Ryan delivers 10 Ks as 59ers top Panthers

Updated: April 22, 2011 2:06PM

MERRILLVILLE - The cold weather prevented Andrean's Zak Ryan from having good command of his slider against Griffith.

Imagine how dominant the sophomore right-hander might have been if he'd have been able to throw his slider effectively against the Panthers in Thursday's Northwest Crossroads Conference game.

"I just couldn't get a grip on the ball to throw it,'' Ryan said.

Despite the fact Ryan couldn't rely on his slider, he still managed to record 10 strikeouts in five innings, allow only two hits and walk two, while helping the 59ers (4-1, 2-0) to an easy 9-0 win over the Panthers (2-4, 0-2).

"My change was working better than normal today,'' Ryan said. "I had a lot of my strikes with it. For it to be a strike, I threw that.''

While Ryan's arm did most of the damage against the Panthers, he inflicted some more pain with his bat with a run-scoring single in a three-run first inning.

For added measure, Ryan then cracked a two-run double during a four-run second inning when the 59ers opened up a 7-0 lead.

"My hitting was definitely good,'' Ryan said. "I was really happy with it. Today, I tried to go to the right side and just put the ball in play more. It was nice to just hit.''

Cody Haver, who went 2-for-2 with a walk, hit a two-run, inside the park, home run to center field in the second inning to up Andrean's lead to 5-0.

"I've never seen that in this ball park,'' said Andrean coach Dave Pishkur, who's been coaching 32 years.

"I don't ever remember an inside-the-park home run. Not here, not in this park. This is not a big park.''

Piskhur was pleased with Ryan's performance on the mound, particularly considering the weather conditions.

"Zak's good, but I don't think he had his great stuff today - but who could with the cold,'' he asked. "He threw mostly his fastball and change-up today. He had trouble with the slider. He couldn't throw it over, because of the cold.

"It's too cold to pitch. It's too cold to hit. It's too cold to even coach.''

Pishkur, though, still liked the way his team hit the ball against Griffith starter and losing pitcher, Jesse Smith.

"We hit the ball hard the first couple of innings and that was good to see,'' the 59ers' skipper said.

Andrean had 12 hits -- eight in the first three innings.

"It was Jesse's first outing this season,'' Griffith coach Brian Jennings said.

"He's had his starts pushed back, skipped, or changed because of weather conditions.''

The Panthers managed only three hits in the game, which didn't exactly help their chances against Ryan.

"He was just wild enough to be effective,'' said Jennings, of Ryan. "He threw the ball well and did a nice job of changing speeds. The bottom line is, we have to make some big plays in big situations. We could have rolled over and died, but we didn't. We battled.''

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