2006 - Week-3, Top-10

High School Baseball Teams in

Northwest Indiana

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

4-13-2006

CROWN POINT (4-12-2006) - It was a good start to the season as few games were rained out in the first 10 days. The power teams all started well and that's always good. It's not that I don't want to see new teams get strong. But prep sports is based on the teams that are well-built and the programs that are strong.
The best sight early on is LaPorte and Lake Central winning their first four after graduating lots of talented seniors. That means that both of those programs are extremely strong, which speaks well for high school baseball in this part of the state.

Northwest Indiana does not have any birthright to good baseball teams. The weather favors teams in southern Indiana. When it was 40 degrees in Northwest Indiana last Friday, it was 78 in Bloomington and in April and May, a 15-20 degree discrepancy is not unusual. So southern teams get more time outdoors and get off to faster starts.
It's why some NW Indiana teams like Munster and Lake Central travel to southern Indiana to play games over spring break. Because that's where you can get the time in.

Of the top five teams in this poll, (and there wasn't much doubt about who they would be), only one took a loss in the first two weeks and all of them started well. The power is definitely in Tippecanoe County again this year. There are only five schools, but Lafayette Catholic is No. 1 in Class 1A, Jefferson is 9th in Class 4A and West Lafayette is 6th in Class 3A. Those five schools have more baseball state titles than everyone in Lake and Porter County combined. West Lafayette and Lafayette Catholic are state contenders again. There is a chance that at some time this season, NW Indiana teams could be ranked No. 1 in the Class 2A, 3A and 4A polls.

CROWN POINT - Crown Point started quickly as expected, getting 10-run victories against Hebron, Highland, Knox and Kankakee Valley. Senior left-hander Matt Jansen and junior right-hander Chris Saroff pitched five inning complete games. The Bulldogs only batted 19 times against Hebron and everyone hit. It's hard to get any read off the first four games other than CP is very good. CP's 7-6 win over Lake Central Tuesday (4-11-2006) wasn't dominant, but it was a good start for them in DAC play.

Crown Point has altered their lineup with Saroff batting first and former leadoff man Nick Ullman batting third. It will give CP two left handed hitters batting third and fourth, which could be productive because they will see few lefties in NW Indiana this year. The Bulldogs may not have top level speed in left and right, but that's about as much of a weakness as you dig up in the early going. When you stomp four teams by 10 runs each time, it's definitely "Good News Week."

Tommy Wise (2-0) struck out 11 against KV and sophomore left-hander Blake Mascarello, making his varsity debut in relief, struck out nine against Knox. The Bulldogs, who are just getting into the strong part of the schedule, head north to play at Griffith (5-10) on Saturday, April 15.

GRIFFITH - The Panthers did lose 4-3 to Whiting in the US Steelyard in Gary, but Matt Kobli did a good job pitching and Griffith could just write that game off if it wasn't for the five errors. Willie Fretts and Dan Wolosyn pitched a five-inning no-hitter in a 12-0 win over Calumet Thursday (4-6-2006). That's encouraging because the Panthers need some pitching depth. Junior RHP Matt Kuna (2-0) struck out 11 in six innings of a 6-3 win over Hobart Monday (4-10-2006). You can't be too concerned about early results. Griffith should have been 5-0, but they had beter forget about that by the time Crown Point gets to town Saturday afternoon.

MERRILLVILLE - Andrean probably isn't getting the pitching they like, but they bounced back from a 5-3 loss to Penn to beat Highland 5-3 and Washington Township 11-7. Junior Jeff Strbjak and freshman SS Adam Norton both had four hits as the 59ers overcame a 4-0 deficit against WT. The 59ers are off to a good start, especially on offense with 54 runs in 6 games. It's hard to tell how they'll match up with Munster (April 17) and Griffith (April 19) until the time comes. No No. 1 pitcher has clearly emerged here yet.

ST. JOHN - The Indians looked good despite a 7-6 loss to Crown Point (5-0) late Tuesday. LC is very strong offensively with D-1 clean up man Brett Clark, a left-handed hitting catcher. This is another aggressive offensive team that just won't be shut out. Lefty Ranko Ivetic (2-0) walked six against CP but the umpiring was shaky. LC's matchup with defending 2A state champion North Posey was rained out last Saturday (4-8-2006). LC stopped Bishop Noll 6-4 as Ivetic pitched the complete game. Troy Russell was 7 of 17 (.411) after seven games. LC may not have one top pitcher, but righthanders Matt Murphy and Brad Gerlach plus lefties Ranko Ivetic and Scott Handley do give them four capable starters. LC vs. Merrillville (7-1) looks like a big matchup on April 19 after LC takes on Thornwood on Friday, April 14.

30-5 in 2005, 25-7 in 2004, 22-10 in 2003, 20-9 in 2002, 28-2 in 2001, 30-5 in 2002

LaPORTE - LaPorte lost two out of three at the Joe Heath Classic in Lafayette and they lost a 6-3 lead against Merrillville Tuesday (4-11-2006), losing 8-6. Senior Matt Antos (2-1) gave up a game winning two-run eighth-inning homer to Bo McClendon in Tuesday's warm, windy conditions. He pitched a complete game and deserved to win. The Slicers lost 9-0 to Noblesville, but beat Jefferson 7-6. Second baseman Nick Overmeyer is batting over .500 in the early going. Understand that when DAC and LAC teams play double-headers on Saturday, they don't use their top pitchers, saving them for league games on Monday or Tuesday. LaPorte smoked out next door neighbor South Central 14-1 Monday, but they'll need to get straight by April 19 when CP (5-0) comes in for a visit.

