2009 - Final Top-5  High School Baseball Teams in Northwest Indiana
	A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith 7-06-2009

MERRILLVILLE (7-4-2009) There was no doubt as to who was best as Andrean, the No. 1 team in the pre-season, won a school record 31st game in a row and won the state title.  No one has dominated Northwest Indiana baseball in at least 20 years.  The 59ers did not lose to any team in this region and they overwhelmed most foes.

There is something, not noted often enough, that is satisfying about the best team winning it all.  It gives the sport a base.  If lesser teams survive upsets to get to the finals every year, then there is no barometer of quality.  When the best group of players and the most experienced coach win all the games they need to win and take home the ultimate prize, it should be settling to all other teams.  Obviously, this Andrean team is somewhat of an all-star group from other towns.  But Andrean always has groups of players from other towns.  This year they put a team together that was almost impossible to beat.  That's the achievement.

More significant, in my mind, than winning the state title, is winning 31 games in a row.  The only other streak like that was Brownsburg's 35-0 state title in 2005.  Baseball is not like any other sport.  I spoke here about how impressive Crown Point's 15 and 16-game season opening win streaks were.  Baseball is an odds game where all players fail most of the time.  It's just that simple.  To win 20 or 30 games in a row is a feat far beyond winning six playoffs games in succession.  And they've done it before.  Andrean won 29 games in a row (I have said 30 but that's not accurate) last year so the 2009 streak with many of the same players puts a stamp of realism on the 2008 streak.  We know now that both streaks were not flukes.  The second streak makes it more than luck.

To me, that makes 2009 Andrean the best Northwest Indiana team in the state tournament era.  The idea of four starting pitchers also leads to that conclusion.  Munster's 2002 state title team basically had two pitchers.  Noll's 2004 title team and Andrean's 2005 state winner had three.  The 2009 Niners had four solid pitchers who took their regular turns until the post season, when Adam Norton (8-0) basically was able to pitch every game due to the format.

The epitome of Andrean's quality is senior Mike Pokers (6-0, 1.62 ERA, 58 Ks in 39 innings).  In 2007 Pokers was 7-0 with an 0.54 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 34 innings.  Thomas Polus (8-1, 1.17 ERA) was 5-0 with a 1.25 ERA in 2008.  Ken Mahala (7-1, 1.82 ERA 65 Ks, in 50 innings) was dominant in many games.  None of those pitchers threw one pitch in the semistate or the state finals.  And no one asked why.  That's how good Andrean was.  We won't see a team like this again perhaps for a generation.

We came very close to three state finalists as Bishop Noll and Crown Point both had leads in the 2A and 4A semistate games and could not hold the lead.  Noll, like Andrean, is always going to be a contender in the 2A bracket.  The excitement was in Class 4A where both Crown Point and Lake Central were ranked No. 1 at one time or another in 2009.  CP (30-3) defeated Lake Central (27-4) three times, but then could not reach the title game.

The drama for 2010 will surround CP.  Andrean and LC graduated most of their starting lineups, but CP did not.  The Bulldogs, who have won three regional titles in a row, will be the pre-season No. 1 team next season and a slight favorite over LaPorte in the Duneland Conference.  But they won't win 31 games in a row.  Baseball teams just don't do that.

I'm going to give a season-ending Top-5 and, even though Bishop Noll defeated Boone, I had Boone ahead of them in the overall season.  Clark and Kankakee Valley also had string years.  The DAC was down and the continuing struggles of Merrillville and Michigan City are disappointing because they sit next door to baseball powerhouses.

The step that Andrean takes down off their throne will breathe new life into Munster, Highland and Griffith.  But the reality is that the population swing to South Lake and Porter County (Porter Township is one of the fastest growing areas in the state of Indiana) will seed ballplayers into those regions.

The defeat of the bond issue in the Lake Central school district will mean, among many other things, that they won't be able to improve their baseball facilities.  The LC field is OK, but substandard by DAC standards.  To be honest, LC has an estimated 3,150 students and an upgrade of the ballfield is low on their totem pole of needs.

There must also be another change in the state tournament format.  Adam Norton was a great pitcher for Andrean, but he should not have been able to pitch four of Andrean's last five playoff games.  That's what a one game semistate and a one game championship game sets up.  We need another IHSAA adjustment that creates four-team sectionals, four-team regional's and four team semistates before the title game.  That would also eliminate the inequity of some schools playing in five-team sectionals while others play in eight-team sectionals.

One last plea for the 2010 season.  Come on, boys.  There's no reason that Andrean can't play Crown Point and Lake Central can't meet Boone Grove.  With all four of them in the Top-5 state wide, a four team double-header would have been the highlight of the 2009 season.

1.  (3A)   ANDREAN (33-2)
30-2 (2008), 25-10  (2007), 25-8 (2006),  33-2 (2005), 26-8 (2004), 27-7 (2003)

MERRILLVILLE:  Andrean's 6-2 win over West Vigo (28-2) gave the 59ers their second Class 3A state crown. Adam Norton (9-0) won his fourth consecutive playoff game to lead Andrean to the crown.  This has to be very satisfying for an Andrean team that ends a two-year run at 63-4, the best of all-time in Northwest Indiana. The Niners won be empty handed in 2010 with Ken Mahala (.380, 10 HRs, 43 RBIs) and Evan Rapacz (.345), Tyler Ochi (20-52, .385) 5 and PJ Mason (12-48, .250) returning in support of a pitching staff that will be led by Mahala (7-1, 1.82 ERA).  Sometimes you wonder if an old coach like Dave Pishkur is going to retire after a championship season but nobody's asking that at Andrean because infielder Mark Pishkur will be a sophomore next season so there's no way his dad is going anywhere for three more seasons..
I would not be shocked to see Andrean go deep into the state tourney again in 2010. Under the present format, you really only need one strong pitcher.

