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8 Conquering the ConferenceIt doesn’t matter what sport you’re talking about; life in the Duneland Ath-letic Conference is never easy.

10 Almost PerfectA look back at some key games during Lake Central’s 2012 regular season that took them down the road to the state title.

18 When Opportunity KnockedThe Indians lineup may have lacked some of the glamour the pitching staff received, the prowess of the Big Blue offense should in no way be over-looked.

22 A Pair of Aces WinsTaylor Lehnert and Jimmy McNamara had a season like Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.

26 The Straw That Stirred The DrinkAlthough Zach Mantel wouldn’t be confused for Mickey Mantle at the plate, the co-captain’s work with the glove made him a key piece in the state championship puzzle.

28 Seven Games To GloryThe Blue Crew came, they saw — and then they conquered. Here’s how they did it in the final title matchups leading up to the Class 4A state champion-ship game against Indianapolis Roncalli.

34 McNificent!Lefty pitcher Jimmy McNamara dominated as the Indians grab their first state title.

36 Lannin’s Line: What Goes Good With Crow?When the 2012 prep baseball season began, this reporter would not have predicted a state championship for the Lake Central Indians. Today he’s here to tell you he couldn’t be happier to be wrong.

Also Inside: The Sandor File, game and player stats, trivia, and more.

starting lineup

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REGION SPORTS NETWORK“The Only Game In Town”

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With all of that athletic ability roaming the halls, the Duneland features quality programs from top to bottom in all sports, but without question baseball is the deep-est and most decorated.

LaPorte has more state titles than anyone in the history of Indiana baseball, Crown Point has gone to five semi-states in the past seven seasons, Valpo has produced major league talent such as Jeff Samardzija and Chesterton is managed by a Hall of Famer in Jack Campbell. And while Portage (a program on the rise), Michigan City & Merrillville don’t have those credentials, they aren’t exactly slouches. Oh yeah, and it’s the home conference of the defending class 4A state champion Indians.

“I’ve been a part of DAC play for three full years,” LC head coach Jeff Sandor said. “The last two we won the conference, however, the first we did not. My first year we were 12-2 in the DAC and took 2nd; the next year we were 11-3 and won it. That alone tells you how tough it is to win the conference.”

How difficult is it to win the DAC? Check out this list of players who have played in the conference in just the last two years alone: Jake Post (Ohio State; Drafted by Pittsburgh), Anthony Cheky (Michigan State), Connor Podkul (Pur-due), Kyle Upp (Purdue) & Jerrick Suiter (TCU). That’s just a sampling, and it doesn’t even include any talent from LC!

Even with all of that talent, according to Sandor, coaching is one of the big reasons the DAC is as tough of a conference as you’ll find in the state.

“From top to bottom, the coaching is excellent,” Sandor said. “Teams are fun-damental from both offensive and defen-sive standpoints. The coaches scout and exchange scouting reports with regularity, which means you either have to adjust or get exploited by the same reports week in and week out.”

With all of those credentials the confer-ence has, it only further shows how good the Indians were last season. Try 13-1 in conference play with an average margin of victory of over 5.5 runs per contest. Part of the success that LC had in con-ference play last season was that Sandor knew his team had to be ready to play every day, no matter if they were playing the Bulldogs who finished two games back or LaPorte who ended the 2012 season in the bottom spot of the standings.

“What I’ve learned is if you aren’t ready to play one day you are in trouble regard-less of the opponent,” he said. “There are upsets regularly and with good reason. It’s enjoyable preparing for games you know can go either way. Baseball is fun when it’s competitive. Baseball is fun when you’re fighting for your life. Baseball is fun when each play is so darn important. Baseball is fun when a bad call, a bad decision, a bad read, a bad jump, a bad at bat, a bad throw (the list goes on) can influence so much.”

As fun as that was for Sandor and the

Indians, those 13 wins in 14 games made it fun – for the rest of the conference who took the field against LC, “fun” was proba-bly not the operative word.

With a state championship on their re-sume, the Indians already had a bull’s eye on their back coming into the season, but playing in the Duneland means they can’t wait until tourney time to bring out their “A” game. Life in the DAC means you have to bring it every single day.

It doesn’t matter what sport you’re talking about – life in the

Duneland Athletic Conference is never easy. As a confer-

ence that features eight of the 46 largest schools in the state

(and four of the biggest 19), DAC schools have access to talent

that coaches at smaller schools can only dream about.

Conquering the Conference

“What I’ve learned is, if you aren’t ready to play one day, you are in trouble regardless

of the opponent.”— Lake Central head coach Jeff Sandor

By Nathan LairdRSN Sports Director

3/27/12 at Bishop Noll Season OpenerLake Central 1, Bishop Noll 0

In what would become a familiar scenario over the 2012 season, the Lake Central In-dians pitching staff kept an opponent off the scoreboard. This time it was Jimmy McNamara and Taylor Lehnert combining to shutout Bishop Noll 1-0 in the season opener. The shutout would be the first of 14 over the course of the season for the Indians. McNamara scattered four hits over six innings for the win and Lehnert slammed the door by striking out the side in the seventh to earn the save.

“One thing that doesn’t show in this game is we swung it pretty well,” Indi-ans coach Jeff Sandor said. “The wind was blowing in at close to 35 mph and

Continued on next page 12

AlmostPERFECT

A look back at some key games duringLake Central’s 2012 regular season

— By Chris Lannin, RSN Writer

10

12

balls hit hard in the air became routine outs. We knew from our kids’ ap-proaches and attitudes in this situation this was going to be a special group. Mac was outstanding. If I remember correctly, they didn’t have a hit leave the infield off of him.”

4/3/12 vs. MunsterLake Central 1, Munster 0

The Indians ran their early season record to 5-0 with a 1-0 victory over the Mustangs in the home opener. Starting pitcher Nick Kellams twirled five shutout innings and Austen Wagoner picked up the win in relief with two shutout innings in his first ever varsity pitching appearance. The two hurlers combined for eight strikeouts while scattering seven hits in notching the teams fourth shut-out in the first five games.

The Indians managed just five hits of their own in the contest, but strong per-formances by Kellams and Wagoner kept the Indians in the game, setting the stage for a dramatic walk-off finish highlighted by Ryan Pachowicz’ game winning single in the bottom of the 7th.

“This was the 1-0 game that I felt would never end,” stated Sandor. “It was miserably cold and two soft-throwing lefties went at it. Kellams was fairly sharp for us and Wagoner showed us he would contribute on the mound as he earned the save. This was also the first time we learned just how much of a gamer Ryan Pachowicz was. Every team needs a Pachowicz to achieve what we did.”

4/10/12 at Michigan CityDuneland Athletic Conference OpenerLake Central 5, Michigan City 0

Jimmy McNamara threw four shutout innings for the win and Austen Wag-oner threw goose eggs for the final three innings as the pair combined to blank Michigan City 5-0 in the Duneland opener at Michigan City.

Adam Fulk had a pair of hits and two RBI and Ryan Pachowicz added two hits

and scored twice to pace the Indians’ attack.

“All in all this was one of the sloppiest games we played all season,” Sandor said of his team’s outing. “Mac, al-though tossing four shutout innings, was not very good. Adam Fulk was our best player on this day.”

4/16/12 vs. Crown PointLake Central 12, Crown Point 5

The Indians remained unbeaten in the DAC and a perfect 9-0 for the season with a 12-5 victory over the always tough Bull-dogs in a measuring stick game for the Tribe. The offense got it going and took some pressure off the pitching staff by pounding out 10 hits and plating 12 runs.

Adam Fulk led the way with three hits and four RBI to pace the attack. Chase Fieldhouse and Ryan Pachowicz each added a pair of hits and Pachowicz and DH Jimmy McNamara both drove in a pair of runs to support Taylor Lehnert, who picked up the victory.

