Red Devils edge by Hanover Central 3-2 at US Steelyard

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

4-21-2007

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
HANOVER CENTRAL (1-4)	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4	2
LOWELL (3-3)	0	1	0	0	1	1	-	3	5	1

WP - Jon Cap (1-0) CG, 8K, 2 walks (115 pitches)
LP - Joe Angone (0-1) CG, 9K, 0 walks (93 pitches)

HANOVER CENTRAL (1-4)
Andrew DeYoung (SS) Double, single, walk
Brian Jager (C) Triple, single, 2 HBP
Jon Gaisor (CF) Single, HBP

LOWELL (3-3)
Matt Kay (LF) Triple, single
David Lang (DH) Double, RBI
Josh Kuiper (C) Single, RBI

GARY (4-17-2007) Since both teams can't win their annual match up at the US Steelyard in the Railcats Prep Baseball Challenge, the realistic goal is for both teams to play well. Mission accomplished.

With senior pitchers Jon Cap and Joe Angone going wire-to-wire, the game went down to the last batter when Lowell shortstop Nate Korth made a bobbling stop and quick toss to second on Jordan Rizo's ground ball, preserving Lowell's 3-2 win Tuesday night over Hanover Central.

Neither coach loved it unconditionally, but it was all that any of the hard core of about 100 spectators could ask in 43 degree temperatures and 15 mile-an-hour winds under the Steelyard's artificial light.

"They scared me a little bit there in the seventh inning," said Lowell coach Tom Stoner, who won for the first time in three tries in the Railcats Challenge. "But a 'W' is a 'W' whether it's by one run or 10 runs."

HC coach Tom Nohos had hoped his side could do a better job at the plate after scoring just 10 runs in the first four games of the season. That was not to be.

"How many strikeouts did we have?" asked Nohos. "Seven? Eight? That's to many. That's just too many in a high school game. The bottom of the order, 5-thru-9, we're just not getting anything out of them right now."

"I'm real pleased with Jon," said Stoner, "because this is the first time he's thrown this year. He threw one inning against Rensselaer two weeks ago. Because of weather conditions, it just hasn't worked out. With five games this week, we hoped he could go deep into the game. Seven innings is a bonus. We knew he was at 100 pitches after the first batter in the seventh. But he said he didn't care about that, so I left him out there.

In the seventh inning, Hanover's Adam Warn walked with one out and Jon Gaisor was hit with a pitch. Cap struck out Andrew DeYoung on a called third strike, but Brian Jager sliced an RBI single to right field to cut the Lowell lead to 3-2.

HC's Jordan Rizo then hit a ground ball to shortstop. Lowell's Nate Korth fumbled it, but recovered and flipped to Jon Stoner at second base for the final out of the game.

Lowell broke a 1-1 tie when Matt Kay tripled to the deep center field fence and scored on a wild pitch in the fifth. Back-to-back, two-out errors by DeYoung, Hanover's usually good fielding shortstop, gave Lowell's Josh Kuiper an extra at bat in the sixth inning and Kuiper singled to right to increase the lead to 3-1.

"He hasn't had a hit all year long," said Stoner. "Then he drives one to right center like that. We talked after we beat Noll that we have to come out more ready to play. And we did."

"Jon just kept telling me all year to stay with it," Kay said. "He kept pestering me to just 'Stay with it'. I was trying to listen and just clear my head. He kept telling me, 'You'll get it. You'll get it.' Tonight, I was able to do what I did."

Both teams played well defensively for most of the game and Kay thought the quality of the field has something to do with it.

"I love it here," he said. "In left field, you get so much grip."

"I think these guys get more excited about this game than they do any other. From a coaching standpoint, there's three games I get nervous for. The first game, the sectionals and this one. We're on a big stage. I think the kids feel the same way. Derek Brandenburg, David Lang, this was their first time here. I think they got nervous but they did a nice job."

Nohos said, "we had them on the ropes in the first inning. But we didn't break through. Were we better than yesterday? Yes. Hopefully we'll be better tomorrow. Joe Angone pitched a great game. He dominated the second pitch. He learned a new change up this year and he's doing real well with it. We were throwing back-to-back change ups because he was getting so much movement with it."

The goal is always to win, but against larger schools, Hanover needs to play well. They also wanted to play well in the Steelyard.

"We don't get to play on fields like this. Normal high school kids don't get that opportunity," Nohos said. "Unfortunately, we didn't open up the game well enough so we could let all our kids play here. That's the thing I regret the most. We did get all of our seniors in. Hopefully, we'll be better tomorrow than we did today."

The big positive for Lowell was senior pitcher Jon Cap, who pitched a complete game.

"We talked a lot about him clearing his head and staying focused in tough situations," said Stoner. "I want him to stop trying to be the best pitcher in the area and just win the game. Just be yourself. Last year Jon would get shook when he made an error. This time, it didn't bother him."

"And Joe Angone threw a whale of a game," aded Stoner. "I coached Joe Angone when I coached the American Legion "B' team two years ago. So, I was happy to see that, too."