MERRILLVILLE - Merrillville is off to as good a start as they could have after an 8-6 eight-inning win at LaPorte Saturday. Bo McClendon's two-run homer beat LaPorte and top pitcher Matt Antos (2-1). The Pirates have a five-game win streak and have outscored the opposition 59-14. The Pirates swept Morton 9-3 and 3-0. Phil Keene pitched a two-hit shutout against Morton. The Merrillville pitching staff has four shutouts. That was supposed to be a weakness this year. Adam Farag is 3-0 after the complete game win Tuesday against LaPorte. This is a senior-dominated team that shouldn't have serious losing streaks. The Pirates' only loss is 4-1 to Griffith in nine innings. Merrillville should get three shots at undefeated Crown Point, the first one coming up on April 21.

VALPARAISO - Valpo turned back Portage 10-6 to start the DAC season Tuesday as Charles (Chooch) Sizemore (2-1) gave up 11 hits in the complete-game win. The Vikings have scored 10 runs or more five times, losing the other two, 4-2 to Munster and 6-2 to Highland. Valpo should have beaten Munster, but they made six errors. Aaron Johnson pitched a seven inning complete game against LaCrosse, while three Valpo errors sabotaged Clint Krysa's complete game against Highland. When a team hits as well as Valpo has, they probably have not gotten into the tough part of the schedule yet. But this is vast improvement since Valpo was 8-21 last year. The pitching has been good so far, but two of the wins are over Marquette and South Central. So little have been proven here.

CHESTERTON - The Trojans also lost two out of three in that Joe Heath Classic (how come there aren't any big baseball tournaments in NW Indiana??) and Monday's 18-13 wind blown win over Michigan City (3-3) doesn't say much. Noblesville beat Chesterton 3-2 and Jefferson beat them 16-0 after Sean Green struck out 13 in a 3-1 win over Harrison. The weather has hurt this team in the first 10 days, but they still should be able to slap together a strong pitching staff, although the early results, including an 11-5 loss to Bishop Noll, may not suggest that. After five games, the pitching hasn't shown up, but here's another situation where you have to stick with the original thought. The Trojans will be strong. They've played a much tougher schedule than Crown Point or Valparaiso so far, and the DAC won't be kind to them. But the pitchers are better than they've shown.

MUNSTER - Munster has beaten Valparaiso and Bishop Noll in the early going and the losses are out of town in the Terre Haute Invitational. Adam Enright had three hits in the win over Noll Monday (4-10-2006) and Tim Lukoshus pitched five strong innings against Valparaiso. Jake Ernd (2-0) got the win against Valpo. Here's another team that's hard to rate so far. I believe both of Munster's two losses came down south so they are very hard to judge. Munster stomped Clark 10-3 to open the season, so they may deserve to be higher than this. But there just aren't enough details here to launch a pre-emptive strike on the other 'evil empires' in this poll. You don't want to rely on bad intel.

HAMMOND - I still think Clark is better than Class 2A, No. 1 Boone Grove (6-1) although some may disagree. The Pioneers coasted by Hanover Central 17-4 Tuesday as Steve Polak was 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Alex Kerr held the Wildcats to two hits. Jon Carpen had a home run and four RBIs. Trent Howard pitched a three-hitter in a 10-0 win over Gavit. I do not think Clark has defeated a team with a winning record as of yet. Gavit, TF North and East Chicago are of nominal value. The loss to Andrean was 8-7, but how good is Andrean at this point? Sure wish they'd play some Indiana foes outside Lake County.

PORTER TOWNSHIP - Boone Grove looks very strong in the early going with the only loss being 3-0 to Merrillville (7-1). Boone beat Lowell 4-2 in the US Steelyard in Gary Saturday (4-8-2006) as Jim Kulchar pitched two strong innings in relief. Senior Ryan Cupp (2-0) and junior Dave Diaz (2-0) have been a success so far, while senior three-year starting catcher Danny Prochno has 6 hits in his first 14 at-bats. Joe Johnson (7-of-19, .368) had seven RBIs in his first six games. With an early slump by defending state champ North Posey (2-3), Boone has moved into the top spot in the 2A state poll on the strength of a 21-5 win over KV (3-3) and 10-0 win over Wheeler (3-3). Let's wait a minute here. They haven't beaten anyone in this top-10 and I'm not sure of the quality of Boone's five victims.

HAMMOND - Things have not gone well for Noll, but you are asked to keep watching. The Warriors have lost to Lansing, Illinois' Illiana Christian (6-2), Munster (5-1), Lake Central (6-1) and Michigan City (3-1). Danny Faulkner (0-2) has lost to Munster and LC. Noll is averaging seven runs a game, but 12 errors in five games is too many. Remember when the White Sox lost four of their first five this season?? Did you give up on them? No, you did not. (Maybe some of you did.) In the same way I'm not sold on some 4-1 teams here. Noll is a 1-4 team that isn't that bad.