Red Devils' 21-3 blowout of Whiting just latest in high-scoring season

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
LOWELL (11-3, 6-1 LAC)	5	1	8	5	2	-	-	21	19	0
Whiting (9-5, 2-5 LAC)	2	0	0	0	1	-	-	3	8	4

5-2-2003 - 48 degrees in Whiting

WP - Matt Roberts (3-2) 4K, 2 walks
Jason Corns (L) 1K, 0 walks (2 innings)
LP - Tino Cuba (3-1) 1K, 2 walks (3 innings)

Whiting (5 singles, 3 doubles)
Greg Koval (W) Double, single
Sixto Arredondo (W) Double, 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Tino Cuba (W) Single,walk, RBI

LOWELL (2 HRs, 2 triples, 7 doubles, 8 singles)
Nate Oak (LOWELL) 3 singles, 2 RBIs
Ed Overdorf (LOWELL) 2 doubles, 2 singles, 2 RBIs
CJ Hall (LOWELL) Double, single, RBI
Jason Corns (LOWELL) Double, single, 2 RBIs
Ryan Basham (LOWELL) 2 HRs, triple, walk, 5 RBIs
Justin Bales (LOWELL) 2 doubles, walk
Matt Roberts (LOWELL) Tripe, single,walk, 3 RBIs
Mike Stoner (LOWELL) Double, walk

LOWELL (5-2-2003) - Now if you've watched baseball for any length of time, you know this cannot go on. After 15 games, Lowell had scored 183 runs. Last week, they beat Hammond 26-1, Whiting 21-3 and Merrillville 14-3. They'd have scored more except that the Lake Station game was rained out.

"I can't explain it," said long time coach Kent Hess. "I really can't. We seem to always hit the ball pretty good. We put the ball in play."

That's not really an adequate explanation. The Red Devils last loss was an 8-7 loss to calumet on April 16, a game they led and should have won. But the last time they didn't score at least a half dozen runs was an April 10 loss to Class 2A Rensselaer, a 1-0 shutout by highly regarded pitcher Nathan Amsler (5-1). The only other time Lowell didn't score at least six was a 5-3 April 6 loss to highly regarded Lake Central.

"They made a lot of errors today," said Hess after the win in Whiting Park Friday. "But we still hit a lot of balls hard. There were still a lot of base hits besides that. A truck load."

Obviously this is a hot streak of epic proportions. The only question is whether a 15-game hot streak can turn into a 30-game hot streak. Traditional baseball logic would say that is not possible.

The moment of truth may be upon us. With Wednesday's game at Highland (13-3) and Monday's match-up with state-rated Andrean (14-1), the Red Devils were about to see top quality pitching.

"The biggest question is, it's hard to win a sectional with 10-run scores," said Hess. "You've got to be able to pitch and play defense. The only team that stopped us was Rensselaer, really. And they're a pretty good team. We scored three on Lake Central but they're pretty good. The best thing is that we've been able to concentrate on one game at a time. We're just taking them as we can get them. "

So far Lowell has been taking and getting. To attempt to analyze this, the key is senior left-handed hitter Ryan Basham, by all estimations the best left-handed hitter in this part of the state.

Basham was 3-for-3 with two home runs, the second one actually carried into Lake Michigan, which creeps up close beyond the right field fence at Whiting Park. Basham was 2-for-3 Saturday in the rout of Merrillville, including another homer, his 10th of the season. The senior second baseman, who has been a third place hitter most of his life, almost always hits the ball hard to the outfield.

One of the biggest beneficiaries may be Matt Roberts, a number three hitter throughout youth leagues (Basham played on traveling teams, Roberts in Lowell's Little League), who is 'hidden' in the number two spot. With Basham, who had 27 hits in his first 41 at bats this season in the on deck circle, Roberts, who is batting .500 gets strikes to hit.

An unlikely fourth hitter has been junior Ed Overdorf (21 RBIs in 14 games), who being a year behind Roberts has also always been a number three hitter. CJ Hall (9 doubles, 20 RBIs) and Jason Corns, both power-hitting right-handed batters and youth league clean-up hitters, are in the sixth and seventh spots in the batting order behind Justin Bales (27-49, .551, 4 HRs in 15 games), a three-sport veteran who is one of the area's top all-around athletes.

That puts Nate Oaf, one of the best players on Lowell's 16-and-under team last year, in the eighth-place spot and somebody like Tom LaFlech, a consistently good hitter in youth leagues in the ninth spot. Add Mike Stoner, who has been consistently getting on base in the leadoff slot, and Lowell is a hard team to hold down. Top pitcher Brian Stamper, who was 5-for-5 against Hammond, isn't always in the batting order.

Friday, in mid-30s wind chill conditions on the lakefront in Whiting, Overdorf and Bales stroked wind blown sun-aided doubles, scoring three of the five first inning runs. In the second inning Basham tripled and Overdorf doubled to left center. Basham hit long home runs over the right field fence in the third and fourth innings.