“This was the first time Taylor Lehnert was truly challenged,” Sandor said of one of his aces. “He threw a complete game, but we still didn’t know what we truly had. CP had double digits hits, but he battled adversity and earned a great win. It let us know we had two guys that could beat Crown Point if a regional showdown occurred.”

4/18/12 vs. PortageLake Central 7, Portage 3

The Blue Indians stayed on the warpath with another DAC victory, knocking off the Red Indians of Portage 7-3. Starting pitcher Jimmy McNamara settled down after a shaky first inning, fanning 10 over six innings before giving way to Taylor Lehnert who worked a scoreless seventh to nail down the win.

Adam Fulk stayed red hot at the plate, blasting a three-run homer in the third inning to put LC ahead to stay. McNamara aided his own cause with an RBI single and Chase Fieldhouse drove in a run to help key the Blue Indians attack.

Lake Central improved to 4-0 in Dune-land conference play and 11-0 overall with the victory.

“This was the second consecutive start Mac wasn’t sharp,” Sandor recalled. ”Portage scored three early. The kid

was all tough though as he settled down and owned them for the next six.”4/20/12 vs. ValpoLake Central 8, Valpo 0

Taylor Lehnert was exceptional in going the distance, striking out 12 along the way as the Indians notched their ninth shut-out of the season with an 8-0 blanking of Valparaiso 8-0 at Lake Central.

LC slapped out seven hits and played a little small ball to capitalize on Viking miscues in the field and remain unbeaten in the conference (5-0) and on the season (13-0). Nick Kellams and Anthony Fushi each had a pair of RBI and Adam Fulk had two hits, an RBI and scored three times for the Tribe in the victory.

“I remember taking a half personal day from school just to get the field ready,” Sandor said. “This was all because we didn’t want Taylor to lose a start and possibly a shot at DAC MVP or All-State. I never would have told the kids this, but it was a Friday game that we couldn’t delay until the follow-ing week. Lehnert was phenomenal; it was one of the most dominating pitch-ing performances of the season.”

4/24/12 at ChestertonChesterton 4, Lake Central 3

After opening the season with 13 straight wins, it was game 14 that proved to be the unlucky number as the Tribe stumbled on the road, dropping a 4-3 decision at Chesterton. Jimmy McNamara went the distance for the Indians and suffered the hard luck decision, in what would be the only loss of the season.

Mac allowed four runs on just five hits, but just one of them was earned as the de-fense struggled. The Indians could muster just six hits, with two of those off the bat of lead-off man Nick Kellams, who also scored two of the three runs.

The loss dropped the Indians back into a tie with Crown Point atop the DAC stand-ings at 5-1.

“I laugh about this game every time I think about it,” recalled Sandor. “We were just darn awful on the defensive side of the ball. The kids seemed disin-terested and we were seeing a future Pi-rates draft pick. The mistakes we made were inexplicable, but this was the first true adversity we had to face. We left there uneasy, knowing we were heading

Continued on Page 14

AlmostPerfect

14

to LaPorte on Thursday (a place we always struggle).”

4/26/12 at LaPorteLake Central 1, La Porte 0 (9 Innings)

Getting back on track after the loss, the Indians managed a 1-0, nine inning win in a game played in a cold hawk wind at LaPorte.

Once again it was pitching that led the way, as Taylor Lehnert went eight shutout innings with seven strikeouts, allowing just four hits to pick up the victory.

The Indians and Slicers were dead-locked in a scoreless tie heading into the top of the ninth, when a single by Jim-my McNamara plated the games’ only run. Austen Wagoner worked a scoreless bottom of the ninth to nail down the save and the victory. With the win, the Tribe improved to 6-1 in the DAC and 14-1 over-all. The shutout marked the tenth time the Indians’ pitching staff had blanked their opponent in 15 games.

“This was another bitter-cold game and another nail biter,” Sandor said of the contest against LaPorte. “These kids just found ways to win tight games. Lehnert was great again and Wagoner showed grit in the save. I remember us hammering balls into the gaps that just hung there for LaPorte fielders to make plays and I remember some excellent execution by Mantel behind the plate. This was the norm for him.”

5/2/12 at Crown PointLake Central 10, Crown Point 1

After starting the second half of the DAC slate with a home victory over Michigan City, the Indians retook sole possession of first place with a 10-1 thrashing of Crown Point on the road.

The Indians scored in five of seven innings, pushing 10 runs across the plate despite managing only seven hits. Nick Kellams and Alec Olund each had a pair of hits and a double to back winning pitcher Jimmy McNamara, who allowed just one run on four hits while striking out 13 Bulldogs.

Olund also had a pair of RBI to lead the way from the #9 slot in the batting order.

“This game was the epitome of execut-ing a game plan,” Sandor said of his team’s outing. “We were seeing a great pitcher from CP and each kid bought in to how to attack him. We drew walks, swiped bases, and found key hits. We made them work. Jimmy was sharp on the mound. There may have been one small blemish which he was pretty good at in late innings.”

5/8/12 at PortageLake Central 4, Portage 2

The Indians improved to 10-1 in the DAC and 19-1 overall with a 4-2 road victory over the Portage Indians behind fire-baller Taylor Lehnert, who went the distance to pick up his seventh victory of the season.

Lehnert fanned 12 and allowed two runs on just four hits to lead the Blue Tribe over the Red Tribe. An RBI single by Ryan Pachowicz in the first gave LC a lead they would never relinquish. Pachowicz drove in a pair, Nick Kellams had three hits, including a double, and drove in a run to pace the offense.

“I don’t remember many key events this game, except Taylor Lehnert jumping on the MLB radar,” Sandor said. “Two teams came out to watch.”

5/10/12 at ValpoClinch DAC ChampionshipLake Central 8, Valpo 6

The Indians trailed the Vikings 6-5 in the top of seventh when Ryan Burvan came through with a two out base hit to drive in a pair runs, giving the Indians their 20th victory of the and second straight Dune-land title.

Jimmy McNamara started, working two scoreless innings before giving way to relievers Nick Kellams and Austen Wagon-er before returning for another scoreless frame in the bottom of the seventh to save the game he started, something you don’t see every day.

Kellams, who had a pair of hits in the game, notched the win for Lake Central. Alec Olund drove in three runs, while Burvan and Chase Fieldhouse had two hits each and two RBI to lead the Indians offense.

“If we lost this game, it was purely my fault,” Sandor stated. “We removed Mac after two innings because we were saving him for Cathedral in the North Central tourney that weekend. We thought we would get him a quick bull-pen and out. We jumped out to a great lead and pulled him. Well, we struggled in relief and brought him back to earn the save. You kind of forget we were down to our last out in the game that sealed the conference outright.”

5/15/12 vs. ChestertonLake Central 8, Chesterton 1

Avenging their only loss of the season, the Indians disposed of the Trojans with an 8-1 home victory over Chesterton. Tay-lor Lehnert turned in another glittering performance, allowing just one run on two hits while striking out nine to pick up his eighth victory.

Nick Kellams, Ryan Burvan and An-thony Fushi all had two hits and an RBI apiece. With the win, Lake Central im-proved to 23-1 on the campaign and 12-1 in the Duneland .

“Payback!!!” Sandor said of getting revenge against the Trojans. “I knew when Post walked out to the bullpen this game was over. Our kids wanted him so bad. They got him and hit the ball all over the park. This was the Fieldhouse breakout party which didn’t end until June 16.”

AlmostPerfect

When Opportunity

Knocked

Much has been made, and rightly so, of the dominance of the

Lake Central pitching staff in 2012. The dynamic duo of Taylor Lenhart and Jimmy McNamara were as good as any in recent Region history.

The Indians lineup may have lacked some of the attention the pitching staff received, the prowess of the Big Blue offense should in no way be overlooked.

Led by Chase Fieldhouse, the Indians attack was bal-anced and productive. And more importantly, it was opportunistic.

