Red Devils combine strong pitching by Stamper and key hitting to beat Andrean 4-2

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
LOWELL (16-4, 10-2 LAC)	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	4	9	1
ANDREAN (16-5, 9-2 LAC)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	4

5-12-2003 - 63 degrees in Merrillville

WP - Brian Stamper (6-2) CG, 6Ks, 3 walks
LP - Tim Rachoy (2-2) 2K, 3 walks (4 innings)
Garret Wiejak (A) 2K, 2 walks (3 innings)

ANDREAN (Double, 5 singles)
Garrett Wiejak (A) Double, run scored
Jeff Mojzik (A) Single, walk
Ryan Pishkur (A) Single, walk
Nick Stockwell (A) Single, walk, RBIs

LOWELL (7 singles, 2 doubles, 2 HBPs)
CJ Hall (LOWELL) 2 singles, HBP, RBI
Jason Corns (LOWELL) Single, walk
Ryan Basham (LOWELL) 2 walks
Justin Bales (LOWELL) 2 singles, run scored
Matt Roberts (LOWELL) Double, single, walk, RBI

LOWELL (5-12-2003) - I'll be honest. I didn't count the win over Munster and I didn't count the win over Clark. I was waiting until Lowell beat a good, solid experienced team. A team wasn't one dimensional and a team that had more than one pitcher. It wouldn't mean everything but it would certainly without question mean something.

Monday's 4-2 win at Class 3A No. 8 Andrean definitely meant something. Facing the number one baseball program in Lake County on their home field, the Red Devils met the challenge.

Behind the pitching of senior Brian Stamper, Lowell put runners all over the bases and got enough of them home to stay in the race for first place in the Lake Athletic Conference.

"We were excited about the Highland game," said Stamper, "even though we lost 2-1.
But we knew we could beat these guys (Andrean) because we came close to Highland."

"The last time we beat Andrean?," repeated Lowell coach Kent Hess. "I don't know. We had some pretty decent success back the 90s. Nobody's had any success with them lately."

Andrean (16-5), had a 40-game Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) winning streak broken last month and they are 92-20 since the start of the 2000 season. But Lowell scored the tying and go-ahead runs in the fifth inning with the help of some unusually shaky Andrean defense.

Senior Justin Bales' single with one out against starting pitcher Tim Rachoy. Andrean catcher Jeff Mojzik tried to pick Bales off first base and threw wildly down the right field line. Rachoy hit catcher CJ Hall with a pitch and designated-hitter Jason Corns reached base when third baseman Mike Ryan fumbled his ground ball.

Then, with the count 2-2, Stamper drilled a long double into left center, giving Lowell a 3-2 lead. In the fifth inning, after a bases-loaded squeeze bunt failed and Matt Roberts was tagged out between third and home, Hall lined a base hit to center field to make it 4-2.

That was enough for Stamper (5-2), who has gone from the junior varsity in 2002, to the front of Lowell's pitching staff two weeks before the state tournament. The right-hander mixed a fast ball, curve and slow change up to hold the 59ers to six hits, handing Andrean a rare third consecutive loss.

"In terms of pitching," said Andrean coach Dave Pishkur, "he is by far the best pitcher we've seen. We've faced other guys who throw harder and have better stuff. But I don't know how many balls, if any, that we hit hard after the second inning."

"That kid located. He made big pitch after big pitch after big pitch. He handled every situation. In terms of pitching, he was outstanding."

Stamper, whose brother Jason played for Lowell from 1997-1999 and is now a senior at Chicago State, has pitched a lot of 'big' games for Lowell this season. He won the Red Devils' game at Railcat Stadium 8-1 over Boone Grove, he pitched the 6-4 win over Griffith and last week's 2-1 loss at Highland.

"I was a little bit surprised to pitch today because my arm takes a while to recover. That's why I was getting stronger in the late innings."

"We've always hit pretty well. It feels great just knowing that I can have a bad game and we can score five or six runs and win anyway. We've always (throughout Little League) been good. We went to the state finals, almost every year."

Andrean was coming off two losses on Saturday, 3-1 to Penn and 8-4 to Carroll in the Plymouth Invitational. "We got one hit against Penn and we've had nine hits in three games. We've made 40 errors for the year which is very uncharacteristic of us. And I think we've hit seven people (with pitches) in the last three games. I hope we aren't losing confidence in ourselves. Things were going so well at the start of the year but, quite frankly, that was against lesser teams."

"Lowell is very impressive at the bat. They got more big, two-out base hits. They hit some balls that were good pitches. "

Lowell hardly dominated this game. The Devils left 11 runners on base and lost four runners on the bases on steals, pickoffs and aborted squeeze bunts.

