2012 - Week-2, Top-10

High School Baseball Teams in

Northwest Indiana

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

4-12-2012

ST. JOHN (04-12-2012) It's a rare spring with very few games postponed in early April. So, despite a return to cold spring weather, all teams are getting a good read on where they stand competitively. I'm not sure the rankings are accurate, but I don't remember four Top-10 4A teams (LC, CP, Hobart and Portage) when one of them is not LaPorte. There's a big question this high school season about offense. Most teams have exhibited strong pitching, but when we return to warmer weather and the wind turns to the south, traditionally, everybody's pitching doesn't look so good. Unless the new prescribed 'safety' bats are fully adopted, which are much less potent than the old homer-happy aluminum. We're going to see about the new high school baseball "normal" next month.

ST. JOHN: Lake Central has just dominated everyone in the early going with big number wins 10-0 over Highland, 16-0 over Lowell, 15-0 over Michigan City. And you can't say they haven't had close games: 5-0 over Hanover Central and Michigan City, 1-0 over Bishop Noll and Munster. Right-hander Taylor Lehnert pitched a no-hitter against Hanover and Jimmy McNamara a pitched a five inning (15 strikeout perfect game) against Lowell. What the LC boys have to understand is that this has been a little too easy and nobody goes 35-0. The happy times will slow, perhaps, Thursday at home against No. 5 Crown Point (7-0).

MERRILLVILLE: The Niners got a jolt when they lost 9-1 at 4A No. 9 Penn on April 7, but it's no shock to lose to a Top-10 team on the road. The Niners have solid pitching with early wins 10-0 over Clark and 5-1 over Lowell, a two-hitter from Zach Goldasich. Good nonconference games coming up against Lawrence Central and Chesterton (4-3). Andrean doesn't play a lot of games early, so you have to ride with what still looks like a strong pitching staff.

PORTAGE: The Indians got a two run single from Eric Masarich in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally past LaPorte 6-5 Tuesday (4-10-2012) and stay undefeated. The problem again this year with playing Portage is Gabe Acevedo, who was 3-for-4 in a 12-9 win over Hanover and 2-for-3 with four RBIs in a win over Lowell. The Indians' pitching slipped a little in consecutive wins 8-5 over Lowell, 12-9 over Hanover and the 6-5 come back over LaPorte. The moment of truth has arrived here as Portage hosts Crown Point Monday (4-16-2012) and play at LC on Wednesday (4-18-2012).

CHESTERTON: Chesterton might still be better than Crown Point, but they lost 4-2 Monday (4-11-2012) on a seventh-inning three-run home run by Crown Point's Zach Plesac off
Jake Post (2-1), who was one out away from winning. The Trojans also lost 2-1 to Jefferson and 1-0 to McCutcheon in the Joe Heath Classic in Lafayette last weekend. Three one-run losses to good teams are not an indictment of how good these pitchers (18 runs allowed in 7 games) are. Chesterton scored 20, 20 and 16 runs in the first three games and a total of seven runs in the next four games. It's hard to know what kind of offense this team has.

5. (4A) Crown Point (7-0)
21-12 (2011), 27-5 (2010), 30-3 (2009), 29-6-2 (2008), 29-3 (2007)

CROWN POINT: Crown Point has squeaked by against Griffith, Munster and Chesterton. Zach Plesac's three-run homer off Jake Post gave CP a big 4-2 win over Chesterton in the opening game of the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) season. The Bulldogs aren't dominating anybody after outscoring their first three foes 36-5. Plesac (3-0), who actually pitched a no-hitter in Mondays' 4-2 win and Jake Lindeman (1-0) have found some help in varsity rookies David Kepshire (1-0) and Johnny Lynk (1-0). CP has started the season 7-0 for the fourth times in five years, but they'll be hard-pressed to keep that going against No. 1 Lake Central Thursday (4-14-2012).

HOBART: Here's the surprise team in Northwest Indiana after the Brickies ran off nine wins in a row before losing to (Stevensville, Mich.) Lakeshore. Sophomore Brandon Murray (3-0), who was 5-1 last season as a freshman, struck out 10 in a 1-0 shutout of Merrillville, 15 more in a 9-0 win over Hebron and nine (with eight walks) in a 3-2 win over Elkhart Memorial. Phil Madvek (2-0) threw a no-hitter over Washington Township and a one-hitter 10-0 over River Forest. Like Crown Point, I'm not sure this is a really good offensive team and you have to have a strong offense in short season spring baseball because the weather warms up.

GRIFFITH: Here's a team that might be better than their record. The losses are 4-0 to Portage (6-0), 4-2 to Crown Point (7-0) and 5-2 to Merrillville. Garrett Litke had four of Griffith's 17 hits in a big time 17-4 win over Kankakee Valley. Josh Chaliifoux had four RBI. One key this year: Griffith is not in the same sectional with 3A (they are in with Clark, Gavit and the three non-competitive Gary schools) No. 3 Andrean so they are (or should be) preparing to go a long way before they would come to the pivotal match with the rival 59ers. Their season is vividly now an eight-week training camp for the single-elimination playoffs.

HAMMOND: The Mustangs have played a wide-ranging schedule in the early going, including teams like Terre Haute South, New Haven and Mount Vernon. Left-hander Anthony Gomez (1-1) pitched four hitless innings in a 16-6 win over Mt. Vernon and he allowed four hits in a 1-0 loss to No. 1 Lake Central. Lefty Scott Crilly (1-1) allowed four hits in a 3-2 loss at Crown Point. Munster has some quality left-handed pitching and hitting and that always bodes well for the majority of the season. Munster and LC lead a circular existence in a lot of sports. The season begins and ends, for them, with them meeting.

VALLPARAISO: The Vikings do have the 4-3 loss to Griffith, but they also rolled to wins over Munster 11-6 and Hanover 14-4. Catcher Joe Gallanatti, who was 6-for-16 after four games, was 2-for-5 against Munster. Outfielder CJ Gear was 6-for-12 in the first four games. Obviously the Vikings have not stepped into the deep part of the DAC schedule against top-10 teams LC, CP and Portage. But they have been competitive in every game in the early going.

10. (3A) Kankakee Valley (5-3)
19-10 (2011), 15-16 (2010), 18-12 (2009), 11-16-1 (2008)

DeMOTTE: KV took a 17-4 beat down from Griffith, despite a homer by Jake Wright. Who is this Jake Wright person? Wright was 5-for-5 in a 9-7 win over North Newton and 3-for-3 in a 9-2 win over Knox. KV gave up 22 runs in the first seven games and then got smoked for 17 in just five innings. The Kougars first match up with sectional rival Andrean is on the road on April 16 (the rematch is May 4 at KV) and they'll travel to Hobart (10-1) on April 18. KV and Andrean are sectional rivals so the Kougars' season obviously comes down to their match ups with the 59ers.