“From top to bottom, our lineup had balance,” said head coach Jeff Sandor.

“Because we had guys who accepted their roles and put the team first, I was able to set up the batting order to get certain guys up in key situations, and it was

amazing how the kids came through.”

Come through they did. Over the course of the 33 game 2012 season, LC averaged over seven runs a game. In nine of those games, the Blue Crew blew their opponents away by putting 10 or more runs on the board.

If you want to talk about production from top to bottom, the Indians batting order certainly had it. Six starters hit .348 or better, six players scored 20 or more runs and nine players were in double figures in runs batted in; and of those nine players five had 20 RBI or more. As a team, the Indians hit .340.

Leadoff man Nick Kel-lams hit .387 and scored 33 runs. In the number two hole, second baseman Ryan Burvan hit .352 and scored

Lake Central’s Offense Was Productive, Balanced

And Opportunistic— By Chris Lannin, RSN Writer

Continued on Page 2018

24 runs. “The top of the order did a great job of setting the table by getting on base and moving runners along to set things up for the heart of the order,” said Sandor.

“Nick Kellams always seemed to find ways to get on base. He didn’t strike out a lot (only six strikeouts all season) always seemed to put the ball in play, and scored a lot of runs.

“Ryan Burvan was a perfect number two hitter. He’s a great bunter and did a great job of hitting behind the runners,” continued Sandor. “But one thing about Ryan that might get overlooked was he always worked the count and saw a lot of pitches. Because he was always taking the count out to 2 and 2 or 3 and 2, the guys behind him, Fieldhouse, Wagoner and Pachowicz were able to get a much better look at the opposing pitcher because they got to see him throw so many pitches.”

The three, four and five hitters for Lake Central, Fieldhouse, Wagoner and Pa-chowicz combined for six homers, drove in 85 runs and scored 80 more. Fieldhouse led the team in average (.440), home runs (4), and RBI (35).

In seven post season games, Fieldhouse hit .529 with nine hits and nine RBI despite being intentionally walked five times, and was charted by the LC coach-ing staff to have had 21 quality at bats in 26 plate appearances.

There were some who felt Fieldhouse had a down year after his power numbers were off from the year before (11 HR, 40 RBI) and it would have been easy to blame the dip on the new composite bats but Sandor doesn’t think so.

“The new bat didn’t really affect him much,” said Sandor. “He missed our first four games with a virus and the next four games we played with wooden bats, so

that’s like a quarter of the season.“I think teams were trying to pitch

around him and he had some trouble find-ing holes,” continued Sandor. “But he’s a good kid and a hard worker and a guy you want on your side. When we needed a big hit we wanted him up there, he was our guy. In the tournament he put us on his back and carried us.

“During the year he homered off Jake Post of Chesterton, Jordan Minch of Highland and Tanner Tulley of Elkhart Central, and those are some pretty good pitchers.”

At .271 Wagoner’s average may not seem all that impressive, but he came through in the clutch, finishing second on the team with 27 RBI’s. Pachowicz hit in the five hole, and contributed a .352 average while driving in 23 runs.

“Wagoner had a tough stretch but he was still productive so we hid him there in the cleanup spot,” laughed Sandor. “Aus-ten was probably our second most valu-able defensive player after Zach Mantel.

“Pachowicz was Mr. Clutch. He was third on the team in RBI, but he had so many big two out hits,” said Sandor. “Against Munster (in sectionals) he hits a two out three run homer; in semi-state he doubles with two outs in the seventh to drive in two runs to tie the game and send it in to extra innings for us. Just a solid, solid player.”

Things didn’t get any easier for oppo-nents when they reached the bottom half of the order either. Left fielder Adam Fulk and catcher Zach Mantel were tied for second on the team in homers with three each, and Fulk also led the team in stolen bases with 10, drove while in 26 runs, scored 25 more and hit .355.

Third baseman Anthony Fushi contrib-uted several big hits at key moments dur-ing the year, Alec Olund hit .348 batting

ninth and pitching ace Jimmy McNamara chipped in offensively as the designated hitter with 20 RBI.

“Fulk was the guy who carried us early in the season,” said Sandor. “He got off to a great start and hit over .500 in the first half of the conference season. He hit a huge home run in the Lowell game (in sectionals) and he ran the bases so well.

“Jimmy (McNamara) showed he could hit and Alec Olund can really play,” continued Sandor. “Alec was our best base runner and was really coming on at the end of the season; he had extra base hits in each of the last three post- season games we played. He’s going to be a great one and playing Division I baseball some-where next year.”

With the kind of pitching Lake Central had last year it’s understandable that the offense was perhaps a bit overshadowed. But if you look at the numbers and the production up and down the batting order you realize that the Indians were in fact an offensive powerhouse. And when you put the two together you have a special baseball team.

“I’m a big believer that good teams create their own luck,” said Sandor. “The guys believed in what we were trying to do, they accepted their roles, they trusted one another and they just didn’t want to lose.

“They put the team first and somehow always found a way to make the big plays in every game because they had a never say die attitude and they learned how to win,” continued Sandor. “When you have a special group like that, great things are going to happen.”

Opportunity

In the decades past, base-ball has produced its share of dominant one-two pitching punches. Lefty-righty combos like Arizona’s Randy John-son/Curt Shilling and Jerry Koosman/Tom Seaver of the 1969 New York Mets easily come to mind.

As good as those guys were, and they were good, neither tandem has any-thing on Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.

Get a load of the numbers the Dodger greats posted in 1965, en route to winning the World Series: For the southpaw Koufax, the stats are mind-boggling: 41 games started, 27 complete games, 26 wins and eight shutouts.

Koufax led the Majors in three different categories, including with a 2.04 ERA (which is the highest he posted between ’63-’66), 382 strikeouts and a workhorse like 335-2/3 innings pitched.

Drysdale was almost as good, starting 42 games, completing 20 of them. The big right hander won 23 games, had 210 strikeouts in 308-1/3 innings a posted an ERA of 2.77.

Forty seven years after those incredible accomplishments, another dynamic duo left its mark in similar fashion not in the Major Leagues, but in the Duneland Conference. If 1965 belonged to Koufax and Drysdale, then 2012 belonged to Jim-

my McNamara and Taylor Lehnert.

The Lake Central gradu-ates have a lot in common with the Hall of Fame duo. Like Drysdale, who stood at 6’5 on the hill, Indian south-paw Lehnert was a daunting figure of his own on the hill. At 6’4” and 230 pounds, his stature alone intimidated the opposition when they stood in the box against him.

Both big men are known for their control, with Drysdale walking only 1.9 hitters per nine innings in ’65 and Lehnert 1.3 per seven last season. They also excelled in pitching inside, which added to their already intimidating mound pres-ences, but they each gave away some free bases, and bruises, via hit batsmen. Drysdale led the majors with

12 batters plunked in ’65 with Lehnert hitting 10 batters in 2012.

Surprisingly though it wasn’t the imposing figure in each pair that was the strikeout artist – it was the more dimin-utive pitcher in both cases that excelled in fanning hitters as both Koufax and McNamara made their livings via the “K”.

In 1965 Koufax recorded 382 strikeouts, still a major league record for most in a season by a left-hander and only one “K” behind Nolan Ryan for the all-time lead.

By Chris Lannin

When asked to compare Jimmy Mc-Namara and Taylor Lehnart to Sandy Kou-fax and Don Drysdale, Indians manager Jeff Sandor wasn’t sure it was a fair comparison.

“I don’t know if it’s realistic to make that kind of comparison because that’s major league baseball and this is high school,” said Sandor. “But I challenge anyone to come up with another pair in the history of northwest Indiana high school baseball that were any better than they were.”

Because the Tribe’s tandem was even more dominating than the Dodger duo, an argument can be made that the comparison would be unfair to Koufax and Drysdale, not McNamara and Lenhart.

