Northwest Indiana 2004 Top-10

High School Baseball Poll: Week 3

4-13-2004

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Little change at the top. The powerful teams have displayed that power. The trick this week will be to judge up-and-comers Hobart (7-1) and Kankakee Valley (6-0) in light of their early success. Are they a product of vast improvement or simply a fortunate early schedule? Chesterton pulled off a large upset of defending state champ Chesterton and won 2 out of 3 in Lafayette Jefferson's Heath Classic. Hard to question that level of competition. The Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) and the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) begins this week so there will be major head-to-head matchups almost daily until the end of the month.

1. LaPORTE (4-0)

LaPORTE - No one has challenged LaPorte since the Slicers season-opening 4-3 win in Covaleski Stadium against Penn. LaPorte has scored 10 or more runs in each of their last three games and that's a good sign because offense was a major problem for them last year. LaPorte has 16 extra base hits in four games and junior Joel Matheney has two home runs. Look out for catcher Blake Hindsley to bust loose with the bat. This is the calm before the storm. The Slicers must play Lake Central, Valparaiso and Crown Point twice each. One problem. Junior left-hander Andy Weeks has pitched in every game so far. That cannot go on.

2. Andrean (2-1)

MERRILLVILLE - Andrean put down Portage 6-4 and Penn 5-4 on the road to show what they have. Junior Steve Walsh had five base hits in the two wins. The 59ers played their first three games on the road. Senior right-hander Mike Ryan's first start totaled nine strikeouts, allowing seven hits and a walk in seven innings. Plenty good. The 59ers don't appear to really have power but their running attack will warm up as the weather warms up. Anyone who devalues them because of a loss to Providence on New Lenox Ill. probably has never heard of the Providence program.

3. Lake Central (5-1)

ST. JOHN - A good road trip for LC getting away from Northwest Indiana and winning 2-out-of-3 in the Mount Vernon Tournament. Junior John Babinski (2-0) had his second strong start with 12 strikeouts against the host school in an 11-1 win. LC has scored 11 runs three times in six games and Indian pitching has allowed just eight runs all season. Brett Summers shut out Bishop Noll 4-0 in a powerful performance on April 7.
How are we going to judge the top three teams? Probably in how they perform in road games. LC had a defensive letdown (3 errors) in a 3-1 loss to North Posey. But they have shown two very solid starting pitchers.

4. Crown Point (4-1)

CROWN POINT - CP has looked strong in the early going with five capable pitchers led by senior Mike Schultz. A new factor is sophomore left-hander Matt Jansen who has struck out 22 batters in his first 10 innings on the varsity. Freshman Tommy Wise tossed a complete-game victory and hit a homer in a 13-1 win over Knox in his debut. Kankakee Valley (6-0) rallied to nip CP 5-4 in the championship game of the KV Invitational but that was CP's fifth game in five days. CP has only made six errors in five games which is an improvement over last season. Let's withhold more judgment until the Bulldogs face some DAC teams. CP always starts fast. It usually doesn't mean anything.

5. Highland (5-1)

HIGHLAND - Highland really shouldn't have lost 4-2 to Crown Point on April 8. a key error by Billy Metzen at SS cost the Trojans the game. Highland does have 12 errors in six games but I think their defense is pretty good. But Metzen and left-hander Kevin Kulchar have both turned in two solid starts. The infield is strong and the offense should do well in the LAC. While the local media pumps up Munster, Highland, so far, has been a better team.

6. Valparaiso (2-2)

VALPARAISO - The Vikings look strong again with right-hander Jon Charlson (2-0) collecting two complete-game victories over Elkhart Memorial and New Castle.. Just five errors in four games but three of them cost a 6-4 loss to Munster. Clint Krysa or Brian McMillan has yet to click as the No.2 pitcher but its early. This team has a solid infield and if the No. 2 pitcher comes through, this team is used to winning. Here's a team with a solid infield and they wont kick the ball much.

