Polito slams the door for Lake Central

Updated: April 25, 2011 6:24AM

PORTAGE - Lake Central scored five runs in the first inning en route to an 8-4 victory over Portage on Wednesday afternoon.

Lake Central's Jordan Polito sparked that big first inning with a grand slam, the first of his high school career.

"Coach (Jeff Sandor) was stressing about leaving guys on base," Polito said. "I left the bases loaded at Valpo, and didn't want to do it again. He gave me a 2-2 fastball down the middle, and I was able to take it out of the park."

Polito's grand slam gave Lake Central an early 5-0 lead, and when Portage started to chip away, it was Polito who came in and shut the door.

With no outs and a runner on base in the bottom of the sixth, Polito took over on the mound and cruised to a six-out save, striking out three in those two innings.

"This was a big conference game," Polito said. "We wanted this game bad."

The Lake Central offense seemed to cool off in the middle innings, and Portage was able to close the gap to one heading into the seventh. However, Lake Central tacked on three in their final frame to secure the victory.

Even though Sandor would have liked to have put away Portage a little sooner, he was pleased with his squad's seventh-inning effort that led to a DAC road victory.

"Any time you can get them (road wins), you take them," Sandor said.

Polito finished the game 1-for-2 with the grand slam and a run scored. Senior Brandon Cloutier went 1-for-4 with a run and a pair of RBI. Matt Siedentopf, Chase Fieldhouse and Cody Dykema each went 2-for-3.

Despite the early deficit, Portage coach Tim Pirowski was pleased to see his team hang tough and fight back to within one run late in the game.

"I was happy that they battled," Pirowski said. "They didn't hang their heads. If it wasn't for the big first inning, we would have been right there the whole game.

They're the No. 1 team in the state, and we proved we can play with anyone if we execute."

The Portage offense was led by third baseman Gabe Acevedo, who went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI. Senior catcher Jeremy Sinkus went 1-for-3 with an RBI double and a run scored.

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