Crown Point stumbles to Sectional semi-final with 'lucky' 8-7 win over Chesterton

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Chesterton (8-20)	1	0	1	2	0	1	2	7	12	8
CROWN POINT (20-9-1)	1	5	0	0	0	0	2	8	4	2

6-2-2003 - MERRILLVILLE Sectional quarterfinal (6-2-2003) - 59 degrees, light rain
WP - Adam Vetter (9-1) 1K, 1 walk (1 innings)
Chad Pruzin (CP) 10Ks, 1 walk (6 innings)
LP - Rob Kaminski (4-7) 2K, 1 walk (5 1/3 innings)

Chesterton (9 singles, 3 doubles, 2-2 steals)
Casey Martin (C) 3 singles, double, 2 RBIs
Sean Rizer (C) 2 singles
Jay Huffmaster (C) Double, single, RBI
Ryne Smitka (C) Double, 3 RBIs

CROWN POINT (4 singles, 2-2 steals)
Chad Pierce (CP) 2 singles, Sac. Fly, RBI, steal
Jake Pierce (CP) Single, walk
Kevin Vandas (CP) Single, RBI
Craig Horvat (CP) Double, RBI

MERRILLVILLE (6-2-2003) - They say that the state tournament brings out the best in some teams. At least for Monday night, Chesterton and Crown Point were not two of those teams.

Crown Point (20-9-1) let a 6-1 lead get away and could not muster more than four singles on offense. But they got lucky. Chesterton's eighth error of the game in the bottom of the seventh gave the Bulldogs a shaky 8-7 win and a chance for redemption in Friday night's Merrillville Sectional semifinals.

"It was pretty bad," said CP shortstop Chad Pierce. "The weather was terrible and they were stroking the ball pretty good. We'll be better."

They'll have to be. If not against Merrillville, a 6-4 winner over Hobart in the other Monday night quarterfinal, then surely Saturday morning in the 11 a.m. championship game against fifth-ranked Valparaiso (24-4), the defending sectional champion.

This was a game that the Bulldogs should have won easily and it started out that way. After Chesterton scored an unearned run against Bulldog senior starting pitcher Chad Pruzin in the top of the first inning, Crown point tied the game on two walks and a ground ball.

In the second inning, CP scored five times on two walks, three Trojan errors and an RBI single by Jake Pierce. The competitive part of the game should've ended here but the tide turned in the fourth inning with the Bulldogs leading 6-2.

With two on and two out, Trojan designated hitter Ryne Smitka hit a high pop up to second base. CP second baseman David Clayton appeared to have the ball but he truly never saw it. The ball dropped 15 feet away from the Bulldog infielder and with every runner on the move, suddenly, the score was 6-4.

Chesterton left-hander Rob Kaminski continued to shut down the CP attack, as he had in the 2-1 Chesterton loss at CP on May 2. The Trojans rallied with another unearned run in the sixth inning and they took the lead in the seventh.

CP coach Steve Strayer had right-hander Adam Vetter (9-1) ready to relieve Pruzin (10Ks, 1 walk, 9 hits) after six innings but he decided to let his starter pitch to Chesterton's cleanup hitter Casey Martin, who already was 3-for-3.

Martin hit a hard line drive of the left field fence for a double leading off the seventh and Vetter then inherited a game situation.

Matt Lambert struck out but Drew Bradford hit a high hopping ball up the middle. Clayton, CP's second baseman, couldn't knock it down and the RBI single tied the game 6-6.

Jay Huffmaster flied to left field for the second out but Josh Goranson walked and pinch hitter Nick Chase lined a single to left to put the Trojans ahead 7-6.

"I give our guys a lot of credit for coming back," said Chesterton coach Jack Campbell. They could have quit and they didn't. But we made eight errors. The weather had something to do with it. Gripping the baseball. But we could make a throw."

Faced with a first round state tournament elimination for the third consecutive season, Crown Point responded. Jake Pierce singled to left and Kamaski threw Eric Gulbrandsen's sacrifice bunt past first base. Senior first baseman Kevin Vandas cracked a base hit to right field to tie the game 7-7.

CP's Craig Horvat laid down a sacrifice bunt that Kamaski again threw wide of first base, although some from Chesterton thought first baseman Casey Martin had tagged the batter before he got to first.

With the bases loaded, Kamaski struck out Pruzin for the first out of the inning but Vetter hit a ground ball to second base. Huffmaster's throw home was low and it bounced away from catcher Josh Goranson, allowing the winning run to score and end the soggy, near three-hour contest.

"It was tough," said Vandas. "Tougher than I thought it was going to be. I was pretty confident through the whole thing but when the kid (Martin) hit that rope off the left field fence, I got a little worried."