7. Bishop Noll (1-2)

HAMMOND - Noll's losses to Chesterton (5-1) and LC (5-1) don't look so bad with the success of those teams from much larger schools. The Warriors are have a lot of derfensive problems (9 errors) just three games into the season. But right-handers Andy Loomis and Dan Faulkner both pitched strong complete games in their first starts of the season. The season is very short. Noll's focus should not be on beating Andrean and Munster. They wont. It has to be on taking out Wheeler (4-2) and Boone Grove (3-3) when the time comes.

8. Munster (4-1)

MUNSTER - The Mustangs went on the road and won 3-0 at Portage and 6-4 at Valparaiso. Pat Winterhaler pitched a four-hit shutout at Portage and the Mustangs mounted a 10-hit attack at Valpo. Relief pitcher Mike Seely shut out Valpo for four innings in his varsity debut. Same story with Munster. Good offense (34 runs in 5 games) and a question mark around the pitchers and the infield defense. The 10-4 crash and burn at home against TF South can be written off. Just one game. It's very, very early.

9. Chesterton (4-1)

CHESTERTON - I think they've been a bit lucky so far but you have to respect the schedule which has seen them beat Bishop Noll 6-5, Harrison 8-0 and defending state champ McCutcheon 5-4. McCutcheon returned 11 seniors off the state title team. That's a big win. Football and basketball stars Casey Martin and Matt Maple could join with OF Matt Lambert and first baseman Jim Bard to make this an offensive powerhouse. I don't know who Tom Albano is but he's picked up two wins in the first week, one with four shutout innings against Noll.

10. Griffith (6-0)

GRIFFITH - Off to a great start. They've outscored six opponents 56-18. Six different pitchers recorded wins and the Panthers have committed only nine errors. The schedule has been a little soft but Merrillville was hot until Griffith got as hold of them. Wheeler and Boone are always strong, even if they are 2A schools. Freshmen Matt Kuna and Ryan Bridges are making a lot of noise. Bridges is a highly regarded hitting prospect. Jim Swienconek had hit in all six games and had eight extra base hits. Are there questions about their youth and the pitching without 6-6 junior Todd Polgar? Yes. But this isn't the Cubs losing 13-2 on opening day. This team came out of the gate strong.

On the Rise:

Hobart (7-1)

HOBART - The schedule has been soft so far. Let's be honest. Wirt. Hebron. Lake Station. Roosevelt. The Brickies are this years' Clark. A team that rolls up a big winning record against a semi-tough schedule. But that's okay. They won seven in a row after the season-opening 7-6 loss to Merrillville. It's been awhile for Brickie baseball so let them have their debut fun as a new member of the Lake Athletic Conference. The core of this team: Tim Johnson. Matt Gonzales. Marc Drobac. Matt Glover. Josh Fuller. All solid experienced multi sport athletes. Because he has a famous Hobart football name, many don't know that baseball is Drobac's best sport. This is a team to watch in the LAC because they can score runs and make plays.

WHY NOT:

Kankakee Valley (6-0)

WHEATFIELD - Okay, here's why not. A double-header sweep over Roosevelt (1-6) and wins over 1As Hebron and Kouts. Okay, they did beat Crown point 6-5 at KV. But it was CP's second game of the day and KV's first. And the Kougars were at home. Jon Cusack has three saves in relief and Jerry Kunzman has three HRs. KV has outscored six foes 67-15. But unless I'm reading box scores incorrectly, KV had not played a road game yet. Six home games. Six wins. That sounds like a Florida election. Let the truth be told. KV joins the LAC this year and they will have to pay the piper.

NOTES: The games in the Railcats Stadium this weekend are Lake Central vs. (South Holland, Ill.) Thornwood Friday at 5 p.m.; Highland vs. Merrillville Saturday at 2 p.m.. River Forest vs. Kouts Saturday at 5 p.m. and Munster vs. Andrean Tuesday night at 5 p.m. All games will be on WEFM (95.9) FM, which is broadcasting 20 prep games this month. The demise of the 'Region Sports Network' at WJOB has put a hole in the airing of baseball games. Unless the RSN can get on the air somewhere else, Lake County teams will get far fewer of their games on the air.

WJOB's new management has promised publicly to do prep sports but they'll probably wait until the fall and come out strong in the football season. That leaves the 2004 baseball and softball season in an unfortunate lull from a broadcast standpoint.

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