Stay Connected with YourSeason
Andrean evens the score with Highland
Updated: May 12, 2011 11:11PM
MERRILLVILLE — The way Dave Pishkur sees it, sometime in the next month or so, Andrean will be staring down a talented, confident, hard-throwing lefty with an awful lot on the line — maybe a regional title, maybe a semistate, maybe even a state championship.
And in that moment, his 59ers can think back to Thursday afternoon’s 10-7 victory over Highland, when they saddled Trojans ace Jordan Minch with six runs in two-thirds of an inning in a game that likely decided the Northwest Crossroads Conference championship.
The Purdue-bound Minch had beaten Andrean at home earlier in the year in impressive fashion, but couldn’t make it out of the first inning on Thursday. The junior pulled himself out after experiencing numbness in his pitching arm.
“We’re 2-2 now against Minch, and I’m sure we’ll get him two more times next year,” Pishkur said. “It’s one of those, ‘You knock us down, we get back up, we knock you down’ kind of rivalries. We’re probably going to see another lefty like that down the road, so now we know we can hit that caliber of pitcher. Minch is a great, great pitcher. And facing him is good for Andrean.”
Highland coach Dan Miller said Minch’s status in uncertain. Minch was feeling good enough to come back in and hit in the seventh inning as the tying run with two men on and two outs. He hit a soft liner to second base off Andrean reliever Zach Goldasich to end the game.
Andrean’s strategy against Minch was clear — be aggressive.
“We went out there planning to swing at the first pitch,” said sophomore Zac Ryan, who was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, four RBI and a monstrous three-run home run in the fourth despite playing with a popped bursa sac in his heavily bandaged right hand. “He throws a lot of first-pitch fastballs, and that’s your best chance against a guy that good.”
The first six Andrean batters scored on three singles, two doubles and an error. It was a stunning start for Highland, which was coming off a surprising, weather-shortened loss to Hebron on Wednesday but still had the NCC title in its grasp.
With Minch out and a quick six-run deficit, the Trojans (16-5, 8-2) could have folded. But Miller was pleased with how they responded.
“They were strong mentally,” he said. “The bad news is you’re down six. The good news is you have six innings left.”
And Highland almost made the comeback. After Ryan’s bomb over the center-field fence gave Andrean a 10-1 lead through four innings, the Trojans started chipping away against Tyler Ochi (3-0). An RBI double by Jake Klocek made it 10-2 in the fifth.
On the next play, Matt Knesek — who finished the game at pitcher after Minch left — lofted a fly ball to left field. The ball was bobbled, and photographic evidence later showed it hit the ground. But it was a tough call from a distance, and the umpires ruled it an out. Miller stormed on to the field, at one point yelling, “Every person in this park saw it hit the ground!” to the delight of Highland fans and the derision of Andrean fans — but to no avail.
So Andrean got out of the inning without any further damage. And that proved crucial, as Highland put up a five-spot in the sixth to really make things interesting.
After Ochi gave up a double to Michael Urban and walked Kyle Stephens, Pishkur brought in Goldasich, and the 59ers came unglued. Three errors — two of them throwing errors by Goldasich himself — and a two-run double by Mike Gamaleri later, and it suddenly was 10-7 Andrean. And Highland had runners at first and second with just one out.
But Goldasich buckled down and came up with two huge strikeouts of Keith Mahler and Austin Kiest — both of whom represented the tying run at the time.
“Goldy is a tough kid,” Pishkur said. “Might be the toughest kid on our team.”
As a result, Andrean (17-4, 9-1) has a one-game lead over Highland in the NCC race with games against Munster and Hobart left. While the two-time defending state champion 59ers have bigger goals, winning conference still carries plenty of significance.
“Obviously, we think we have what it takes to make a run at state,” Pishkur said. “But conference is very important. We’ve won this conference all four years it’s existed, and Highland could have taken that from us today. So to win this game against what’s probably our biggest rival means a lot.”
© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.
Cell Phone Alerts
Comments Click here to view or make a comment