The victory gave Crown Point a 20-win season for the first time since 2000 and it advanced hopes for the first Bulldog sectional title since 1991.

But nowhere on the wet Merrillville field Monday night in either game did anyone see any team that looked like they could beat second-ranked Valparaiso (24-4).

Merrillville will probably come back with junior right-hander Jason Plys (6-3), who pitched the complete-game victory over Hobart Monday. The Bulldogs could come back with Pruzin (4-1), Vetter (9-1) or Brian Sparks (3-3) who was the winning pitcher against Washington Township in a 13-4 victory Saturday.

"We have to be more consistent," said Coach Steve Strayer after that game. "We've told them. They know it. They've heard it a lot. They're either going to have to get it done or we're not going to be around very long."

Monday night, CP didn't play well, didn't look good and didn't inspire much confidence. But they didn't lose.

DOG NOTES: Crown Point is about to test one of the great theories of sports. When you defeat a team twice in the same year, folks drag out the cliche that 'it's tough to beat a team three times.' The Bulldogs have smacked Merrillville 13-2, 13-0 and 18-2. Is there any way the Pirates will rise up and get even? Surely Crown Point's Monday night performance where they gave up runs in almost every inning and totaled four singles on offense wouldn't scare Merrillville coach Zac Wells.

"We've won seven games," Wells reminded after Monday's play. "Everybody scares us."

Friday's Merrillville-Crown Point game will be aired on WJOB (1230) AM at 5 p.m. Saturday's 11 a.m. championship game will also be on WJOB, thanks to the Region Sports Network (RSN). There will be no TV of any state playoff games this year. Crown Point has never beaten Merrillville four times in the same season.

In LaPorte, sophomore left-hander Andy Weeks (9-2) pitched a 4-0 shutout as the Slicers (20-9-1) beat Clay in the opening game of the LaPorte Sectional. The LaPorte Sectional winner meets the Merrillville winner in the semifinals of the Penn Regional.

In Munster, Justin Bales and Ryan Basham hit home runs as Lowell (24-6) rolled to a 13-1 victory over Gary West Side. Bales (6-0) pitched a five-inning three-hitter for his third victory in a row. For Basham, it was his school-record 13th homer.

Crown Point (20-9-1, 11-2 DAC)
Head Coach Steve Strayer - 2002: 13-12-1 - DAC Games in CAPS

4-7: (Snow) Hammond (2-20)
4-8: (Cold) at Gavit (7-11)
4-10: 19-1 (5 innings) at Highland (22-5)
4-11: 8-0 Morton (4-9)
4-15: 13-2 (6 innings) MERRILLVILLE (7-19)
4-16: 8-1 Hebron (6-6)
4-17: 10-1 LaPORTE (20-9-1)
4-19: 3-2 Griffith (17-13)
4-21: 5-7 at MICHIGAN CITY (7-5)
4-23: 16-3 at PORTAGE (7-6)
4-25: 11-0 (6 innings) at HOBART (10-13)

Munster Invitational
4-26: 2-4 at Munster (20-9) semifinal
4-26:   13-0 (5 innings) Merrillville (7-19)   3rd place
4-29:   2-1 VALPARAISO (24-4)
5-1:    2-1 CHESTERTON (8-20)
5-2:    2-4 at Lake Central (18-6-1)
5-5:    18-2 (5 innings) at MERRILLVILLE (7-19)
5-7: 1-1 (10 innings) at LaPORTE (20-9-1)
5-9: 11-1 (5 innings) MICHIGAN CITY (12-8)
5-12: 6-1 (8 innings) at LaPORTE (20-9-1)
5-13: 4-3 PORTAGE (8-12)
5-15: 4-13 HOBART (12-17)
5-17: 5-4 Munster (20-9)
5-20: 3-6 at VALPARAISO (24-4)
5-21: 4-3 Lake Central (19-6-1)
5-22: 9-7 at CHESTERTON (8-20)
5-23: 2-4 at (West Lafayette) Harrison (20-8)
5-23: 6-15 at (West Lafayette) Harrison (20-8)
5-27: 11-1 Lowell (24-6)
5-29: 0-4 Clark (18-7)
5-31:   13-4 at Washington Township (14-12)

MERRILLVILLE (4A) SECTIONAL
6-2: 8-7 Chesterton (9-20)
6-6 (F) at Merrillville (7-19) 5 p.m.
6-7 (S) vs. Valparaiso (25-4) 11 a.m.

South Bend Clay (4A) REGIONAL (at Covaleski Stadium - South Bend)
6-14 (S) semifinals (vs. LaPorte Sectional championship) 10 a.m.
6-14 (S) championship - 7 p.m.

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