Much like Dodger manager Walter Alston, Sandor knew the odds were favorable when one of his aces took the hill. “We had two guys that were really good and felt we would always have a chance to win with either of them out there, no matter what,” said the LC skipper.

The blue’s big two started 23 of the Tribes’ 33 games and one or the other pitched a complete game in 15 of those contests. The two worked a combined 151 2/3 innings of the total 223 innings thrown by the LC staff over the course of the season, or 68% of the total. Not even Koufax and Drysdale can make such claims.

In those innings, McNamara and Lehnert combined to strike out an incredible 40% of the hitters the tandem faced, fanning 235 of 594 hitters. Lehnert held the opposing hitters he faced to a meager .169 batting average and hitters didn’t fare much better

Pair Of Aces WinsMcNamara and Lehnert had a season like Koufax and Drysdale

Koufax-Drysdale An ‘Unfair Comparison’

— But To Whom?

Continued on Page 24Continued on Page 24

2012 SEASON STATISTICS: PITCHINGPLAYER BF GS CG G IP R ER H 2B 3B HR BB HB SO WP W L SV SHO ERARyan Pachowicz 10 0 0 2 3.0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Ryan Burvan 4 0 0 1 1.0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Taylor Lehnert 289 10 7 14 75.0 11 7 38 4 0 2 14 10 111 3 11 0 3 0 0.65

Jimmy McNamara 305 13 8 13 76.2 14 9 47 7 0 4 13 7 124 0 10 1 1 0 0.82

Antonio Majstorov 61 3 1 4 16.1 3 3 8 2 0 1 2 1 17 0 4 0 0 0 1.29

Austen Wagoner 57 0 0 7 14.0 4 3 12 2 0 0 3 1 15 0 1 0 1 0 1.50

Nick Kellams 124 6 1 7 29.0 10 8 21 3 0 0 11 2 38 0 5 0 0 0 1.93

Aaron Glatt 39 1 0 3 8.0 4 4 11 0 0 0 4 2 7 0 1 0 0 0 3.50

TOTALS 889 33 17 51 222.3 46 34 139 18 0 7 50 24 315 3 32 1 5 0 1.07

OPPONENTS 1087 31 11 33 212.2 233 207 299 64 11 16 114 29 127 2 1 30 0 0 6.81

Taylor Lehnert

Jimmy McNamara

against McNamara either, as the southpaw held opposing lineups to an anemic .204 mark — all numbers the former pro pair would envy.

The LC version of Koufax and Drysdale allowed just 27 bases on balls on the sea-son, an average of just over one and a half (1.54) bases on balls per seven innings pitched.

“There are a lot of things you could say about those two kids but the biggest thing was that they threw strikes,” said Sandor. “Jimmy and Taylor had the stuff to go out and challenge hitters and throw strikes ear-ly in the count but for the season we chart-ed them at over 70% first pitch strikes. At the start of the season we knew they could be great, but we didn’t know they would be that great.”

Lehnert was 11-0 with a glittering ERA of just 0.65 and added three saves for good measure. He threw four shutouts, seven complete games and struck out 111 hitters in 75 innings pitched for the season.

McNamara finished the campaign with a 10-1 record, an ERA of 0.82 and one save. The lefty also threw four shutouts and worked eight complete games with 124 strikeouts in 76-2/3 innings pitched.

Each pitcher was as dominant as any Northwest Indiana hurler in recent memory. Yet as good as they were individually, they were even more overwhelming together. Simply put, McNamara and Lehnert were to Lake Central what Koufax and Drysdale were to the Dodgers. Or is it the other way around?

With all of those strikeouts, Koufax had an impressive 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings, but that’s nothing compared to McNamara. During the 2012 campaign, the LC righty fanned an astonishing 11.4 hitters per seven innings. Not only does that surpass Koufax’s stellar 1965 season, but it’s a rate that he never reached.

However, the similarities don’t even end with the numbers. Going into game seven of the ’65 series against Baltimore, Dodger manager Walt Alston had to choose which of his aces to throw. He ultimately decided on Koufax, who threw a complete game shutout, scattering three hits and striking out 10 on his way to being named World Series MVP. Drysdale would’ve been the first option out of the pen.

Indians manager Jeff Sandor had a sim-ilar decision heading into the state finals last season. He went with McNamara, who threw a complete game shutout, sur- rendering three hits while striking out nine, before being named the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award winner. Lehnert was ready in relief if needed.

The decision wasn’t based on talent, a gut feeling or even a coin flip. Sandor just applied old-fashioned baseball logic. “They had four lefties in their lineup,” said Sandor said of Roncalli.” We like that lefty-lefty matchup. I don’t think there’s a better lefty in the state than (McNamara).”

One difference between the two duos can be seen in the awards they received. In ’65 Koufax hogged all of the hardware. Besides being named World Series MVP, he won his second Cy Young Award and finished second in the National League MVP voting.

Not the same for LC, as it was Taylor

Lehnert who was named the Duneland Conference Most Valuable Player in 2012 Both Koufax and Drysdale have been inducted into Cooperstown, enshrined among the best to play Major League Baseball and heralded as two of the best pitchers to ever play the game.

Since their high school careers ended just last season, McNamara and Lehnert aren’t in the LC Halls of Fame just yet. But that’s only a matter of time, as the duo will most certainly be listed among the best of the best — something else they will have in common with Koufax and Drysdale, the greatest one-two punch in baseball history.

A Pair of Aces Comparison“We had two guys that were

really good and felt we would always have a chance

to win with either of them out there, no matter what.”

The Straw That Stirred

The DrinkBy Nathan Laird, RSN Sports Director

Like an offensive

lineman, a rebounding

specialist on the hardwood

or a defenseman in

hockey, a sturdy catcher

in baseball is sometimes

easy to overlook, and

that may have been the

case with the 2012 Lake

Central Indians. From

the outside, there weren’t

too many singing the

praises of Zach Mantel.

While press clippings

and feature stories are

nice, it’s what your

coaches and teammates

think of you that’s more

important, and to say that

they had high opinions

of the backstop would

be an understatement.

Those around LC baseball

know exactly why Mantel

was a major piece to the

championship puzzle.26

Looking at the wins and losses for the Indians and seeing zero after zero as the op-ponent’s score, it’s easy to give the combo of Taylor Lehnert and Jimmy McNamara the li-on’s share of the credit. While they definitely deserve the praises that have been heaped upon them, Mantel’s contribu-tions as their catcher were just as important.

“His handling of our pitch-ers was superb and he helped make them so dominant,” In-dians head coach Jeff Sandor said. “Pitchers threw him lots of speed stuff but he could handle it.”

One of the reasons Mantel, one of the team’s co-captains, worked so well with the two aces was familiarity. He’s been catching Lehnert since they were 10 years old and his rela-tionship with McNamara goes even further back.

“We’ve been neighbors since we were three years old,” McNamara said. “So we’ve been playing baseball and he’s been my catcher for probably a decade or more.”

Those relationships between a catcher and his pitchers can-not go understated. With years of experience working with the top of the rotation, Mantel knew what was working with each of the guys and what changes needed to be made.

“He gave a good amount of input,” Lehnert said. “He would tell me if something looked wrong or if the break-ing ball wasn’t moving.”

“Z knew what he was talking about,” added McNamara. “He knew me as well as anyone, so obviously any tip he gave I was going to listen to it.”

It wasn’t just working with the pitchers and adding his two cents that made Mantel a key contributor for the Indians. For all of the things they were excellent at in 2012, defense was not one of the strengths of the Indians, except for behind the plate. Out of every player on the roster with over 30 defensive chances, Mantel had the best fielding percentage on the team at .987 (only four errors in 317 chances) and he threw out nine of 13 base stealers on the season.

