a complete game win over Remington in the sectional last summer, hurt his arm this spring in college and it never came back. "He really can't throw the ball at all," said Ford. "that's why he's not here."

Post 101 will not be playing any game at Kankakee Valley high school.

"I talked to the athletic director and he says they have a strict policy of not allowing school facilities to be used by people outside the school. We have four boys from KV and it's a long way for them to come. I had hoped to have some games where they'd be at home."

Ford wants to maintain ties with Lowell, Hanover and KV but, if you're going to use somebody's high school field, that school has a right to expect you to have some of their players on the squad. Post 101's personnel problem is that key Lowell high players like Matt Roberts, Mike Lopez and Ed Overdorf haven't played Legion ball. While using two schools fields will require that you have two school's players, that was the long range goal for Ford and Post 101 anyway.

"I don't want the Lowell people saying, hey he's got 15 Hanover kids on the roster but I think we can do something really good for four schools (Lowell, HC, KV and Hebron). Provide a place for them to play and win some games.

Hebron's Scott Denton has been a very impressive leadoff man for Post 101. Small physically, Denton is a perfect leadoff man and contact hitter and base stealer. He had at least five three-hit games for Hebron this spring and was 4-6 as a pitcher with the Hawks (9-18), pitching a complete-game victory over Washington Township in the Porter County Conference (PCC) tournament.

"He's an example of a good player who just wasn't on a very good high school team," said Ford. "And he didn't get seen. He's very fast. The time he got thrown out tonight (stealing a base) was the first time he's been caught all year. They had him batting down in the order but I immediately wanted to put him in at leadoff. He's perfect for us."

LOWELL Post 101 (3-9)
(Lowell, Hanover, Hebron, KV) Manager Greg Ford 12-24 last season
6-10-3:   4-6 at Highland Post 180 (2-3)
6-11-3:   3-2 at Hammond Post 168 (4-1)
6-14-3: 2-0 Remington Post 280
6-14-3: 6-7 Remington Post 280
6-17-3: 8-1 at Hobart Post 54 (0-3)
6-19-3: 6-1 at Plymouth Post 27 (5-0)
6-22-3: 7-8 (8 innings) at Lafayette Post 11 (10-2)
6-22-3:   6-7 at Lafayette Post 11 (10-2)
6-23: 2-10 at Anderson Post 127
6-23: 4-12 at Anderson Post 127
6-25: 6-4 over Crown Point Post 20 'B'
6-27: 8-13 Indiana Heat (7-8)
6-29 at East Chicago Post 369
7-1-3: vs Remington Post 280 at Lowell
7-2-3: at Hammond Post 168
7-3-3: Crown Point Post 20 (6-0) at Lowell