Red Devils take Slicers to 7th before falling 2-1
	A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith 5-15-2012

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
LOWELL (6-15)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	6	1
LaPORTE (8-16)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	0

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
LOWELL (6-13)	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	3	5	4
LaPORTE (8-16)	3	0	3	1	0	0	-	7	7	0

LaPORTE (5-12-2012) You figured that with LaPorte riding a nine-game losing streak, that Lowell could get a split and maybe even a sweep Saturday in the Devils annual double-header trip to LaPorte County. You'd have figured wrong. Lowell led 1-0 with one out and nobody on in the bottom of the seventh inning of game one and in about 2-1/2 minutes, they'd lost 2-1. It was no shock that Lowell lost the second game 11-1, the Devils fourth loss in a row.

But the first game defeat was very dramatic. LaPorte had lost nine consecutive games, the longest losing streak in history of their legendary (8 state titles) baseball program. Lowell junior Danny DeBoer had pitched a two hit shutout going to the bottom of the seventh and he easily retired the leadoff hitter on a ground ball to third baseman Danny Garza. But DeBoer (1-4) then walked Nick Latham on a 3-2 pitch and sophomore Evan Miller on a 3-1 pitch. Jake Benefiel, a left-handed hitting sophomore outfielder who was brought up to the varsity by coach Scott Upp in the middle of the losing streak, then drilled a long line drive double to right center, scoring pinch runner Alex Braddy. Next batter Ian Price then quickly smacked a line drive over the head of right fielder Logan Schiessle and the game was over.

"It was third or fourth time through the order," said Lowell coach Bobby Wong. "They're good enough hitters that they can make adjustments. We left a lot of runners on base, One run isn't going to be good enough against good teams. We had a lot of chances."

LaPorte's players rushed the field to celebrate after Price's game-winning hit. The Slicers have won 20 games every years since 1966 and to lose nine in a row is a major program crisis. The late rally in game one seemed to ignite a 12-hit attack in game two. Third baseman David Eldridge drove in seven runs with two doubles, a single and a sacrifice fly ball. Eldridge's two-run single made the score 11-1 in the fifth inning.

"Hitting is contagious," said Upp, who added,"and I'm just glad we caught that contagious disease. We've waited a long time and it's good to see. We'd been able to get people on base and we couldn't move them. We had a sophomore tie it and a senior win it. You've got a little future there and a little of the present"

Upp is more aware than anyone else of how rare a losing season is at LaPorte.

"We've been very successful for what 44-46 years with that 20-win thing?" said Upp, who'd won at least 20 for 14 seasons in a row after multi-generation coach Ken Schreiber had won at least 20 for 31 consecutive seasons.

"I'm not so sure that nott reaching that level once isn't good for our program. Some years we just barely made 20 wins and we had nothing to show for it. No DAC. No sectional. Well, so what. But if you go into the sectional with five wins and then win the sectional, who cares how many wins you have. To credit coach Schreiber and our coaches for that streak it's amazing. Odds were always stacked against us after the first 10 or so years. We won't do it this year. That's okay. Maybe we'll start another streak next year."

There is still a feeling that maybe Lowell is better than their record. The Devils, who were handcuffed by some suspensions to key players early in the year, seem headed for a 20-loss season, but they appear to have better players than that.

"This win would have done a lot for our confidence," said Wong, "and I think we would have responded better in the second game. Maybe we wouldn't have, I don't know."

The Hobart game was also winnable last Thursday. The Brickies scored three times in the first inning after Danny DeBoer's RBI fly ball gave Lowell a 1-0 lead. Tyrus Joseforsky singled and stole second before pitcher Jake Erlich batting down a hit-and-run bunt. With Joseforsky breaking for third base, Erlich rolled the ball towards third. Lowell third baseman Austin Magley had to cover the bag and the bunt rolled untouched for a single. Nick Bokun doubled to right to tie the game 1-1 and Phil Madvek doubled down the third base line, scoring two for a 3-1 lead.

Lowell cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the third when pitcher Myles Siedentopf walked and stole second base before DeBoer's RBI single.

