Boys H.S. Baseball: Lowell 2, Andrean 9

Red Devils lose heart-breaker to Andrean 9-2 in baseball

A USA-365 special report by Mark Smith

5-2-2006

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
ANDREAN (13-5, 7-3 LAC)	0	0	0	0	7	2	0	9	7	0
LOWELL (5-9, 2-8 LAC)	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	3

Monday, May 1, 2006 - 66 degrees, wet grounds in Lowell

WP - Chris DiGulio (4-1) CG, 2K, 1 walk
LP - Jon Cap (2-3) CG, 7K, 5 walks (5 inn.)

ANDREAN (13-5)
Mike Arvin (2B) HR, single, 2 RBIs
Kellen Mackin (1B) HR, 2 RBIs
Eddie Reardon (DH) 2 singles, walk
Anthony Pulver (RF) 2 singles, walk

LOWELL (5-9)
Tyler Overdorf (LF) Double, RBI
Kyle Metz (SS) RBI

LOWELL (5-1-2006) In the past, Lowell has been blown out by Andrean. After the way they've lost two games to the 59ers this season, they'd rather get blown out.

"No question about it," said coach Tom Stoner. "I'd rather get beat 10-0 than like this.'

In mid-April, Andrean trailed Lowell 9-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning before the 59ers came up with five runs and won 10-9. Monday night, Lowell led 2-0 in the top of the fifth inning with two out and nobody on base. Somehow, they lost this one too, and lost big 9-2. I was there and I still can't believe how fast it happened.

Give Andrean a lot of credit. The 59ers put the bat on the ball and worked the count until they could come up with the big hits, two-run homers by Kellen Mackin and Mike Arvin. But one play decided the game.

Trailing 2-1 the 59ers filled the bases with two out in the fifth inning and scored one run on a bases-loaded walk to freshman clean-up hitter Adam Norton. Then Lowell pitcher Jon Cap seemed to be out of the inning. He had 270-pound designated hitter Eddie Reardon off balance and worked the count to 1-2. On a curve ball, Reardon slapped a quick roller back to the mound. Cap could not grab it and shortstop Kyle Metz, who was playing the big right-handed hitter back near the outfield grass, had to charge hard to make a bare hand pickup. Metz still had a chance to get Reardon but his off-balance submarine style tumbling throw to first was wild and got past Lowell first baseman Dave Erpelding. All three Andrean base runners scored and the 59ers led 4-2.

"He was playing deep," said Stoner, "The infield was slow. We knew that. He should have eaten (held) the ball." Metz may have assumed that Cap would field the ball which skipped over the third base side of the mound.

"We assume somebody else is going to make the play so we don't back people up," aded Stoner. "If we keep doing things like that we're going to get beat. That's just all there is to it."

Andrean coach Dave Pishkur thought there was a hangover from a 3-2 loss to Bishop Noll last Friday.

"We just got the bat on the ball," he said. "The first four innings, he (Cap) was baffling us. I'm happy with how we came back. We had some good at bats."

After the three-run error, the 59ers had some very good at-bats. Anthony Pulver sliced an RBI singe to right field and big first baseman Kellen Mackin then hit a big fly deep over the fence in left center field. In a very brief time span that included less than 10 pitches, Andrean scored seven times and the game was effectively over at 7-2. The skies got darker and drops of rain fell quietly as 6-foot-3 right-hander Chris DiGulio (4-1) completed a three-hit complete game.

"Once we got down, we had no heart left," said Stoner, who took the loss hard. "I could see it in their eyes. Once we got behind we gave up. I saw it on the field and I saw it in the dugout."

This was a big game for Lowell, facing the 2005 Class 3A state champions. Most of the players from that 59er team have graduated. But Andrean, which has reached the state finals three years in a row, is still the top baseball school the 16-team Lake Athletic Conference. This would have been a landmark win for the Devils.

Lowell (5-9) had taken a 2-0 lead in the first inning when two singles and a long double by Tyler Overdorf made it 2-0 against Chris DiGulio (4-1). But with the bases loaded and two out, DiGulio picked Jon Stoner off first base for the third out.

"That was a very big play," Pishkur would say later. "That was a very good play by the first baseman (Mackin). All our pickoffs are reads depending on what the runner does. Chris picks him off and then he doesn't have to throw the 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded. You never know what was going to happen then."

The three-run error never occurs if Norton the freshman shortstop does not get a walk with the bases full.

Pishkur was asked why he's got a freshman batting cleanup.

"He's really good. Going in to this game he was hitting .600. He didn't get a hit today, but he walked with the bases loaded. He's got the best arm on our team, but we can't pitch him because our other shortstop is a freshman and he isn't capable of hitting right now."

"Norton leads the team in homers. Leads the team in hits. Leads the team in RBIs and he's a freshman. He's on pace to break school records as a freshman. He's on pace to break Tommy Finn's (single season Andrean record) 55 base hits. If he just has a second half like he had the first, he'll shatter that record."

Lowell right-hander Jon Cap gave up five base hits in five innings, but took the loss.

"He pitched a strong game," said Stoner. "He deserved better than he got. It looked very good for 4-2/3 innings and then the wheels came off. We're winning 2-0 and we end up losing 9-2.

DEVIL NOTES: Lowell will play at Hobart Thursday and at Munster Monday, both game 4:30 starts. By that time, they'll know what their first round game is in the 16-team LAC tournament which begins on May 15.

Many games in NW Indiana were rained out Monday. Griffith's game was rained out so early that coach Brian Jennings was able to drive to Lowell to watch Griffith's conference rivals Lowell and Andrean.

When Jon Cap struck out Andrean senior Joe Mack the first two times up Monday, Mack had built a dark string of five consecutive strikeouts.

"We played 25 games last year," said Coach Dave Pishkur, "and another 20 this year. He's probably had hits in 50 of the 55 games. So if he strikes out five times in a row, he's not used to that at all. Back at the start of the year, he said in the newspaper that he'd carry the team. When he was up in that fifth inning with two on and two out. I reminded him of that and he did get a walk."

Andrean, which had scored 10 or more runs nine times in their first 18 games, lost a proposed matchup with Chicago's famed Mt. Carmel high school on April 27 because the Caravan had scheduled too many games.

"They overbooked," said Pishkur, "and they had no games rained out so we picked up Lincoln Way East to play last week. We were just glad we didn't play them in football. They were the 8A state champs. But it was nice to play a big school and good competition."

The Niners won 14-2 and had scored 175 runs (9.6) in their first 18 games .