“No one could run on him,” Sandor said. “He threw out over 70% of base stealers in

his career.”That high of a percentage

of caught runners not only prevents the opposition from nabbing an extra bag, it helps the confidence of his pitchers and lets them focus on throw-ing strikes, instead of who’s on base.

“It helped an insane amount,” Lehnert said of Mantel’s efficiency at throwing out would-be base stealers. “It helped protect the running game in the sense of if we threw the ball in his zone he was going to throw the runner out.”

While Mantel wouldn’t be confused for Mantle at the plate, Sandor said he handled the bat well and often came through with runners on, as he was only one of two Indians who had more RBI than hits.

But prowess at the plate is not what made Zach Man-tel a huge part of the team’s success. Handling the pitch-

ing staff and stellar defense earned him the high praises of his coach and teammates.

“You could argue that he was our MVP,” Sandor said. “In my opinion he was the number one catcher in the area.”

“I think he was one of the most important pieces on the team,” added Lehnert.

“He was as important as anyone else,” McNamara said. “He was the straw that stirred the drink. What we did last year was special and I don’t think it would’ve been that way without Zach.”

Maybe he was overlooked last year, but only from the out-side. From the guys inside the dugout working with him day in and day out, Zach Mantel’s contributions to the Indians’ state title run will never be ignored or forgotten.

Out of every player on the roster with over 30 defensive chances, Mantel

had the best field-ing percentage

on the team at .987 (only four errors in 317 chances) and he threw out nine of 13 base stealers

on the season.

7 Games To Glory

The Blue Crew came, they saw — and then they conquered. Here’s how they did it.

By Chris Lannin

SECTIONAL OPENERClass 4A Sectional #1 @ Munster5/25/12 vs. Munster Lake Central 7, Munster 0

After finishing the regular season with an impressive 25-1 mark, the Indians opened the second season in typical fashion, as Jimmy McNamara blanked Munster 7-0 in a glittering 12-strikeout, three-hit performance. The victory was the Indians’ 13th straight win and 11th shutout on the campaign. It also marked the second time the Tribe had whitewashed the Mustangs.

Chase Fieldhouse led the way with a pair of hits, two runs scored and three RBI. Nick Kellams and Anthony Fushi each added two hits and Fushi and Ryan Pachowicz also drove in a run to give the Indians the victory in the class 4A sec-tional opener for both teams.

“It seems like we draw these guys every year, and as coaches we were wor-ried that such a special season could potentially end in game #1,” Sandor said. “Our kids wouldn’t let it. All around, we were sharp and it set the tone for us to keep this streak going.”

SECTIONAL SEMI-FINAL5/28/12 vs. LowellLake Central 9, Lowell 3

Adam Fulk blasted a two-run homer and Alec Olund added a solo shot to back the pitching of Nick Kellams and Antonio Majstorov as the Indians advanced to the sectional #2 championship game with a 9-3 victory over the Lowell Red Devils.

Kellams and Majstorov each went three-plus innings for the Indians, with Maj-storov picking up the win for the St. John Blue Crew.

The performances were key for the In-dians because the clutch pitching allowed Coach Jeff Sandor to have aces Jimmy

McNamara and Taylor Lehnert both avail-able for the championship game against Highland later that same evening. Chase Fieldhouse continued to swing a hot bat as he matched Fulk with two RBI, giving him five in two games in the sectional.

“Fulk and Olund homers were key and so were Majstorov and Kellams pitching performances,” Sandor recalled. “They allowed us to pocket

Lehnert for a Jordan Minch showdown. These games are always scary as trap games. You can’t get caught looking past.”

SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP5/28/12 vs. HighlandLake Central 7, Highland 0

Chase Fieldhouse continued to sizzle

Continued on next page

“We attacked one of the best around and chased him in a huge game. I remember leaving and saying we may

need to get a bus ready for Indy.”

30

7 Games To Gloryin sectional play with a pair of hits, including a towering, two-run homer in the first to run his sectional RBI total to seven and lead the Indians to the 4A sectional championship. Ryan Pachowicz had a three-run bomb while Austen Wagoner added two hits and two RBI as the Indians rocked Purdue bound, Highland ace Jordan Minch for the victory.

Taylor Lehnert was brilliant once again as he went the distance, allowing just one hit while striking out nine to earn his ninth win of the season.

The shutout was the twelfth of the season for the LC pitching staff and the second time the Indians had blanked the Trojans. With the vic-tory, the Indians improved to 28-1 on the season heading into the LaPorte regional.

“This was maybe our best hitting performance of the year,” Sandor described. “We attacked one of the best around and chased him in a huge game. I remember leaving and saying we may need to get a bus ready for Indy.”

REGIONAL SEMI-FINAL6/2/12 vs. Elkhart CentralClass 4A Regional @ La PorteLake Central 2, Elkhart Central 1

Jimmy McNamara bested Elkhart Central ace Tanner Tully in a pitchers duel as the Indians advanced to the regional champi-onship with a tense, 2-1 victory. McNamara allowed just a solo homer as he scattered five hits and struck out seven to improve to 9-1. The left-hander was so dominant in the complete game victory that he didn’t allow a runner past second base after the second inning.

Chase Fieldhouse continued to tear the cover off the ball as he blasted a game winning homer off the school in left field to lead the Indians attack. In the first four tournament games, Field-house banged out six hits, including two homers with eight RBI. Anthony Fushi contributed a pair of safeties and Adam Fulk chipped in with an RBI single for the Blue Crew.

“In a game that featured more in-game and pre-game drama, our kids were awesome about keeping the game inside the lines,” Sandor said of the tension-filled regional. “Adam Fulk had a monster game tying double, and all I remember is we were sharp, they were sharp, and Chase Fieldhouse hit a home run that won it that is still going.

Continued on Page 32

1) True or False: Lake Central’s 15 sec-tional championships is the most of any DAC school.

2) Prior to the Indians winning the 2012 title, who as the last Region team to win a class 4A baseball state champi-onship?

A) LaPorte B) Munster C) Valparaiso D) Crown Point

3) Jeff Sandor is now one of four ac-tive Region baseball head coaches with a state championship victory. Which of the following is NOT a member of that group?

A) Dave Pishkur B) Bob Shinkan C) Jack Campbell D) Scott Upp

4) Which MLB closer was a teammate of Jeff Sandor’s at the University of Michigan?

A) Jason Grilli B) Joe Nathan C) Ad-dison Reed D) JJ Putz

5) On their road to state, the Indians got revenge on what team that upset the 2011 Lake Central squad in the regional?

A) Elkhart Central B) Crown Point C) Penn D) Warsaw

6) Which former White Sox outfielder is a graduate of Lake Central High School?

A) Scott Podsednik B) Jerry Owens C) Rob Mackowiak D) Darin Erstad

7) Indians pitching coach Brett Sum-mers was selected twice in the MLB draft, once out of high school and once out of college. He was selected by the Cubs the second time, but who was the first team to take him?

A) White Sox B) Yankees C) Red Sox D) Marlins

8) Despite only pitching eight varsity innings last season, Indians senior hurler Aaron Glatt is committed to play

baseball at what college? A) Ball State B) Kent State C) Dayton

D) Bowling Green

9) Jeff Sandor required all players on the 2012 roster to deactivate their ac-counts on what social media site during the season?

A) Twitter B) Facebook C) Instagram D) Myspace

10) Which Indians player was also the starting quarterback of the 2012 LC football team?