On Saturday, with some of the junior class missing because of SATs (college preparatory exams) Basham had a double and a home run to back the pitching of Bales (3-0), who hit a two-run home run to end the game at the end of a six-run fifth inning.

Some of Lowell's wins have been against sub-par pitching but Saturday, they defeated Jason Plys (3-2), Merrillville's best starter.

Can this go on? Of course not. Lowell won't walk through the upcoming Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) tournament scoring 10 runs in every game. The final week of the season features games with Crown Point and LaPorte, teams with pitchers. But if the Red Devils aren't looking ahead, it's fun while it's lasting.

"I give all the credit to coach (Randy) Bays," said Hess as he walked by Bays leaving the field in Whiting. "He's the one who works with our hitters." CJ Hall added, "I also give all the credit to coach Bays. He's the best hitting instructor I've ever seen."

Bays, knowing he was being played, just shook his head and kept walking. You can't plan to score 12 runs a game. But if you've got a choice of being pitching coach of the Detroit Tigers, public information minister for Iraq or batting coach at Lowell, right now Lowell is the place to be.

DEVIL NOTES: Lowell actually has several more chances to roll up the runs against Morton, Gary West Side, Kankakee Valley and Hebron, all pitching poor teams.

It should be noted that Munster (11-4) had scored 142 runs after 15 games and scored 20 or more twice last week. Some of the high run counts has to do with the weakness of the LAC, not the prowess of Munster and Lowell.

Whiting does not have a bad team. They are limited in pitching, as most Class 1A schools are, and play in a very difficult park. The sun blinds the center fielder in Whiting and southwest winds boost anything hit to right. Whiting Park's outfield is in near total disrepair with large pieces of sod missing.

"This was one of the best fields we played on two years ago," said Hess. "I don't know what's happened."

Whiting coach Kevin Lenz also does not know. "I'm not sure whether gulls have done that or something was put on the field," he said. But the sod is breaking down. The school is not responsible for Whiting Park but the field has been in good condition for decades and is now deteriorating.

Whiting's team is not deteriorating and should still be a 1A sectional contender. "We've won nine games this year and we were 9-21 last year," said Lenz. "We've got a nice mix of freshmen and seniors. I've got a freshman Tommy Gresko at second base. He's hitting .300. Greg Koval is a very good player. I've still got Tino (Cuba), Vinnie Donovan and Sixto (Arredondo). I've got four or five kids who can really put the bat on the ball. The Times had Washington Township ranked 10th. I think we're as good as they are."

Ryan Basham's 10th home run ties the school record set by Pete Edmonds in 2000.

Edmonds hit 10 home runs in 28 games. The all-time region record is not certain. Hammond's Matt Mamula, who will play for the Gary RailCats this summer, hit 15 homers in 1998. Kankakee Valley, which plays in a ball-park with the size of a Babe Ruth League field, has had several players hit 10-20 homers in one season.

LOWELL (12-3, 6-1 LAC)
Head Coach Kent Hess (16th year, 219-230-1) 2002: 21-11 - LAC Games in CAPS

4-3:    5-4 at Wheeler (7-5)
4-5:   8-1 Boone Grove (9-6) at RailCats Stadium - Gary
4-8:    3-5 Lake Central (11-3)
4-10: 0-1 Rensselaer (9-4)
4-11: 12-2 (5 innings) Hanover Central (8-5)
4-12: 29-8 (5 innings) at East Chicago (2-10)
4-15: 12-11 MUNSTER (11-4)
4-16: 7-8 at CLARK (9-2)
4-17: 11-1 (5 innings) at South Newton (5-7)
4-21: 21-1 (5 innings) at GAVIT (4-10)
4-22: 6-4 GRIFFITH (7-8)
4-25: 8-3 BISHOP NOLL (11-5)
4-28: 26-1 (5 innings) HAMMOND (0-12)
5-2:   21-3 (5 innings) WHITNG (9-5)
5-3: 14-3 (5 innings) Merrillville (8-7)
5-5: at CALUMET (3-10)
5-6: LAKE STATION (2-12)
5-7: at HIGHLAND (11-4)
5-9: MORTON (4-9)
5-10: Gary West Side (0-6)
5-12: at ANDREAN (14-1)
5-14: Kankakee Valley (9-8)
5-15: Hebron (4-9)

LAC Tournament (14 teams)
5-20 (Tu) 1st round
5-21 (W) quarterfinals
5-23 (F) semifinals
5-24 (S) championship

5-27 (Tu) at Crown Point (11-3)
5-29 (Th) at North Newton (5-8)
5-30 (F) at LaPorte (11-4)

Munster (4A) SECTIONAL
6-2 (M) quarterfinals - 5 p.m.
6-3 (Tu) quarterfinals - 5 p.m.
6-6 (F) semifinals - 5 p.m.
6-7 (S) championship (TBA)

South Bend (4A) REGIONAL
6-14 (S) semifinals - 10 a.m.
6-14 (S) championship - 7 p.m.

2003 STATE Baseball FINALS
6-20 (F) 4A semifinals - TBA
6-21 (S) 4A championship - TBA