In the bottom of the third, Hobart scored three times, again with the help of a bunt. Brandon Murray singled and Chris Moore walked before Drey Devereaux laid down another sacrifice bunt. The throw to fist base was high but catchable for second baseman Reed Holdeman covering the bag. But Holdeman lost the ball in the sun shining over the top of the Hobart football stadium west of the field. The ball sailed down the right field line with Murray scoring and Moore reaching third base. Devereaux stole second base and drew a throw from Lowell catcher Bryan Thomas, which sailed into center field when no one from Lowell covered second base. Moore scored on the error to make it 5-2. Siedentopf struck out Danny Stewart and Travis Waddell, but Devereux scored on another of Lowell's four errors. Siedentopf, Lowell's freshman right-hander, clearly didn't deserve to give up seven runs.

"We just needed a good start," said Hobart coach Bob Glover. "Their kid has a good arm. He's got some talent. We just had to get on base quickly and put some pressure on him."

Glover admitted that he does have to convince his boys of the value of a bunt as an offensive weapon.

"A year or so ago yes, we did," said Glover. "But the funny thing is: If you can get a few of them to buy into it, then quickly everybody sees the value of it. And they say, 'I want to be able to do that, too.' We sell it as just being a good teammate. It's a slump buster, too. If you're not hitting, you can get a cheap hit. Erlich, our No. 2 hitter, had four home runs last year. He's got good power. But he's probably the bets bunter on the team."

"So the guys go, 'If he can do it, I guess I've got to do it, too.' I'm not going to say they were born liking it, but they like to do it now."

Lowell's best chance to come back came in the fifth when Thomas was hit by a pitch and Siedentopf tripled to right center field to make the score 6-3. But DeBoer struck out and Magley hit into a line drive double play to third baseman Chris Moore.

"We gave them too many runs on bunts and errors," said Wong. "They're going to hit the ball and, if you give them more chances, they're going to score. In the fifth, we had a leadoff man on base and Myles gets a triple and we don't score any more. You can't have that."

"We had trouble hitting the curve ball and that's frustrating. We show glimpses of playing well. We got off to a good start, but we have mental lapses and that's going to cost you against a good team like this."

Hobart (18-6) was 9-0 in April and is obviously 9-6 since then, but that still gives them more wins than they had in 2011 when they were 17-12.

"We've been swinging the bats pretty well," said Glover, "which is what we hoped would happen when the weather warmed up."

DEVIL NOTES: Lowell assistant athletic director Mike Magley, senior catcher's Austin Magley's father, is a LaPorte alum and a former baseball player, as he has mentioned occasionally.
What he rarely says (and what LaPorte old timers brought up often last Saturday) is that he played on one of LaPorte's greatest teams, the 1981 Slicers who won 34 and lost three.

"We won 23 in a row," Magley recalled Saturday. "We were talking abut whether that was the best LaPorte team ever. When I think back on it, I was just grateful to uphold the tradition."

LaPorte's string of 45 consecutive 20-win seasons will end this spring. The Slicers (9-16) cannot reach 20 wins no matter how long they remain in the state tournament.

Hobart's three-year-old sports complex includes an understandably high quality baseball diamond (and an identical JV field) next to the Brickies' 5,000-seat football field. The one thing it lacks, however, is lights, which means that Hobart will never host the Class 4A Sectional 2 baseball playoffs. Four other schools in the sectional (LaPorte, Chesterton, Merrillville and Crown Point) do have lights for night games. The 2012 sectional is at Merrillville.

LaPorte played five sophomores Saturday against Lowell. The Slicer JV was 20-4 after last week and coach Scott Upp has clearly 'turned the page' with upperclassmen, moving in the direction of the future.

"I think the older guys are good enough team members to understand that we had to go in a different direction," he said. "The atmosphere in the dugout has been very good. Sometimes seniors are a little sour when sophomores come up their senior year. But these guys just want to win and if it takes bringing up sophomores to do it, that's what it takes."

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Revised: May 26, 2012.