Lake Central triggers 10-run rule in 5-inning shutout, ends season for Lowell baseball

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

5-31-2005

Monday, 5-30-2005 - Sunny and 70 degrees at Munster Sectional Quarterfinal

WP – Brett Summers (9-2) CG, 3k, 0 walks

LP - Mike Smith (6-6) 3Ks, 7 walks (4 1/3 inn.)

LOWELL (11-18-1)

Mike Smith (P) Double

LAKE CENTRAL (26-2)

Ryan Frost (LF) 3 singles, walks

Matt Dodaro (2B) Double, 2 walks, 2 RBIs

Brett Clark (DH) Double, RBI

Ben Stepanian (Catcher) Double, 2 RBIs

Brett Summers (P) Double, 3 RBIs

Nick Johnson (3B) Single, walk, RBI

MUNSTER, IN (5-30-2005) - To be honest, Lake Central beat Lowell 8-0 on April 11 and when the two teams met again on Memorial Day to open the state playoffs at the Munster Class 4A Sectional, LC ended up winning 10-0 in five innings.

No one was surprised.

“There's a reason they're No. 2 in the state,” said Lowell coach Tom Stoner. “We were in it until the fifth inning but we knew what we were up against today. We knew it when the draw came out.”

Lake Central, with losses only to top-10 teams LaPorte (26-4) and Fort Wayne Snider, scored single runs in the first four innings before ending the game with six big ones in the fifth.

LC coach Todd Iwema, whose team is thinking state finals, didn't like the atmosphere in the dugout early on as his team left eight runners on base through four innings.

“One of the things I've always talked about,” said Iwema. “is to pick kids up. When you just grounded out, and you've got six or eight guys picking you up when you come to the bench with nothing but positive, it helps you out. Early today, the attitude was just, hey, let's get it over with. It got better later on. We responded. There are times when we play somebody and that'll catch you. The perfect example was our game against Fort Wayne Snider.”

LC lost 12-0 to Snider on May 21 and, to be honest, it might be what they need to spur them on in the early rounds of the state tournament when they will be a big favorite.

Lowell never led but hung in early in front of a crowd of about 250 friends of the programs in the midday sun at Munster.

Despite two walks by Lowell starting pitcher Mike Smith (6-6), LC scored only once in the first inning. The Indians got an RBI double from top hitter Matt Dodaro (47-93, .505) in the second inning, but left two runners on base in the third after Nick Johnson's RBI single.

When Smith led off the Lowell fifth inning with a long double to left-center against 6-5 LC right-hander Brett Summers, there was a feeling that the Devils were not out of the game.

But Summers, who will attend the University of Virginia if he does not sign a pro baseball contract this summer, struck out Kyle Metz and Dean Basso to end the fifth inning and LC broke the game open in the fifth. Summers and Ben Stepanian stroked two run doubles against relief pitcher Jon Cap to end the game.

Ryan Frost (27-88, .338) had three hits, three runs scored and a walk for LC and Iwema said, that's no surprise.

In our last game, he had three hits and two home runs against Benton Central,” said the coach. “We knew he could hit. We thought he'd be one of our best hitters this year. But there was a period of adjustment for him.”

“I was really happy with our defense. We'd had some problems defensively and today, we didn't have an error. Even when we bobbled the ball, we picked it up and made a play.”

Stoner said, “I thought we put the bat on the ball. We only struck out two or three times today. We only had one error today. Back at the start of the year, we were making seven errors a game.”

“I'm excited that almost all of our guys are playing this summer. I've only got two or three guys who are not playing. I've got a lot of guys who are playing American Legion ball. All my 15 and 16 year olds are in Senior (Little League) Leagues. They'll be looking to try to win the state title again. Mike Smith, Clayton Miller and Mike Malino are going to play, even though they've graduated.

“Rogers Hughes is going to coach the Legion team and Mike Smith's dad is going to assist him. I'm going to sit back and watch them. My oldest son (2004 graduate Mike Stoner) is going to come back and play Legion ball this year. He said, “You know. I missed playing. That's good to hear. So he'll be back and that's good. He's an older guy who can help the younger ones out. I'm excited about things.”

“Our season didn't end the way we wanted it too, but we did better than we expected, actually. At one point this year, I told the guys I didn't know if we'd win any games. We were 0-5 but we turned it around. We equaled last year's record. And we bettered ourselves by one game in the conference.”

The good thing about high school baseball is that there's more than one season and, for Lowell, the first season ended this week and the second season began.

SECTIONAL NOTES:  State No. 1 and USA No. 5 Brownsburg (29-0) crushed Zionsville 11-1 in six innings to open their state tournament run. For the record, No. 2 Lake Central (27-2) would meet No. 1 Brownsburg (29-0) in the championship game of the South Bend Semistate in Covaleski Stadium on the night of June 11.

Lake Central would probably have to beat LaPorte (26-4) in the semifinals that same afternoon. Brownsburg might have to beat Snider in the semistate semifinals.

Snider beat Lake Central 12-0 two weeks ago.

“They have the best team in the state,” LC coach Todd Iwema said, not really joking. “They had seven Division I kids. Their No. 2 guy (starting pitcher) is a a left-hander who they threw against us threw 92 miles-an-hour and the guy they threw in the championship game (in the Warsaw Invitational) threw 94 miles an hour.

“Now, out of the 12 runs, only three were earned. But people better watch out for them.”

Tom Stoner wants to spend a lot of time watching his future players.

“I want them to know that I have an interest in them,” he said. “I want them to see me there. I told some of the players that the little guys know who you are. They've seen you at the clinics and they've seen your picture in the paper.

It means a lot to them when you show up and watch them play.'

Lowell's American Legion Post 101 all-stars open play Tuesday, June 7 against Crown Point's 'B' team, the 17-and-under squad of Post 20's American Legion program, at 6:30 p.m. Lowell hosts Post 20's 19-and-under squad on Wednesday June 15 at 6 p.m. at Lowell high school.