2.  (4A) CROWN POINT (30-3)
29-6-2 (2008), 29-3 (2007),  22-9 (2006), 21-12 (2005), 17-11 (2004), 23-10-1 (2003)

CROWN POINT:  Crown Point won 17 in a row. Lost twice and then won 13 in a row.  But a 4-2 loss to eventual state champion Snider (25-3) cut the Bulldogs short one game before the state finals.  Somehow teams that lose in the championship game don't feel nearly as bad as ones who fall one game before the finals. I was shocked at a season high 14 strikeouts in the loss. The Bulldogs put the bat on the ball all year.  The good news is, CP has six starters and the entire bench back in 2010.  You can go on and on about the year Scott Donley (64-114, .561, 11 HRs, 57 RBIs) and it will be virtually impossible for him to come near those numbers in 2010, if only because teams will stop pitching to him.  Josh Negele (9-1, 2.05 ERA) and Mike Manion (7-1, 2.01 ERA) will team with Brian Holloway (4-0, 1.27 ERA) to give CP a foundation of pitching.  And while baseball tendencies tell you that Donley wont be able to get 63 hits again in 2010, he has untapped ability as a pitcher.  Donley pitched 16 innings in 2009 but he'll be asked to replace graduated Mike Kozlowski (8-1, 2.85 ERA).  Baseball players NEVER do exactly what they did the year before, but CP has a wealth of ability right now and, barring a key injury, the eight-team 4A Sectional 2 mine field will again begin with the Bulldogs as the favorite.

3.  (4A) LAKE CENTRAL  (27-4)
22-9-2 (2008) 16-12 (2007), 19-10 (2006),  28-3 (2005),  24-7 (2004),  23-6-1 (2003)

ST. JOHN:   Lake Central won 27 of 31 games and that's about what I thought they'd do.  But I never saw them losing three times to a younger Crown Point team and they ended the year with the most successful disappointing team perhaps in the history of this region.  LC was 0-3 against CP (30-3) and 0-1 against Penn (27-4).  They were 27-0 against everyone else.  I cannot explain that.  I cannot even come close.  But I will say this.  When you have a group of players who inexplicably break down against one particular team and that team (CP) has almost every key player returning, it's just as well that you don't.  This may have been LC's best team in school history, but no one will ever look at it that way.  LC, which was 50-11-2 the last two seasons, must replace all-area stars like center fielder Kyle Kaluza, second baseman Anthony Olund (.389, 40 runs scored), pitcher Eric Summers (8-1, 1.72 ERA) and all-time school home run champion Ryan Boss (.402, 10 HRs, 45 RBIs).  But LC has some promising underclassmen including pitcher Kurt Kudrecki (6-1, 3.20 ERA, 4 saves).  I don't see them as DAC contenders in 2010, but LC is always competitive at the sectional.

4.  (4A)  LaPorte (21-10)
22-9  (2007),  25-6 (2006),  30-5 (2005),  25-7 (2004),  22-10 (2003)

LaPORTE:  The Slicers maintained the greatest streak in Indiana baseball.  They won 20 games for the 43rd year in a row.  No school has any record that is anything like that.  LaPorte had injury and internal problems, but they came on strong at the end.  For 2010, shortstop Dustin DeMuth (34-77, .422) should be at full strength after an injury-filled 2009.  Jake McMahan (37-95, .390) and Kyle Upp (31-94, .330) also come back.  The entire pitching staff returns for 2010 with Clay Manering (8-3, 2.83 ERA, 100 Ks, in 65 innings) and Kevin Upp (8-3, 2.74 ERA, 81 Ks, in 62 innings) have high hopes for the senior year and Conner Podkul (4-2, 2.91 ERA in 34 innings), the nephew of former Andrean athletic director and softball coach Frank Podkul, has two years left.  But all five members of the staff are back and that means that LaPorte will be a major DAC and sectional challenger to top-ranked Crown Point in 2010.

5.  (2A) BOONE GROVE (22-6)
27-4-1 (2008), 25-6-1 (2007),  26-4 (2006), 24-7 (2005), 17-12 (2004), 21-7 (2003)

PORTER TOWNSHIP:  Boone lost to Bishop Noll in the Regional semifinals, but it was a strong season considering how many rookies they had on the roster.  Some of Boone's seniors did not play before this year and some younger players like John Sawa (33-84, .393) came through for them.  The three seniors performed well:  Ben Vasquez (18-60, .300), Lynn Strohl (5-2, 2.87 ERA) and Nick DiMarco (7-0, 1.12 ERA plus 35-81, .432, 25 walks).  Plenty is left for 2010 with left-hander Wayland Roach (5-3, 1.86 ERA, 87 Ks, in 57 innings) and freshman AJ Mosier (4-1, 3.56 in 20 innings) have a future.  Boone Grove is going to be one of the PCC favorites with South Central in 2010 and they are still the 2A sectional favorite.  An aside here is that Boone begins a football program this fall.  That will cut away from fall baseball, but it may also develop strong players for baseball next spring.  I believe that football at a high school helps wrestling and baseball.  Crown Point might be the best example of that.