Stay Connected with YourSeason
Indians get even with Crown Point
Updated: May 17, 2011 10:48PM
ST. JOHN — There wasn’t actually a connection between senior night at Lake Central and the fact that the Indians were playing Duneland Conference rival Crown Point.
It was just a weird coincidence the squads happened to be scheduled to play on Tuesday, which is LC’s last home game. To make things even more interesting, the Indians are fighting for first place in the conference with LaPorte. Not to mention, in their first meeting, the Bulldogs handed LC an eight-inning loss.
“I’ve got to live and learn,” a smirking Indians coach Jeff Sandor said. “We’ve got to find another home game somewhere in the future.”
Fortunately for the coach, all scheduling parties involved, and eight seniors, Lake Central kept its title hopes alive with an 8-2 win over Crown Point.
But until a powerful sixth inning, of a CP sweep looked like a possibility.
The answer for Lake Central (19-4, 9-3 DAC) was junior Jimmy McNamara.
McNamara, who also tossed a no-hitter against LaPorte last month, continued his winning ways against the Bulldogs. The lefty gave up eight hits, one walk and one earned run while striking out four in the complete-game victory, his sixth of the campaign.
After CP rallied from a 3-0 deficit to score two runs in top of the fifth on an error (a bad throw from McNamara to first base) and two hits, including Jose Andrade’s two run double, the Bulldogs were charging again in the sixth inning. With one out, CP again had two hits (back-to-back singles), but McNamara forced a pop-out and a momentous punch-out.
The other ingredients that led to Lake Central’s victory were the duo of leadoff man Chase Fieldhouse and No. 9 hitter Matt Siedentopf.
With a slim margin and the insertion of relief pitcher Alex Doppler one hitter prior, Siedentopf added an insurance run in the sixth with a single. Then Fieldhouse blasted a three-run homer — his team-leading 10th of the year — in the very next at-bat. The same pair started the offense in the second inning when Siedentopf drove in two with a single and Fieldhouse brought in the eventual game winner on a sacrifice groundout.
“It feels awesome,” Siedentopf, a senior, said. “The Duneland Athletic Conference is stacked, we see a good pitcher every time we come out.”
Added Fieldhouse about his sacrifice situation: “I just put it on the ground and put it in play, I did my job and don’t regret it.”
Sandor said he had a premonition of a big moment after seeing his players produce eight barrel-hit pop-outs early on.
“I saw us, at some point, finding some holes and putting runs up on the board,” he said.
CP (13-9, 7-6) coach Steve Strayer said his team needs to execute better on bunts, defense and spotting pitches.
“I think we’re a good baseball team, it’s just that we can’t beat good teams without doing the little things,” he said.
© 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