Hobart wins battle of short-bench, 3-1 over Lowell

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

4-19-2008

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
HOBART (7-4)	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	3	6	2
LOWEL (3-5)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	2

Friday, 4-19-2008 - 71 degrees & cloudy at LOWELL, IN

WP - Greg Glover (2-2) CG, 5K, 2 walks
LP - Derek Brandenburg (0-3), CG, 7K, 3 walks

HOBART (7-4) starters
Nate Pope (SS) 1-for-2, 2 walks
Ricky Oglesby (RF) 0-for-4
Cory Talian (2B) 2-for-3, Sac. Fly, double, RBI
TJ Sanchez (C) 0-for-4
Greg Glover (P) 1-for-2, HR, walk
Jeremy Coons (1B) 0-for-3
Jake Plesac (LF) 2-for-3, HBP
Brad Ross (DH) 0-for-3
Nick Taddei (CF) 0-for-3

LOWELL (3-5) starters
Brandon Grubbe (LF) 0-for-2, walk
James Perrin (CF) 1-for-3
Evan Ensweiler (C) 1-for-3
David Lang (DH) 0-for-3, 2 DPs
Miguel Frausto (3B) 0-for-3
Craig Austgen (2B) 0-for-3
Derek Brandenburg (P) 1-for-2, walk
Ricky Dotson (1B) 0-for-2, HBP
John Black (RF) 0-for-2, RBI

LOWELL (4-18-2008) - This was a meeting of the 'short bench club'. Hobart has just 12 players on the varsity and Lowell, which began the season with only 14 players, was down to just 12 of them for Friday's home game against the Brickies.

But one of Hobart's players was veteran Greg Glover, whose complete-game pitching performance and fourth inning homerun boosted the Brickies (7-4) to a 3-1 victory. Everybody wants to win, but the larger vision of this contest saw both short-handed teams play well, something that was not lost on either coach.

"We did not beat ourselves," said Lowell coach Tom Stoner, who lost starting pitchers Keith Greer and Kevin Donovan to injury last week. "Keith is done for the year. Kevin, they'll look at his elbow next week. The first prognosis was pretty good. Maybe he'll just be out a week or two. Keith had been fine for us. He'd been coming in for an inning or two and he liked that role. Kevin has an elbow problem and we're not sure where it's at yet."

Hobart coach Tom Martin had a quick explanation as to why his team has gotten off to a strong start, despite a 12-man (most teams have 16-20) varsity roster.

"I just think the kids last year were more worried about themselves than they were about winning," he said. "I haven't heard much talk about individual stats this year. They just talk about getting a win. The 12 guys we've got all pull for each other. It's more of a true team."

They got some true pitching Friday as Glover escaped a two-on, none-out situation by striking out Evan Ensweiler and getting David Lang to bounce into a double-play. Lowell starting pitcher Derek Brandenburg (0-3) survived a lead-off first inning single by Nate Pope and pitched three scoreless innings before Glover led off the fourth with a 350-foot drive over the right center field fence. Hobart then scored a second run on Jake Plesac's single, an error by new Lowell shortstop Josh Manes and a wild pitch.

The Devils rallied in the fifth inning on a walk, a hit batter and throwing error by second baseman Cory Talian.

Hobart added a third run in the seventh inning on Talian's sacrifice fly and Glover made it hold up, giving up just three hits and two walks.

"Every day I go out there with a chip on my shoulder," said Glover who knows, that with 12 varsity players, the starting pitcher has to eat up lots of innings. "We go out there and we know we've got to go all the way. Cory (Talian) has pitched three complete games."

Lowell is in the same boat and Brandenburg, a junior right-hander, pitched well enough to win with seven strikeouts.

"Remember when I was worried about our run-production?" asked Stoner, of his preseason comments. "Well, I'm really worried about it now. We're getting under the ball a lot. We're flying out a lot. When you hit a ball high in the air you give the defense a lot of time to get there."

The loss of Kevin Donovan in the middle of the lineup could be crushing, because this was not an extra-base hitting team to begin with. Donovan, an all-area soccer player who missed most of the 2007 baseball season with a leg injury, gave the Devils a potentially potent core with Brandon Grubbe leading off and David Lang in the designated-hitter role.

Soph Evan Ensweiler has been doing well in his varsity debut, but Lowell has only scored more than four runs twice this season and four runs does not win that often in high school baseball.

"We have six games next week," said Stoner. "The JV has two. So we may be pulling some freshmen up to pitch. The key is that we don't beat ourselves and we didn't do that tonight."

DEVIL NOTES: Lowell will face East Chicago in the semifinals of the Boone Grove Invitational on April 26 while Rensselaer plays Boone in the other semifinal. Boone Grove's game begins at 9:00 a.m. and Lowell plays 30 minutes after the first game ends. The consolation game should begin about 1:00 p.m. and the title game might start at 3:00 p.m. at Boone Grove high school. Tickets are $5 for adults and $4 for kids.

It was not widely reported, but Lowell and Kankakee played a tie game on April 10 that will be finished on Wednesday April 23 at KV. The game is tied 4-4 in the top of the eighth inning after Lowell rallied from a 6-2 deficit.

Keith Greer, who had pitched in five of Lowell's first eight games after missing most of the basketball season with a broken foot, will miss the rest of the season after diving into second base.

"I tore the ligament in my finger completely," Keith said Friday. "It won't heal for three months. I'm just an accident-prone kid."

Shortstop Josh Manes came up from the junior varsity and made his Red Devil starting debut Friday. Manes made one error, but he played with confidence.

"I DH'd for him," said coach Tom Stoner, "because I didn't want him to worry about hitting. I just wanted him to play. He made an error, but shortstops make errors. I thought he did fine."

Lowell's final week of the regular season includes nonconference games against Crown Point (9-0) on May 20 and the season finale, a night game at LaPorte (7-4) on May 23.