A) Ryan Burvan B) Nick Kellams C) Antonio Majstorov D) Alec Olund

Answers on Page 42

Test Your Indians IQ

32

2012 SEASON STATISTICS: OFFENSEPLAYER G AB R H 2B 3B HR TB BB HP SO SH SF SB RBI OBP SLG BABrad Staszewski 4 3 3 2 1 0 0 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.857 1.000 0.667

Cody Brack 8 12 3 7 2 0 0 9 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.867 0.750 0.583

Chase Fieldhouse 30 91 32 40 10 1 4 64 15 3 10 3 2 6 35 0.613 0.703 0.440

Nick Kellams 33 111 33 43 12 2 2 65 13 3 6 0 0 9 16 0.528 0.586 0.387

Tony Schneider 6 8 1 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0.333 0.375 0.375

Adam Fulk 33 93 25 33 3 3 3 51 10 1 20 6 1 10 26 0.505 0.548 0.355

Ryan Pachowicz 32 88 25 31 7 0 1 41 18 2 14 1 3 2 23 0.486 0.466 0.352

Ryan Burvan 31 88 24 31 6 1 1 42 7 6 13 9 0 6 11 0.446 0.477 0.352

Alec Olund 28 66 14 23 7 2 2 40 5 0 12 2 2 1 13 0.425 0.606 0.348

Alec Pickert 10 13 4 4 0 0 0 4 1 1 2 0 0 0 2 0.600 0.308 0.308

Jimmy McNamara 26 66 18 20 5 2 0 29 11 1 8 3 1 1 20 0.494 0.439 0.303

Antonio Majstorov 14 24 5 7 1 0 0 8 0 1 3 1 0 0 2 0.320 0.333 0.292

Steve Fulk 11 11 6 3 0 0 0 3 1 3 5 1 0 3 1 0.467 0.273 0.273

Austen Wagoner 33 96 23 26 6 0 1 35 16 4 19 2 3 6 27 0.462 0.365 0.271

Zach Mantel 27 58 10 15 2 0 3 26 8 8 19 3 2 2 18 0.421 0.448 0.259

Anthony Fushi 22 53 5 13 1 0 0 14 4 1 13 2 1 0 9 0.390 0.264 0.245

Taylor Lehnert 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000

TOTALS 33 885 231 301 63 11 17 437 115 35 146 33 16 46 209 0.488 0.494 0.340

OPPONENTS 33 797 46 137 18 0 7 176 50 21 296 12 2 7 37 0.285 0.221 0.172

R.I.P. ECC.”

REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP6/2/12 vs. PennLake Central 3, Penn 1

Taylor Lehnert pitched a three hitter, allowing just one unearned run while striking out seven for his tenth victory, to lead the Indians to the 4A regional title.

The Indians jumped out to an early lead, getting all seven hits and three runs in the first three innings. Lehnert made them stand up as LC advanced with a 3-1 victory.

Chase Fieldhouse continued his torrid pace at the plate with two more hits to lead the attack. Anthony Fushi added a base hit and two RBI, and Austen Wagoner drove in a run with a single as the Tri-Town Tribe ran their winning streak to 17 heading into semi-state play.

“Chad Whitmer is the best pitcher we faced last year,” Sandor said of the competition. “He had outstanding stuff and gave us fits once he settled in. Huge hitting by Anthony Fushi saved us in this one, along with an-other Taylor Lehnert clutch start.”

SEMI-STATE CHAMPIONSHIPClass 4A Semi-State @ Kokomo6/9/12 vs. ZionsvilleLake Central 4, Zionsville 3

The Indians snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a come-from-behind win over Zionsville in nine innings. Taylor Lehnert notched his 11th victory by pitch-ing four and one-third innings of shutout relief while fanning eight.

Lehnert came on for a shaky Jimmy Mc-Namara with two outs in the fifth after Zi-onsville had taken a 3-1 lead and slammed the door to keep LC in the game and set the stage for the late-inning heroics.

After squandering a couple of earlier scoring chances it looked grim for the boys in blue, who trailed by two runs heading into their final at bat. But then Ryan Pachowicz doubled up the right field power alley with two outs to drive in the tying run and force extra innings.

In the ninth, Pachowicz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in the game-winning run. Pachowicz, the slug-ging first baseman, had two doubles and

two RBI. Nick Kellams chipped in with three hits and three runs scored.

Hot-hitting Chase Fieldhouse was intentionally walked three times, yet still

contributed an RBI base hit for the never say die Indians, giving him nine hits and nine RBI in six tournament games. By winning the 4A northern semi-state, the Indians improved to 31-1.

“HA! Down two heading into the sev-enth, our life was close to over. Not with these kids,” remembered Sandor.

“All it took was one base runner, a few errors, and Pachowicz (two outs down, one double). It may have helped that they intentionally walked the win-ning run with a runner on first. Taylor Lehnert was unbelievable in relief.”

CLASS 4A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP State Championship @ Indianapolis6/16/12 vs. Indianapolis RoncalliLake Central 1, Indianapolis Roncalli 0

Austen Wagoner’s RBI single in the top of the third plated Ryan Burvan with the game’s only run after Burvan had singled with two outs to stake Jimmy McNamara to a 1-0 advantage. The Indians never relinquished that lead and came away with the school’s first ever baseball state

7 Games To Glory 2012 SEASON STATISTICS: FIELDINGPLAYER G C PO A E DP PB SB CS CSA FANick Kellams 31 29 23 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 1.000

Chase Fieldhouse 28 28 27 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 1.000

Cody Brack 3 18 17 1 0 0 1 0 0 0.000 1.000

Tony Schneider 4 10 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 1.000

Alec Pickert 7 6 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 1.000

Brad Staszewski 6 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 1.000

Aaron Glatt 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 1.000

Zach Mantel 31 317 292 21 4 0 4 4 9 0.692 0.987

Ryan Pachowicz 32 195 186 5 4 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.979

Ryan Burvan 29 77 32 42 3 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.962

Austen Wagoner 32 109 35 67 7 3 0 0 0 0.000 0.936

Jimmy McNamara 20 22 7 13 2 0 0 0 1 1.000 0.909

Taylor Lehnert 13 25 5 17 3 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.880

Anthony Fushi 23 32 10 17 5 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.844

Adam Fulk 30 18 12 3 3 0 0 0 1 1.000 0.833

Alec Olund 14 23 5 13 5 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.783

Steve Fulk 8 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.667

Antonio Majstorov 7 3 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.333

TOTALS 33 920 669 212 39 3 5 4 11 0.733 0.958

OPPONENTS 33 903 632 213 58 12 19 46 15 0.246 0.936

championship. McNamara earned his tenth win in grand fashion on the biggest stage of his life, allowing just three hits while striking out nine to end the Indians’ season the way it began, with a shutout.

As it was all season long, pitching was once again the name of the game for the Big Blue Wrecking Crew as the gem by McNamara was the fourteenth time an opponent was held scoreless. The memo-rable season concluded with a 32-1 record, the best in school history.

“The season couldn’t have ended in a more fitting matter (1-0),” Sandor said of the finale. “Tight games and clutch performances were what defined this group. You never knew who and you never knew when, but they got it done. On this day it was everyone. We weren’t perfect and we never were. We would have it no other way. The tighter the game, the looser we played.

“These kids were the best team I’ve ever seen. They may not have been the most talented, but we had 20 kids that would run through a brick wall for each other. And it didn’t hurt they were pretty darn talented. This is a group I’ll never forget, and neither will north-west Indiana.”

McNificent! LC lefty dominates as Indians grab first state title

In the 32 games leading up to the state championship at Victory Field, the Lake Central lineup was cranking out better than seven runs per game. While the latter rounds of the tournament saw a dip in that number (only three runs per game from regionals through semi-state), the threat of an offensive outburst was always present with the bats of Chase Fieldhouse, Austen Wagoner & Adam Fulk in the order.

So with all that firepower and run pro-ducing pedigree, one would think scoring a single run might be a disappointment, but nothing could be further from the truth. That lone run was all the Indians needed for a history making state champi-onship victory over Indianapolis Roncalli, as left-handed pitcher Jimmy McNamara threw a complete game shutout to secure the first baseball state championship in school history.