Lowell had played Boone Grove three times in the US Steelyard, but with Lowell in next week's Boone Grove Invitational the two schools didn't want to play twice.

"We wanted to play Hanover," he said. "We have a nice friendly rivalry with them. I hope we can always play them here."

"We don't have a hit out of the leadoff spot," said Stoner of the first seven games. "Derek (Brandenburg) was hitting until we put him in the leadoff spot. Nate (Korth) was hitting until we batted him leadoff."

Brian Jager of Hanover was hit with two more pitches, one in the helmet. He was hit four times in the first six games.

"He's too good a player to get hit in the head," said coach Jim Nohos, who moved Jager into the cleanup spot. "I'd like him in every spot if I could put him there. We've thought about putting him in the '3' spot."

Nohos teaches batters not to jump out of the way of inside pitches. To just turn the body so they get him on the shoulder or in the back.

"But we've got to talk with him about getting hit in the head. We told him the state record (for getting hit by pitches) is 26 and I think he's going for it."

HANOVER CENTRAL (1-5, 0-2 PCC)
Coach Tom Nohos (1st Year), 13-15 in 2006 - PCC game in CAPS

3-31 (L) 4-5 (8 innings) at Bishop Noll (3-4)
4-3 (W) 4-2 at North Newton (2-4)
4-4 - Calumet (cold)
4-6 - Gary Roosevelt (cold)
4-10 (L) 0-10 (5 innings) at Clark (3-3)
4-12 - Whiting (cold)
4-16 (L) 4-8 WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (3-2)
4-17 (L) 2-3 Lowell (3-3) at the US Steelyard - Gary

4-19 (L) 5-6 MORGAN TOWNSHIP (3-4)
4-21-7 (S) Beecher, Ill. (2 games) 11 a.m.
4-23-7 (M) at BOONE GROVE (5-1-1) 4:30 p.m.
4-26-7 (Th) Gary West Side - 5 p.m.
4-27-7 (F) Gavit - 4:30 p.m.
4-30-7 (M) at South Newton - 4:30 p.m.
5-1-7 (Tu) East Chicago - 4:30 p.m.
5-4-7 (F) KOUTS - 4:30 p.m.
5-7-7 (M) at HEBRON - 4:30 p.m.
5-9-7 (W) at LaCROSSE - 4:30 p.m.
5-10-7 (Th) at Morton - 4:30 p.m.
5-12-7 (S) at SOUTH CENTRAL - 11 a.m.
5-15-7 (Tu) at Lew Wallace - 4:30 p.m.
5-18-7 (F) River Forest - 4:30 p.m.

Porter County Conference (PCC) Tournament
5-19-7 (S) quarterfinals (TBA)
5-21-7 (M) semifinals - 4:30 p.m.
5-23-7 (W) PCC championship - 4:30 p.m.

5-24-7 (Th) at Lake Station - 4:30 p.m.
5-25-7 (F) Hammond - 4:30 p.m.

BOONE GROVE (2A) Sectional
5-29-7 (M) quarterfinals
6-2-7 (F) semifinals
6-3-7 (S) championship

LOWELL (4-3-1, 2-3-1 LAC)
Coach Tom Stoner (3rd year) 9-20 in 2006
LAC games in CAPS - all games 4:45 unless indicated

3-30 - Lake Central (Rain) not yet rescheduled
4-5 (W) 6-4 Rensselaer (2-3)
4-9 (L) 2-12 (5 innings) KANKAKEE VALLEY (3-5)
4-11 (cold) at HIGHLAND (4-2)

4-13 (L) 0-7 ANDREAN (7-1)
4-16 (W) 4-2 BISHOP NOLL (3-5)
4-17 (W) 3-2 Hanover Central (1-5) at US Steelyard - Gary.
4-18 (W) 9-7 at HOBART
4-19 (T) 6-6 Highland (6-3-1) suspended
4-20 (L) 2-12 (5 innings) at MUNSTER (8-3)

4-23 (M) GRIFFITH
4-25 (W) at Kankakee Valley
4-27 (F) HIGHLAND

Boone Grove Invitational
4-28 (S) semifinals - 9 a.m.
4-28 (S) 3rd place or championship (TBA)
4-30 (M) at ANDREAN
5-1 (Tu) Merrillville - 4:30 p.m.
5-2 (W) at BISHOP NOLL
5-3 (Th) HOBART - 4:30 p.m.
5-7 (M) MUNSTER
5-9 (W) at GRIFFITH
5-10 (Th) Hebron
5-11 (M) at Wheeler - 4:30 p.m.

LAC Tournament
5-14 (M) first round games
5-16 (W) quarterfinals and consolation games - 4:30.pm
5-18 (F) Semifinal and consolation games - 4:30 p.m.
5-19 (S) 7th, 5th, 3rd and 1st place games

5-22 (Tu) at Crown Point - 4:30 p.m.
5-24 (Th) North Newton - 4:30 p.m.
5-25 (F) at LaPorte - 4:45 p.m.