Basham's 2 HRs break school record, lead Red Devils to 7-2 win over Kankakee Valley

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Kankakee Valley (11-11)	1	0	0	0	1	-	-	2	4	0
LOWELL (17-4, 11-2 LAC)	2	0	3	2	0	-	-	7	9	2

5-14-2003 - 54 degrees, light rain in LOWELL

WP - Justin Bales (4-0) 3Ks, 1 walk, CG No. 1
LP - Jonothan Cusack (2-2) 2Ks, 4 walks, CG

Kankakee Valley (4 singles)
Troy Jackson (KV) Single, walk, RBI
John Stamper (KV) Sac. Fly, RBI

LOWELL (2 HRs, 7 singles, stolen base)
CJ Hall (LOWELL) 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Matt Roberts (LOWELL) Single, walk
Ryan Basham (LOWELL) 2 HRs, 4 RBIs, walk
Ed Overdorf (LOWELL) 3 singles, RBI
Matt Roberts (LOWELL) Single, walk

LOWELL (5-14-2003) - When it comes to varsity baseball at Lowell, these are the good old days.
Folks who faced the 55-degree chill and light rain Wednesday out behind Lowell High School saw two landmarks. Left-handed hitting second baseman Ryan Basham hit two opposite field home runs to break the all-time school record for homers in a season. And Lowell finished the regular Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) season in a tie for first.

Munster beating Highland 6-4 on Monday and losing to Andrean 3-2 Wednesday allowed the Red Devils, Highland and Andrean to all finish the regularly scheduled slate with two losses, a three-way Co-Championship in the 14-team league.

"It's pretty good," said Basham, after coach Kent Hess awarded him the baseballs he hit for homers No. 11 and 12 in the gym after the game. "I hadn't hit one in a while."

Everything is relative for Basham, the Lowell batting star who hit his 10th homer against Merrillville on May 3. Stepping up on May 14 against KV sophomore right-hander Jonothan Cusack, Basham stroked a drive of about 375-feet that carried beyond the fence in left center, giving Lowell (18-4, 11-2) a 2-1 first inning lead.

In the fourth inning, on a 3-1 pitch, Basham sliced a long line drive down the left field line that carried over the wall at around 325 feet to make the score 7-1. Pete Edmonds hit 10 home runs for Lowell in 2000, setting the present record. No one is sure what the region record is but Hammond's Matt Mamula and KV's Brent Przyblski both hit 15 homers in 1998.

"He gets so many walks," said Hess of Basham's season which has seen his 12 homers in less than 60 official at bats. "I was surprised they pitched to him the second time. But, we'll go to LaPorte and they'll pitch to him. Some of the KV kids have not played with or against him, so they might think they can pitch to him in situations (with first base open) like that. He has unbelievable bat speed. He deserves everything he's getting."

It's not just Basham. Lowell's season-long potent hitting continued on a gloomy May afternoon. Ed Overdorf, who has an amazing 28 RBIs, batting behind a kid with 12 home runs, was 3-for-3 including an RBI single in the third inning to make the score 3-1. CJ Hall, who was 25-for-50 after 16 games, blooped a two-run single to center to make it 5-1 two batters later. It's not that big a surprise that Lowell, 21-11 last season, is on the way to another 20-win season. But the share of LAC first place is a prized possession. Andrean has swept the entire regular season schedule each of the last three years.

"I don't think anybody thought we'd be tied for first place after all our league games," said Hess, who didn't want to look ahead in the LAC tournament or to high-profile late season games with Crown Point (15-4-1) and LaPorte (15-6-1). "We just want to win every one we can."

After 39 wins in Lowell's last 54 games, that is not an unrealistic hope.

DEVIL NOTES: Rain and darkness brought the game to halt after five innings. Some on both sides thought the contest should have been stopped before then. KV coach Doug Greenlee is battling through a season after 10 Kougar seniors graduated.

"We have only two seniors left," he said, "and we've gone 11-11. That's not too bad. We've never (in Greenlee's 18 years) had a losing season so I'm hoping we can stay over .500. But I think this is a good year for this. Next year when we (the entire school) join the LAC, we'll have all these guys back."

The 14-team Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) tournament will be a four-round event with the top two teams getting a first round bye. Lowell figured to be one of those teams but a three-way first place tie could bump the Devils down to the No.3 seed, forcing them to play a first round game, against the No. 14 seed, winless Hammond (0-17). Nothing is actually announced in the LAC, but the round-of-16 games are set for Tuesday and the quarterfinals come up Wednesday, May 21.

Ryan Basham said that Michigan State has been recruiting him since last summer without his knowledge. (8th-year MSU coach Ted) Mahan saw me this summer in a game in Illinois. He was actually going to see some pitchers that the other team had. He sent me a letter a month or so after that. I went there and I liked it. It (East Lansing) is out of Lansing a little bit. It's nice. I just wanted to play in a place where I could get some good competition."

There is a very good chance that Basham will be drafted in the June pro baseball draft but he says that, even though he did not get a full scholarship to Michigan State, there is not a very good chance that he'll sign to play professional baseball this summer.

"Yeah, I'm going to school. St. Joe put a pretty nice offer together. I think they (MSU) only has about 11 scholarships for the whole team."

Basham's true defensive position has always been in question but MSU also recruited all-state shortstop Troy Krider (.476, 15 steals in 2002) out of DeKalb (14-5) and they may team Basham and Krider. The MSU web site quotes Mahan as saying that Krider fills the Spartans' need for a left-handed hitting infielder.

"I could be in the outfield," said Basham, "but I don't know. As of now, I'm still in the infield. We'll see."

Michigan State was only 17-32 after 49 games and 8-17 in the Big-10. MSU's regular season baseman in 2003, Charlie Bruan (.262, 16 RBIs, 3 errors in 44 games), will graduate next month.

LOWELL (18-4, 11-2 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 (13-6) at RailCats Stadium - Gary
4-8:    3-5 Lake Central (12-3)
4-10: 0-1 Rensselaer (10-7)
4-11: 12-2 (5 innings) Hanover Central (13-5)
4-12: 29-8 (5 innings) at East Chicago (2-17)
4-15: 12-11 MUNSTER (15-6)
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 (6-9)
4-22: 6-4 GRIFFITH (12-9)
4-25: 8-3 BISHOP NOLL (12-7)
4-28: 26-1 (5 innings) HAMMOND (0-18)
5-2:   21-3 (5 innings) WHITING (11-8)
5-3: 14-3 (5 innings) Merrillville (7-12)
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 (4-13)
5-10: (rain) Gary West Side (0-6)
5-12: 4-2 at ANDREAN (18-5)
5-13: 18-1 (5 innings) Gary West Side (0-6)
5-14: 7-2 Kankakee Valley (11-11)

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 (15-4-1)
5-30 (F) at LaPorte (15-5-1)