Crown Point takes Consolation at Munster Invite with 13-0 win over Merrillville

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Merrillville (5-4)	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	2	1
CROWN POINT (6-1)	2	4	7	0	x	-	-	13	11	0

4-26-2003 - Munster Invitational - 3rd place game -, sunny, 51 degrees
WP - Dave Guenther (1-0) CG, 7Ks, 0 walks
LP - Nick Walter (0-2) 1K, 5Ws, 3 WPs (2 1/3 innings)

Merrillville (2 singles, 1-1 stolen bases)
Jared Dawson (M) Single, steal

CROWN POINT (2 doubles, 6 singles, 4-4 stolen bases)
Chad Pierce (CP) 2 singles, stolen base
Matt Cowan (CP) Single, walk
Eric Gulbrandsen (CP) Single, walk, RBI
Brian Sparks (CP) Single, RBI
Kevin Vandas (CP) Double, single, 3 RBIs
Jake Pierce (CP) Double, walk, 2 RBIs, 2 stolen bases
David Clayton (CP) Single, Sac Fly, RBI
Craig Horvat (CP) Single, 3 RBIs

MUNSTER (4-26-2003) - I'm not sure exactly what you can determine from the four-team Munster Invitational baseball tournament last Saturday.

For Merrillville (5-6), which lost twice, the tournament meant next to nothing. The Pirates sent out No. 1 pitcher Jason Plys (3-1) and defeated powerful LaPorte Friday night so what Merrillville did Saturday wasn't going to tell you much.

Highland (10-2) scored a come-from-behind 5-4 win over Merrillville Saturday morning but they ran out of pitching in the title game and got beat 11-4 by Munster in the title game. But Highland lives and dies with senior right-hander Joel Schmaal (4-0) and you're not seeing the 'real' Trojans when he's not out there.

Munster beat Crown Point 4-2 and Highland 11-4 so it was a good day for them. But Munster used two of their top three pitchers in Brian Bokowy and David York. They faced Crown Point's No. 4 starting pitcher and Highland's Chris Nelson, who was making his first-ever varsity start.

So what about Crown Point?

During the regular season, weekends are when you let everybody play. CP (9-2) used tall right-handers Dave Guenther and Mike Schultz, both of whom pitched complete games. The Bulldogs had an odd batting experience against the left-hander Bokowy, getting five hits, four of them doubles. But Munster, a superior batting team to CP, only got six base hits off Schultz and you probably can't form serious opinions off a game that begins at the ridiculous start time of 8:30 a.m.

Crown Point's 13-0 victory over Merrillville in the third place game was fun for the boys in red and white but Merrillville pitcher Nick Walter has had problems in his first varsity season and the Pirates probably didn't care much about a consolation game.

So everybody had some fun under a chilly 50-degree sun and Munster's senior boys, many of whom left after the first inning of the title game to get ready for the school's prom.

"We didn't play badly this morning," said Steve Strayer. "Their pitcher (Bokowy) did a nice job. He held us to five hits. We pitched Mike Schultz. Schultz and Guenther both pitched well today."

The Bulldogs, who were a suspect hitting team in the preseason, reached the 10-run level for the sixth time in 11 games, scoring all 13 runs in the first three innings.

Senior first baseman Kevin Vandas got the Bulldogs started with an RBI-double in the first inning. Vandas scored on two wild pitches.

In the second inning, David Clayton's sacrifice fly made it 3-0 after Jake Pierce walked and stole two bases. With two out, Pirate third baseman Jared Dawson fumbled Matt Cowan's ground ball, allowing the inning to continue. Eric Gulbranden followed with an infield hit and Vandas reached on another infield error, scoring the 4-0 run.

Senior Craig Horvat then lined a two-run single to center to make it 6-0.

The Bulldogs then scored seven times in the third inning. Vandas had a two-run single to left off Walter and Jake Pierce sliced a two-run double to left center off Dawson, who came on in relief.
"We needed a win," admitted Strayer of the second game. "We didn't want to go into the game against No. 3 (4A) Valparaiso (10-1, 2-1 DAC) Tuesday with two losses in a row. We wanted to get out there and get to win and we wanted to let a lot of guys play. I thought everybody did a nice job."

"I thought we made some very nice plays. Some of our subs made some nice plays. It was very nice to see them play hard."

MUNSTER INVITE NOTES: Munster rolled up 11 hits in an 11-4 victory over Highland in the title game. The Mustangs led 3-2 after one inning when most of their regular players left the game to prepare for the Munster school prom, which was set for Saturday night.

Munster, the defending state champion, had an undefeated junior varsity last season. While JV records in the largely mediocre LAC are deceptive, the Mustangs clearly have a lot of talent for 2004.

"We've got three tough games next week," said Strayer. "Valparaiso, Chesterton and Lake Central."

Crown Point will see Munster again on May 17. CP's schedule will change next season. Their participation in the Munster Invitational may just be a one-time deal since they already annually schedule Munster and Highland in single games. The Crown Point Classic, which included Munster, may resume next year but the old field, Munster, Roosevelt and Lew Wallace, will not return. Other than every-other-year visits to LaPorte (LaPorte County) and Kankakee Valley (Jasper County), Crown Point is a stay at home team. The Bulldogs have not played a game outside of Lake and Porter County since they advanced to the Lafayette Semistate in 1991.