Heading into the game, Indians coach Jeff Sandor had a tough decision to make – which of his two aces would he start. With McNamara and fellow senior Taylor Lehnert to choose from, Sandor, a former Indian pitcher himself, looked at the matchups and decided to go with the southpaw.

“They had four lefties in their lineup, and we like that lefty-lefty matchup,” Sandor said. “I don’t think there’s a better lefty in the state than (McNamara).”

The lefthander was on top of his game all night long – which is really saying something for pitcher with a sub 1.00 ERA entering the championship. In his seven innings of work, McNamara threw 103

pitches, struck out nine Roncalli batters, scattered three hits and walked only one.

After the game, the McNamara focused more on the journey that he and his team-mates just went through instead of his own dominating performance.

“I don’t even know if it’s going to set in until tomorrow morning when I wake up,” McNamara said during the celebration on the field. “This is unbelievable. I’ve been playing with a lot of these guys since I was seven or eight years old and this is the last game we’re going to play together, but there’s no better way to end it.”

The Indians only run came in the third inning thanks to some clutch hitting. After two quick outs it looked like it was going to be an easy 1-2-3 inning, but then Ryan Burvan singled up the middle and Fieldhouse followed that up with a walk, setting the table for Wagoner. Showing his aggressiveness at the plate, Wagoner lined the first pitch he saw to center for a single, bringing home Burvan and provid-ing the only run that the Indians.

Roncalli would threaten in the fifth, getting two hits, but as he did all season long, McNamara rose to the occa-sion and left the Rebel runners stranded.

It’s only appropriate that a dominating season was punctuated by a dominating performance and that’s exactly what Jim-my McNamara gave his team in the state

championship. His performance will definitely be remembered as one of the highlights in Region baseball history.

36

What Goes Good With Crow?

When the 2012 prep baseball season began, this reporter would not have predicted a state championship for the Lake Central Indians.

Certainly, Lake Central had a pair of dominant pitchers in southpaw Jimmy McNamara and fireballer Taylor Lehnert; and led by slugging out-fielder Chase Fieldhouse, the Indians had a solid lineup.

But with the recent post season success of Crown Point (five trips to the class 4A semi-state in the seven previous years, including 2011) and the generally high level of talent in the Duneland Confer-ence, I wouldn’t have predicted with any certainty Lake Central would get out of the regional or even win the conference for that matter, despite the fact the Indi-ans were ranked #1 in the state.

Even though they’d had won the conference a year ago the DAC is never a cake walk. Crown Point was loaded, Portage was expected to challenge and Valpo was tal-ented. Chesterton figured to be in the race and you can’t count out LaPorte when it comes to baseball.

As it turned out, the Indians raced through the DAC schedule, losing only to Chesterton. For the campaign, it can be said the Big Blue Wrecking Crew just ran away from opponents in the regular sea-son and played like a team of des-tiny in the tournament.

So just how was it that the Indi-ans accomplished this feat? Well, let’s start with pitching. The LC staff wasn’t just overwhelming, they were dominant.

McNamara and Lehnert com-bined to go 21-1 with an amazing combined ERA of 0.74. But the two seniors couldn’t pitch every game,

so the rest of the LC pitching staff had to pitch in, and pitch in they did. Nick Kellams, Antonio Majstorov, Austen Waggoner and the rest of the staff put up a combined mark of 11-0, allowing just 18 earned runs over 71.1 innings for an ERA of just under 2.0.

Including unearned runs, opponents tallied just 46 runs in 33 games, a paltry aver-age of just 1.3 runs per game. The Tribe was a near sure thing in close games, going 5-1 in one run games and 11-1 in games decided by three runs or less.

Now let’s talk about the offense. If they didn’t blow the competition off the field, then they found a way to win, including an improb-able two run comeback in the sev-enth inning of the 4A semi-state against Zionsville to forced extra innings, where the Indians pulled out the victory.

Combined, the pitching domi-nance and offensive prowess led to an average margin of victory of just under six runs (5.96) per game. Even if you remove the nine games the Indians blew op-ponents out by double digits, they still had an average margin of vic-tory of just under four runs (3.91) per game. Now that’s dominance!

I’m still not quite sure why, but I didn’t believe in the Indians des-tiny last year. I was hopeful like I am for any Region team, but I just didn’t see them getting it done.

Today I’m here to tell you that I couldn’t be happier to be wrong. Sometimes you just gotta believe, and I didn’t. I had to come around the hard way. So if you’ll excuse me, I have some crow to attend to.

LANNIN’S LINEBy Chris Lannin

I’m still not quite sure why, but I didn’t believe in the Indians’ destiny last year. I was hopeful like I

am for any Region team, but I just didn’t see them getting it done. Today I’m here to tell you that I

couldn’t be happier to be wrong.

38

2012 FINAL DAC STANDINGSSCHOOL DAC RECORD SEASON RECORD HEAD COACH

1 Lake Central 13-1 32-1 Jeff Sandor

2 Crown Point 11-3 27-5 Steve Strayer

3 Portage 8-6 25-7 Tim Pirowski

4 Chesterton 7-7 15-13 Jack Campbell

5 Valparaiso 7-7 20-12 Dave Coyle

6 Michigan City 5-9 13-13 David Ortiz

7 Merrillville 3-11 5-24 Mark Schellinger

8 LaPorte 2-12 12-19 Scott Upp

2012 IHSAA CLASS 4A BASEBALL FINAL BRACKETS

State Title Fun Facts

Indians head coach Jeff Sandor, in his third year as the varsity coach at his alma mater Lake Central, where he was a standout pitcher, opposed Keith Hatfield, who was also in his third year as head coach of his alma mater, Roncalli …where he was a pitcher.

The starting center fielders for both teams in last year’s 4A championship game had the unique first name of Chase. (Fieldhouse for LC, Steinbrunner for Ron-calli).

For those of you who were wondering, Chase was the 69th most popular boys name in 2011 and 226th in 1993, when Fieldhouse was born.

40

PERSONALName: Jeff Sandor Born: June 2, 1980Teaches: English/Language Arts

EDUCATIONHigh School: Lake Central, 1998 College: University of Michigan, 2002Degree: Bachelor’s Degree in English

FAMILY Jeff and his wife Lauren, a guidance counselor at Lake Central High School, reside in Crown Point.

PLAYING CAREERHigh school: Baseball/basketball at Lake Central High SchoolCollege: Baseball at University of Michigan

HIGHLIGHTS As a senior at Lake Central in 1998, Jeff was named first team all area in both papers in both baseball and basketball. Jeff also earned all state honorable mention in both sports. For basketball, he was a McDonald’s All American nominee. Jeff is a member of Lake Central High School’s Hall of Fame.

COACHING CAREER (ALL AT LAKE CENTRAL)• Volunteer Asst Basketball 2003• Freshman Basketball 2003-2004• JV Basketball 2004-2007• Assistant Basketball 2007-2010• Varsity Asst Baseball 2003-2007• Freshman Baseball 2007-2009• Varsity Baseball 2010-Present

HIGHLIGHTSJeff is in his fourth season as head coach at Lake Central High School. During his first three years, his teams have compiled a 79-11 record; including a 2011 Sectional Championship and 2012 State Championship. Lake Central also won the DAC during two of his three years and finished runner-up his first year (12-2). Jeff’s career DAC record is 36-6. The 2012 season featured a 32-1 record which ties for 2nd best winning percentage in Indiana history. The Indians finished ranked 7th nationally in 2012. Seven LC players have gone on to earn Division 1 scholarships and many others are finding success at other collegiate levels.

AWARDS• NWI Times Coach of the Year 2012• IHSBCA District 1 Coach of the Year 2012• IHSBCA 4A State Coach of the Year 2012

The Sandor File

1) False. LC’s 15 sectional titles actually is the fifth most out of the DAC teams. The Indians are far behind LaPorte, who lead the entire state with 35 sectional tro-phies.

