Stay Connected with YourSeason
McNamara, LC fall apart in loss
Updated: June 4, 2011 9:22PM
LAPORTE — When Jimmy McNamara looks back on the 2011 season, the Lake Central left-hander will be able to reflect on one of the most dominant seasons in Northwest Indiana baseball history.
In 11 starts, he gave up six earned runs.
Unfortunately for McNamara, five of them came in Saturday’s 8-3 loss to Elkhart Central in the Class 4A LaPorte Regional semifinals.
Elkhart Central advanced to play Crown Point — a 2-1 upset winner over Penn in the first semifinal — in the championship game later Saturday night.
“I’d do anything to have this game back and get the win for everyone,” said McNamara, who was chased with just one out in what wound up being a seven-run third inning.
It was the first time all season McNamara pitched on just four days of rest — he usually gets a week or more. But McNamara didn’t want to use that or the overwhelming heat as an excuse.
“It’s a regional and I was prepared, I was ready,” he said. “They just hit.”
Indeed, while the Indians (26-5) hit the ball hard all game against unbeaten Blazers ace Tanner Tully — LC coach Jeff Sandor said his team could have had “eight or nine home runs” in a less roomy ballpark — Elkhart dinked and dunked the Indians to death. In the seven-run third, the Blazers (23-5) had six singles to go along with the one big hit, a three-run double by Ronnie Hawkins.
“It really was frustrating, but (things) happen in baseball,” McNamara said.
Sandor said one poor outing can’t diminish a spectacular season in which LC was ranked No. 1 in the state for much of the campaign and in which McNamara allowed just one earned run in 51 innings before Saturday.
“He was flat today, but nothing can take away from that kid’s season,” Sandor said. “He’s the best pitcher in Northwest Indiana, he didn’t lose a game in Northwest Indiana in two years.”
In the opener, Crown Point senior Nick Nauracy put it this way to Penn — if you want to beat me, you’ll have to hit my knuckle curveball.
Penn couldn’t do it.
Nauracy threw it first and last, with a 2-0 count or an 0-2 count. Whenever he wanted to — which was always. Behind his dominant pitching and some well-executed small ball, the Bulldogs — left for dead less than two months ago — sprung the big upset against Penn (26-5).
“That’s my best pitch,” said Nauracy, who allowed just two hits. “I throw it probably 80 percent of my pitches. I threw probably six fastballs all day.”
Such confidence is surprising for a first-year high school player, but Nauracy has looked like anything but a rookie this season.
“I want to go to the next level in baseball,” he said. “I came in as nobody and I’m trying to work my way up. Coming in here playing the best, you have to beat the best to become the best.”
The Bulldogs (20-11) are no longer the big-bopping Bulldogs of recent vintage. Instead, they rely on pitching, defense, and manufactured runs — and they had enough of all three on Saturday. Both of Crown Point’s runs came on ground balls to second base by Zach Plesac — one an RBI groundout, one an RBI infield single.
The Bulldogs stranded six runners over the last four innings — four of them in scoring position — and coach Steve Strayer lamented the lack of big hits to give Nauracy some breathing room. But that’s how it’s been all year for the Bulldogs.
“The one thing about that is it’s really helped our toughness,” he said. “We’re not going out winning 12-1 or 10-3, we’re playing every game close if we’re in it. It’s given us a sense of toughness, and that’s really helped us in this tournament, because every game has been close.”
Penn’s lone run came on a botched suicide squeeze attempt in the third inning that turned into a straight steal of home by Kyle Richard after the pitch hit the dirt.
© 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