"The key is," said Hess, "to understand that you don't panic. You realize that you've got seven innings to get the job done."

Lowell had a base running nightmare in the third inning after a walk and an error by first baseman Ryne Pishkur on a hard hit smash to first by Lowell leading hitter Ryan Basham. With runners at first and third, Rachoy faked a throw to third and picked Basham off first. As Basham was quickly tagged out, Matt Roberts attempted to score from third and the throw from shortstop Garrett Wiejak to Jeff Mojzik retired him too.

Lowell scored on Stamper's ground out in the top of the second inning. Andrean rallied to take a 2-1 lead after Jim Jaworski's leadoff single. Wiejak doubled to right center and when Red Devil center fielder Jeremy Schares fumbled the ball, Jaworski came all the way around to score. Later, with runners at first and third and one out, Nick Stockwell's push bunt between the mound and first base scored Wiejak for a 2-1 59er lead.

The win, and a forfeit win over Morton last Friday (they could not field a team due to the school prom) moved Lowell to 16-4 on the year and 10-2 in the LAC. A Red Devil win over Kankakee Valley yesterday (May 15) would clinch a tie for the LAC regular season title since Munster defeated first place Highland (15-4, 10-2) Monday afternoon. Lowell has never won the LAC title since joining in 1998.

"We got out-pitched," said Pishkur. "We got out-hit. You can't get a bloop hit if you don't put the bat on the ball. I'm not giving up on the team, but I'm glad we don't have the state tournament for three more weeks."

"Our goals this year," said Stamper, "were to win the Lake Athletic Conference and win 20 games again."

DEVIL NOTES: "I had better stuff against Highland," Stamper said. "I thought I had better location on the ball today. I hit better too."

Andrean lost 3-1 in nine innings to Penn and all-state candidate Billy Grace (4-1) Saturday in the semifinals of the Plymouth Invitational. The 59ers lost the third place game by an 8-4 score.

Andrean did not lose three consecutive games last year. The 59ers are looking for games in the final weeks of the year as they will not get to play highly-rated Providence of New Lenox, Ill. That rained-out game has now been canceled.

Brian Stamper's older brother Jason pitched for Lowell and his cousin Kelly Stamper reached the state finals as a sprinter for Kankakee Valley. "John Stamper (presently on KV's varsity) is my cousin, too."

Lowell's game with Gary West Side was rained out last Saturday and was expected to be played this week. The four Devil runs Monday gave Lowell 202 runs in 19 games, not counting the forfeit win over Morton. Oddly, Andrean's two runs gave them 199 runs in 21 games.

Graduated Lowell pitcher Tim Simmons was at Monday's game. Simmons did not pitch this season for St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer but he does hope to pitch for Lowell Post 101 this summer if an injured shoulder has healed. No one at Monday's game could remember a Lowell varsity baseball victory over Andrean. The 2003 59ers are heading for their 13th 20-win season in 14 years so it is possible that Lowell has not beaten Andrean in a decade.

LOWELL (16-4, 10-2 LAC)
Head Coach Kent Hess (16th year, 219-230-1) 2002: 21-11 - LAC Games in CAPS

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

5-14: Kankakee Valley (9-8)
5-15: Hebron (6-11)

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 (14-4-1)
5-29 (Th) at North Newton (6-12)
5-30 (F) at LaPorte (14-4-1)

MERRILLVILLE (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

LOWELL (13-3) Batting Statistics
16 games
Ryan Basham (.636) 28-44, 10 HRs, 30 RBIs
Justin Bales (.558) 29-52, 4 HRs, RBIs
Ed Overdorf (.500) 24-48, 1 HR, 27 RBIs
CJ Hall (.500) 25-50, 0HRs, 24 RBIs
Matt Roberts (.491) 28-57, 2 HRs, 16 RBIs
Jason Corns (.417) 15-36, 1 HR, 11 RBIs
Brian Stamper (.414) 12-29, 0 HRs, 7 RBIs
Danny Baietto (.304) 7-23, HRs, 1 RBI

LOWELL TEAM (.422) 94-396, 18 HRs, 170 RBIs

LOWELL Pitching

Matt Roberts (4-2) 2.63 ERA, 32Ks, 11 walks (29.3 innings)
Brian Stamper (4-1) 4.20 ERA, 39 Ks, 15 walks (26.7 innings)
Justin Bales (3-0) 5.11 ERA, 15Ks, 13 walks (12.3 innings)
Ed Overdorf (1-0) 2.33 ERA, 15Ks, 4 walks (12 innings)
Jason Corns (0-0) 2.47 ERA, 9Ks, 2 walks (11.3 innings)

LOWELL TEAM: (13-3) 3.44 ERA, 121 Ks, 48 walks (97.7 innings)