2010 - Week-1, Top-10

High School Baseball Teams in

Northwest Indiana

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

4-05-2010

LaPORTE (04-05-2010) It's going to be a little bit of a down year in Northwest Indiana high school baseball. As 3A Andrean won the state title in 2009 while 4A Crown Point and 2A Bishop Noll reached the semifinals, we're not likely to see that again this season.

We're about tO enter the second year of the hurry-up state tournament format which begins the playoffs on a Thursday afternoon and has sectional championship games on Monday or Tuesday. It's clumsy and any rain at any sectional puts that sectional champ at a big pitching disadvantage at the regional the next Saturday. The format also widens the gap of unfairness between the 5-team sectionals, which almost certainly will be done by Monday and the eight-team sectionals, which are one rainout away from a Wednesday night championship game.

The only new tournament I know of is the new LaPorte Classic this weekend which will see the Slicers take on three teams including Lakeshore, Michigan and Barberton, Ohio.

We have had an unusually good first two weeks of weather, a vivid change from recent years. I do not recall a half dozen 70-degree days before April 15 in any year. All thanks to Al Gore for the global warming.

New this season is the new lighted field in Kankakee Valley, a new scoreboard and press box at Hanover Central, new turf at Munster. I believe this is the debut season for Hobart's new field as well.

The forced matchup of 4A No. 1 Crown Point and 4A No. 2 LaPorte in the sectional will probably prevent anyone in this area from reaching the state finals. Remember, that due to the new playoff format, one pitcher can pitch the sectional, regional, semistate and the state championship. That's a big edge for a team like Andrean, which is short on pitching depth but does have a strong No. 1 hurler in Ken Mahala (7-1, 1.82 ERA).

1. (4A) LaPorte (2-0)
21-10 (2009), 22-9 (2007), 25-6 (2006), 30-5 (2005), 25-7 (2004)

LaPORTE: The Slicers trampled Penn 12-2 in Covaleski Stadium to start the season last week and it would appear they have slight edge on CP to start the season. The Slicers have eight seniors in 2010 including shortstop Dustin DeMuth (34-77, .422), Jake McMahan (37-95, .390) and Kyle Upp (31-94, .330) also come back. The entire pitching staff returns for 2010, with fastballer Clay Manering (8-3, 2.83 ERA, 100 Ks, in 65 innings) and 6-foot-4 Kevin Upp (8-3, 2.74 ERA, 81 Ks, in 62 innings) having high hopes for their senior year. In addition, Conner Podkul (4-2, 2.91 ERA in 34 innings), the nephew of former Andrean athletic director and softball coach Frank Podkul, has reportedly grown to 6-foot-5. You don't see many 4A schools that ever have all of their pitchers returning from the previous season and the Slicers are probably tired of Crown Point winning the sectional title. LaPorte has won 20 games for 43 years in a row and they'll make it 44 with a couple of wins to spare. There's just so much experienced pitching here, it's hard to go against these guys. Especially when the tradition here sets the goals very high. Other teams want to win. LaPorte simply has to reach the state finals every year or the season is a failure.

2. (4A) CROWN POINT (2-0)
30-3 (2009), 29-6-2 (2008), 29-3 (2007), 22-9 (2006), 21-12 (2005)

CROWN POINT: Crown Point won at 30-game winner (Orland Park, IL) Sandburg 3-1 and at South Bend Adams 15-0 to begin the 2010 season and they still have the 'Big 3' of Scott Donley (64-114, .561, 11 HRs, 57 RBIs), Jeff Limbaugh (46-100, .460, 8 HRs, 46 RBIs) and Josh Negele (51 of 107, .477, 5 HRs, 47 RBIs). That's a tough core of seniors to pitch around. 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. Donley (10-0, 15Ks in 17 innings) will get a pitching turn this year as well. There are concerns here: New catcher. New shortstop. Crucial positions. Plus the likelihood that opposing teams are tired of Donley and simply won't let him get 64 hits and 57 RBis again. But there is as much talent here in 2010 as there will ever be and coach Steve Strayer is going out of his way to find tougher opponents like Sandburg, Benton Central and Illiana Christian. It will all come down to one game against LaPorte at the end of May. Only one of the top two teams in NW Indiana can survive the sectional.

3. (4A) LAKE CENTRAL (2-0)
27-5 (2009), 22-9-2 (2008), 16-12 (2007), 19-10 (2006), 28-3 (2005), 24-7 (2004)

ST. JOHN: Lake Central lost seven starters, but they return most of the pitching staff including Kurt Kudrecki (6-1, 3.20 ERA) and Max Majchrzak (6-0, 2.75 ERA) who struck out 15 in the season opening 20-1 win over Bishop Noll. The offense will be led by Frank Pluskota (.367, 27 RBIs), outfielder Brandon Cloutier (.323) and catcher Brian Crider (.345). Even though they have a lot of rookies, they also have a lot of seniors and LC opened up with wins over Noll and Hanover Central. I don't know if this team can hit with LaPorte and Crown Point and they'll have four games in DAC play to find out. But I would still make LC the sectional favorite.

