H.S. Baseball: Hobart 12, Lowell 4

Monday, April 23, 2011 - 46-degrees at US Steelyard in GARY, IN

WP - Phil Madvek (4-0) 8K, 1 walk (5-2/3 inn.)
SAVE - Brandon Murray (H) 2K, 1 walk (1-1/3 inn.)
LP - Nick Willison (0-2) 5K, 3 walks (6 inn.)

HOBART (13-3)
Tyrus Joseforsky (SS) 2-for-4, walk
Jake Erlich (DH) 1-for-1, 4 walks, 3 runs scored
Brandon Murray (1B-P) 2-for-4, sac bunt, 2 RBIs
Nick Bokun (C) 4-for-5, double
Phil Madvek (P) 1-for-3, walk, HBP
Chris Moore (3B) 1-for-3, walk, 2 RBI
Guy Birchel (RF) 0-for-2, sac fly, RBI
Drey Devereaux (LF) 0-for-4
Travis Waddell (2B) 0-for-3, walk, RBI

LOWELL (3-8)
Tyler Hamm (CF) 1-for-3, walk
Logan Schiessle (RF) 1-for-3
Bryan Thomas (2B) 2-for-2, RBI
Myles Siedentopf (3B) 0-for-3
Danny DeBoer (SS-P) 0-for-2, walk
Jordan Hansen (1B) 0-for-1
Austin Magley (C) 1-for-3, double
Nick Willison (P) 0-for-1
Jake Fontanez (LF) 0-for-1

GARY (4-23-2012) If nobody from Lowell wanted to play a conference game at the US Steelyard, almost 30 miles from home at 7:30 p.m. on a Monday night, they sure didn't act like it. Trailing 5-0 early, Lowell seemed to ignore the painfully cold conditions, rallying to within 6-4 in the sixth inning against Hobart (13-3), one of the top teams in the Northwest Crossroads Conference.

But the Brickies patiently waited for walks and broke the game open in the seventh, to top Lowell 12-4 late Monday in 40-degree weather at the pro baseball park on Fifth Street in Gary.

Hobart led all the way after scoring four runs in the first inning. Lowell misplayed a sacrifice bunt after two opening walks against starter Nick Willison. Run-scoring hits by Nick Bokun (who was 4-for-5) and Chris Moore gave the Brickies, who were 17-12 last season, a quick start on their 13th win in 16 games.

"The last game we played was about five days ago and we lost a tough one to KV," said Bob Glover. "That start (4 runs in the first) was just what we needed. Nick is a great young player. He's just a sophomore. The last week or so he's really been hot. His overall numbers might not represent his true level of talent."

Lowell's 3-8 record does not represent their talent either. The Devils were short four players to start the year and they were 0-4 before they won a game. The team just got back to full strength at the start of last week.

"We gave them too many runs," said Lowell coach Bobby Wong. "We fought back into the game. I thought we had a chance. But I didn't expect to give up that many walks in the seventh-inning."

Junior right-hander Danny DeBoer, in just his second appearance of the season, came on with two on and nobody out in the seventh with the Devils leading 6-4 and, in the 40-degree weather, he walked four of the first six batters he faced, leading to six runs.

"This environment makes them nervous," Wong said. "It takes a while to get their nerves under control. Same was with Nick. Theoretically, if we get out of the first, we could have been up 4-2 in the seventh inning. But they turned some nice double plays. We can't take anything away from them."

Lowell used seven pinch hitters and the off-the-bench Devils were 3-for-7 their first time up, including a two-run fifth-inning double by sophomore Danny Garza and a sixth inning RBI double from Brian Addlesberger.

The key moment of the sixth-inning was when Hobart brought in top starter Brandon Murray to strike out senior Kyle Jeffries with Addlesberger at second base and two out in the sixth.

"We didn't want to do that," agreed Glover. "Because we have two more league games this week. But they're a good hitting team and we had to shut it down."

Wong got everybody into the game including freshman Reed Holdeman, who lined into a double play off Murray to end the game. That's the whole idea of playing the one game a year at the pro baseball park, something that is obviously a big deal for the teenage ballplayers.

"Oh yeah," Wong said. "They get excited about it. We got here about 5:30 p.m. (for a 7:30 start) and we sat and watched the first game. We really couldn't have just showed up and run out there. They were bouncing off the walls."

"That's the whole thing about playing a league game here, but we got everybody in the game and that's what we wanted to do. We didn't have any letdown. The walks killed us. We helped them out and they capitalized on it. We fell behind early, but we never gave up."

CHALLENGE NOTES: Why did Lowell and Hobart agree to play their "Railcat Challenge" game on Monday night at 7 p.m? Because Friday's originally scheduled, but rained out game was a Northwest Crossroads Conference league game. "Our conference bylaws say that you have to play a league game on the next available day," said Hobart coach Bob Glover Jr. "Saturday would have to be by mutual agreement and when the Railcats said we could come back here on Monday night, that's what everybody wanted to do."

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
HOBART (13-3)	4	1	0	1	0	0	6	12	11	1
LOWELL (3-8)	0	0	1	0	2	1	0	4	9	3

Red Devils fall short of Brickies in 12-4 loss at US Steelyard