While a return to the state finals is unlikely, the Mustangs (9-3) are ahead of their 2002 regular season pace, when they were 8-4 after 12 games. Munster was only 19-8 during the regular season last year before winning the 4A state crown.

Crown Point (9-2, 4-1 DAC)
Head Coach Steve Strayer - 2002: 13-12-1 - DAC Games in CAPS

4-7: (Snow) Hammond
4-8: (Cold) at Gavit (4-6)
4-10: 19-1 (5 innings) at Highland (9-3)
4-11: 8-0 Morton (4-6)
4-15: 13-2 (6 innings) MERRILLVILLE (6-5)
4-16: 8-1 Hebron (4-3)
4-17: 10-1 LaPORTE (9-4)
4-19: 3-2 Griffith (4-9)
4-21: 5-7 at MICHIGAN CITY (7-4)
4-23: 16-3 at PORTAGE (7-6)
4-25: 11-0 (6 innings) at HOBART (6-7)

Munster Invitational
4-26: 2-4 at Munster (8-3)
4-26: 13-0 (5 innings) Merrillville (6-6) 3rd place

4-29 (Tu) VALPARAISO (10-1) 4:45 p.m.
5-1 (Th) CHESTERTON (4-5) 4:30 p.m.
5-2 (F) at Lake Central (8-3) 4:30 p.m.
5-5 (M) at MERRILLVILLE (5-6) 4:30 p.m.
5-7 (W) at LaPORTE (9-4)) 4:45 p.m.
5-9 (F) MICHIGAN CITY (7-4) 4:45 p.m.
5-13 (Tu) PORTAGE (7-6) 4:30 p.m.
5-15 (Th) HOBART (6-7) 4:30 p.m.
5-17 (S) Munster (8-3) 11 a.m.
5-20 (Tu) at VALPARAISO (10-1) 4:30 p.m.
5-21 (W) Lake Central (8-3) 4:30 p.m.
5-22 (Th) at CHESTERTON (4-5) 4:30 p.m.
5-27 (Ut) Lowell (9-3) 4:30 p.m.
5-29 (Th) Clark (8-1) 4:30 p.m.

MERRILLVILLE (4A) SECTIONAL
6-2 (M) quarterfinals - 5 p.m.
6-3 (Tu) quarterfinals - 5 p.m.
6-6 (F) semifinals - 5 p.m.
6-7 (S) championship (TBA)

South Bend (4A) REGIONAL (at Covaleski Stadium - South Bend)
6-14 (S) semifinals - 10 a.m.
6-14 (S) championship - 7 p.m.

2003 STATE Baseball FINALS (at Victory Field - Indianapolis)
6-20 (F) 4A semifinals - TBA
6-21 (S) 4A championship - TBA

Crown Point Baseball Statistics

Hitting Leaders (8 games) 15 at-bats or more

Eric Gulbrandsen       12-24    (.500, 3 doubles, 2 triples, 0 HRs, 8 RBIs)
Craig Horvat               8-17     (.471, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HRs, 10 RBIs)
Chad Pierce              10-24     (.417, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 0 HRs, 5 RBIs)
Brian Sparks             10-28     (.357, 1 doubles, 0 triples, 1 HR, 8 RBIs)
David Clayton            5-15      (.333, 1 double, 1 triple, 0 HRs, 3 RBIs)
Adam Vetter              8-24      (.333, 1 double, 0 triples, 0 HRs, 9 RBIs)
Kevin Vandas            7-21      (.333, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HR, 8 RBIs)
Matt Cowan               6-22      (.273, 0 doubles, 1 triples, 0 HRs, 3 RBIs)
Jake Pierce               4-19      (.211, 2 doubles, 0 triples, 0 HRs, 1 RBI)

TEAM: 79-224 (.353), 15 doubles, 7 triples, 3 HRs, 60 RBIs

STOLEN BASES (28-29)
Chad Pierce - 8-8
Brian Sparks - 3-3
Kevin Vandas - 3-3
Jake Pierce - 3-3

WALKS-STRIKEOUTS (25-45)
Chad Pierce 5-7
Craig Horvat 4-6
Jake Pierce 4-8
Matt Cowan 3-1

Pitching Leaders    (8 games)
Adam Vetter - (3-0)   0.70 ERA,    24Ks, 8 walks (12 hits in 20 innings)
Chad Pruzin - (1-1)   1.31 ERA     15Ks, 3 walks (10 hits in 10.7 innings)
Brian Sparks - (2-0)   2.33 ERA    8Ks, 2 walks   (7 hits in 9 innings)
Mike Schultz - (1-0)    1.00 ERA   7Ks, 3 walks   (1 hit in 7 innings)
Dave Guenther (0-0)    0.00 ERA   3Ks, 3 walks   (2 hits in 5.3 innings)

TEAM:     (7-1) 1.08 ERA 57 Ks, 19 walks   (32 hits in 52 innings)

(Infield) ERRORS-ASSISTS-PUTOUTS   (11-69-99)
SS - Chad Pierce - 3-12-14
3B - Eric Gulbrandsen - 3-14-4
2B - David Clayton - 0-8-6
2B - Chad Pruzin - 1-6-2
1B - Kevin Vandas - 0-3-49