Hanover Central is armed and dangerous

Updated: May 14, 2011 11:14PM

If you’re ever at a Hanover Central baseball game and a runner gets to third base against Wildcats ace Andy Wellwerts — it does happen, believe it or not — you might see second baseman (and No. 2 pitcher) Nic Sampognaro walk up to the mound and say something to Wellwerts.

Pep talk?

Nope. Trash talk.

“I tell him he’d better not let the guy score and ruin everything,” Sampognaro says.

Wellwerts’ typical response?

“Go play your position and leave me alone,” he says. “I’ll handle it.”

And he always does.

Well, almost always. With less than two weeks left in the season, Wellwerts gave up his first run of the year on Tuesday against Boone Grove — unearned, of course. That’s 27 innings with a 0.00 ERA.

The most amazing part? He’s barely even the best pitcher on the team.

Sampognaro had given up one earned run in his first 19 innings before Merrillville tagged him for six on Monday (Sampognaro still got the win). And No. 3 pitcher Tyler Trepton has thrown 13 straight scoreless innings — allowing just five hits in that span.

The numbers are staggering. Sampognaro, a senior, has walked just one batter all year against 34 strikeouts. Wellwerts, also a senior, has walked three against 51 punch-outs. Both are 4-0. Trepton, a junior, made it through the entire season last year with only one hit batsman, and has as many strikeouts as Sampognaro despite throwing fewer innings.

And yes, they know each of these stats well — and remind each other of them often. It’s all part of the fun.

“We fight for the most strikeouts and least hit batsmen, stuff like that,” said Trepton, who has a stress fracture in his pitching shoulder but expects to be back well in time for the postseason in two weeks. “It’s a good time. We have a great time pitching together, and I love spending time with them.”

Opponents don’t enjoy the trio nearly as much. With such a deep rotation — a luxury at a Duneland Conference school, let alone a 2A school — Hanover Central is having its best season in memory, 13-3 overall with a perfect 6-0 mark in Porter County Conference play.

Tuesday’s 10-4 win over perennial power Boone Grove — that pesky unearned run Wellwerts allowed notwithstanding — was a watershed moment for the Wildcats, who two short years ago didn’t even have enough players to field a junior varsity team.

“It was pretty tough,” recalled Sampognaro, also a stellar second baseman who’s batting .423 and hoping to play at St. Joseph’s College next year.

But in retrospect, all the four-year players, such as Wellwerts and Sampognaro, benefitted from all that early playing time under then-coach Jim Nohos. The proof is in the PCC title.

“When Mr. Nohos went to Andrean (two years ago), we had our heads down,” Trepton said. “But then Coach (Doug) Nelson came in and laid down the law and changed the program a lot. Last year was the first year we were over .500 in three years, and this year we’re doing phenomenally. Coach Nelson has been a great coach these two years — and hopefully for many years to come.

“This year, we’re putting Hanover Central baseball on the map. Our school’s getting bigger, and more people are seeing what our program is doing, so they’ll want to play for us.”

If the Wildcats sound a little confident, well, it’s because they are. They just played eight games in 10 days — winning seven of them, and they feel they’re the team to beat in Class 2A. Their only losses came to Lake Central and Wheeler in the first week of the season, and then a one-run loss to a good Hobart team last week.

The Wildcats had hoped for this kind of season last year, but a broken ankle sidelined Wellwerts for much of the year, and 2A was simply too good and too deep. They remained undeterred, though.

“Last year, we were saying that as long as we keep everyone healthy, we’re going to state,” Wellwerts said.

Of course, to do that, Hanover Central might have to go through Wheeler — the team that beat the Wildcats 7-3 back in early April with Trepton on the mound against the Bearcats’ unbeaten ace, Sam O’Shea.

Nelson is just as confident as his players should the inevitable rematch arise. And he said he won’t go out of his way to make sure Wellwerts pitches against the Bearcats.

“I’m comfortable with any of our guys going up against any team we play,” Nelson said. “Nothing against Wheeler, but we kind of gave it to them with some errors and silly mistakes. It was one of those days. If we have to throw Andy against them, we will. If it’s Sampognaro, we will. I’m confident in all our guys.”

Wellwerts — feeling his oats a bit after the recent hot streak — took it one step further.

“We’re definitely going to have momentum going into sectionals, so we’re going to be on fire by then,” he said. “I don’t think it’ll even be a close game, to be honest with you.”

Big talk, to be sure. But he’s earned the right to talk big, because not a single team has earned a run against him. And heck, if they trash talk each other, why wouldn’t they trash talk everybody else a bit?

“We feel pretty good right now,” Sampognaro said. “We want to keep it going, win the PCC, win sectionals and maybe go on some kind of a state run. I think we can do it. We all do.”

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