ST. JOHN: There are still a few left from the 2004 Highland Little League state champ as seniors at the high school. Third baseman Mike Bremer, John Livingston (.413, 4 HRs, 20 RBIs), Matt Spretnjak. But other Highland-grown stars include junior Keith Mahler (4-0, 1.85) and lefty Jordan Minch and second baseman Richard Fowler (.402, 20 RBIs). The Trojans do not play the elite schedule that CP, Andrean and LaPorte do so this should be a top-heavy winning year. They are one of the few teams that can handle the new hurry-up format, which may require three starting pitchers in the sectional. Bremer was 3-for-3 in a 19-2 win over Morton. Will Kerber also was 3-for-3. Minch struck out 12. This is a risky pick because the DAC teams tend to improve more as the season goes on because they face deeper squads. But high school teams traditionally fare very well five or six years after they win the Little League title.

5. (3A) ANDREAN (0-1)
33-2 (2009), 30-2 (2008), 25-10 (2007), 25-8 (2006), 33-2 (2005), 26-8 (2004)

MERRILLVILLE: The defending state champs are rebuilding behind pitcher-first baseman Ken Mahala (.380, 10 HRs, 43 RBIs), Tyler Ochi (20-52, .385) and PJ Mason (12-48, .250) returning in support of a pitching staff that will be led by Mahala (7-1, 1.82 ERA). The 59ers lost the season opener 16-10 to Lemont, IL, which does not tell you much. Remember, they were 2-2 last season in early April. The Niners will rely on a couple of freshmen and sophomores this year and they should improve quickly. Former all-staters Tommy Finn and Nick Stockwell have joined the coaching staff and old pitching coach Jim Nohos is back. This is the natural order of things. With their schedule, Andrean will surely lose 8-10 this year. But you don't want to be the one who draws Mahala in the state playoff opener.

VALPARAISO: Valparaiso should be on the rise behind right handed pitcher Jerrick Suiter. The Vikings have most of the varsity back and they topped Elkhart Memorial 5-2 in the second game of the season. The Vikings may again be a victim of circumstance. The 14-game Duneland Athletic Conference season will have them meet CP, LaPorte and Lake Central twice each and that could mean six losses.

HAMMOND: Noll lost 2-1 to Lake Central to begin the season on March 31, but they should approach 20 wins again with seniors Ryan Eggers (.400, 27 RBIs, 15 steals), Kevin Mullaney (.384, 27 steals, 30 runs scored) and Tommy Merkelis (.375, 25 RBIs). The Warriors have an experience edge on the other four teams in 2A Sectional 33 and they return as the favorite in the Greater South Shore Conference (GSSC). Despite that first game, Noll is more likely to get involved in the 13-12 contests this year as the pitching depth behind Matt Pobereyko (6-2, 2.35 ERA, 48 Ks in 44 innings) is not obvious.

8. (2A) BOONE GROVE (0-2)
23-7 (2009), 27-4-1 (2008), 25-6-1 (2007), 26-4 (2006), 24-7 (2005)

PORTER TOWNSHIP: Boone and Valpo are similar with one top pitcher in Wayland Roach (5-3, 1.86 ERA, 87 Ks, in 57 innings) and sophomore AJ Mosier (4-1, 3.56 in 20 innings) leading a young pitching crew. Boone Grove lost early to Marquette and Merrillville, but they did have some boys who started late due to regional basketball. Basketball's Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Kidd and catcher John Sawa should eventually right the ship here and lead the Wolves to the top of the PCC. But the gap between Boone and the rest of the league (PCC) is not wide.

PORTAGE: I didn't know last year was Portage's first winning season in 12 years. I'm not sure they'll do it again, but the Indians did top Elkhart Memorial 10-6 in the first week of the season. Tony Cheeky had two home runs and five RBIs in that game while a Mike Brunner had two doubles. This is another shaky pick and it's based on the fact that the entire DAC should be more balanced, lifting everyone in quality if not in won-loss record.

10. (3A) Kankakee Valley (1-0)
18-12 (2009), 11-16-1 (2008), 20-10 (2007), 16-15 (2006), 22-9 (2005)

DeMOTTE: I like KV to nip up-and-coming Merrillville, Griffith and Clark for this last spot. The Kougars coasted over West Central 19-2 to start the season with Zach DeFries driving in three runs and Trevor Williams pitching four shutout innings. Chet Turnbeaugh (5-3, 20 K in 40 innings) cold be a big factor if he can overcome control problems which saw him walk 21 last year. Turnbeaugh (.425, 2 HRs, 19 RBIs) leads what should be another good KV offense, which included Dylan Patrick (.372, 12 RBIs). KV's schedule is always a little soft because it includes the West Centrals, the Rensselaers and the North Newtons. I'm anxious to see KV's new lighted field and the upgrades in the baseball campus. I'm also anxious to see if KV can get enough pitching to challenge Andrean at the sectional.