2) B. The 2002 Mustangs were the last Region team to win the 4A state title, with the 2000 LaPorte Slicers as the only other North-west Indiana team to also win

the largest class crown since the multi-class tournament started in 1998.

3) C. Although Jack Campbell and has had a long and successful ten-ure as head coach at Chesterton, a state title has eluded him.

4) D. Putz, who has pitched for the Mariners, Mets, White Sox & Diamondbacks, was selected in

the sixth round of the 1999 draft.

5) A. Elkhart Central knocked out LC by an 8-3 score in 2011, but the Indians got their revenge last season with a 2-1 win in an tense game.

6) C. Mackowiak graduated from Lake Central in 1994 before play-ing in the majors for eight sea-sons.

7) B. The Yankees selected Sum-mers in the 36th round of the

2005 draft, but he opted to play for South Suburban.

8) C. Glatt will by a Flyer next season at the University of Dayton

9) A. Indian players weren’t al-lowed to tweet during the season last year to prevent any trash talk-ing with opposing teams.

10) D. Olund helped guide the Indians to an 8-3 record on the gridiron in 2012.

Trivia Answers

44

2012 LAKE CENTRAL INDIANS8400 Wicker Ave., St. John, IN • Established 1966 • 2012-2013 Enrollment: 3,236

No. Player Pos B/T Grade HT/WT

1 Alec Olund 2B R/R 10 6’1”/1652 Austen Wagoner SS/3B R/R 12 5’11”/1603 Nick Kellams OF/P L/L 11 5’10”/1604 Steve Fulk OF R/R 11 5’11”/1705 Chase Fieldhouse OF R/R 12 5’11”/1956 Ryan Burvan IF/P R/R 11 5’10”/1557 Ryan Pachowicz 1B R/R 12 6’3”/19511 Alec Pickert 2B L/R 11 5’9”/16513 Anthony Fushi IF R/R 12 6’3”/17014 Brad Staszewski 3B R/R 11 5’9”/16515 Zach Mantel C R/R 12 6’0”/18519 Taylor Lehnert P R/R 12 6’4”/23020 Jimmy McNamara P/OF L/L 12 6’2”/18021 Adam Fulk OF R/R 12 6’0”/18522 Cody Brack C R/R 11 6’1”/19023 Antonio Majstorov 3B/P R/R 11 5’10”/19024 Tony Schneider 1B L/R 11 6’3”/215

Head Coach: Jeff SandorVarsity Assistants: Joe Stanisz, Brett Summers • JV Coach: Jeff Myszak

Alec Olund

Austen Wagoner

Nick Kellams Alec Pickert Jimmy McNamara

Steve Fulk Anthony Fushi Adam Fulk

Chase Fieldhouse Brad Staszewski Cody Brack

Ryan Burvan Zach Mantel Antonio Majstorov

Ryan Pachowicz Taylor Lehnert Tony Schneider

2012 SEASON RESULTS BY GAME

REGULAR SEASON27-Mar at Bishop Noll W, 1-0

31-Mar at Morton W, 6-0

31-Mar at Morton W, 16-1

2-Apr at Lowell W, 16-0

3-Apr Munster W, 1-0

5-Apr at Hanover Central W, 5-0

6-Apr Highland W, 10-0

10-Apr at Michigan City W, 5-0

12-Apr Crown Point W, 12-5

16-Apr Merrillville W, 12-0

18-Apr Portage W, 7-3

19-Apr Benton Central W, 14-4

20-Apr Valparaiso W, 8-0

24-Apr at Chesterton L, 4-3

26-Apr at LaPorte W, 1-0

1-May Michigan City W, 6-2

2-May at Crown Point W, 10-1

3-May at Merrillville W, 10-4

5-May Elkhart Memorial W, 14-2

8-May at Portage W, 4-2

10-May at Valparaiso W, 8-6

12-May at Franklin Central W, 3-1

12-May at Indpls Cathedral W, 7-1

15-May Chesterton W, 8-1

17-May LaPorte W, 6-1

19-May at Whiting W, 7-0

SECTIONALS AT MUNSTER25-May Munster W, 7-0

28-May Lowell W, 9-3

28-May Highland W, 7-0

REGIONALS AT LAPORTE2-Jun Elkhart Central W, 2-1

2-Jun Penn W, 3-1

SEMI-STATE AT KOKOMO9-Jun Zionsville W, 4-3

STATE FINALS AT VICTORY FIELD16-Jun Indianapolis Roncalli W, 1-0

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP BEST RECORDSSEASON SCHOOL RECORD REGION result2007 Norwell 35-0 3A 1.0002005 Brownsburg 35-0 4A 1.0001978 Evansville Memorial 30-0 1.0002006 Jasper 34-1 3A 0.9712012 Lake Central 32-1 4A 0.9691979 Evansville Memorial 29-1 0.967 LOST IN FINALS1993 Evansville Memorial 36-2 0.947 1988 Seymour 35-2 0.9462001 Penn 34-2 4A 0.9441995 Lafayette Harrison 34-2 0.9441987 LaPorte 34-2 0.9442009 Andrean 33-2 3A 0.9432005 Andrean 33-2 3A 0.9432011 FW Carroll 32-2 4A 0.9411999 Madison 31-2 3A 0.9392010 Indy Cathedral 31-2 4A 0.939 LOST IN FINALS2006 Norwell 29-2 3A 0.935 LOST IN FINALS2009 West Vigo 28-2 3A 0.933 LOST IN FINALS2003 Triton Central 26-2 2A 0.9292006 FW Blackhawk 25-2 A 0.9261974 TH North 25-2 0.926

50

2012 DUNELAND ALL-CONFERENCE BASEBALL TEAM

CHESTERTONJake Post Pitcher

Crown Point

Zach Plesac Pitcher

Jake Lindeman 2nd Baseman

Joe Hopman Outfielder

LAKE CENTRALTaylor Lehnert MVP

Jimmy McNamara Pitcher

Taylor Lehnert Pitcher

Chase Fieldhouse Outfielder

Adam Fulk Outfielder

Nick Kellams Utility

LA PORTEFrancis Silfa Shortstop

MERRILLVILLEAaron Dye Outfielder

MICHIGAN CITYAndrew Ray Utility

PORTAGEGabe Acevedo 3rd Baseman

Dave Jercha 1st Baseman

Zach Simmons Catcher

2012 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME BOX SCORELAKE CENTRAL, 1 (32-1)PLAYER AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOBNick Kellams - RF 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1

Ryan Burvan - 2B 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0

Chase Fieldhouse - CF 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0

Austen Wagoner - SS 2 0 1 1 1 0 1 5 0

Ryan Pachowicz - 1B 3 0 1 0 0 0 9 0 2

Anthony Fushi - 3B 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

Adam Fulk - LF 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

Antonio Majstorov - PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Zach Mantel - C 3 0 0 0 0 1 8 1 2

Alec Olund - DH 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0

TOTALS 26 1 4 1 2 4 21 8 6

IP H R ER BB SO AB NF NPJimmy McNamara 7 3 0 0 1 9 23 24 103

RONCALLI, 0 (23-9-1)PLAYER AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOBColin Hawk - P 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0

Jason Simpkins - SS 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0

Austin Alte - PR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Joe Ardizzone - 3B 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1

Nick Wright - C 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0

Jordan Reeser - 2B 3 0 1 0 0 1 3 1 0

Chase Steinbrunner - CF 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0

Aaron Schnell - RF 2 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 0

Drew Biddle - LF 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2

Brad Fey - 1B 2 0 0 0 0 2 6 0 0

TOTALS 23 0 3 0 1 9 21 4 3

IP H R ER BB SO AB NF NPColin Hawk 7 4 1 1 2 4 26 28 83

SCORE BY INNINGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R HLake Central 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4

Roncalli 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3

RYAN BOSS - UICAVG GP GS AB H R RBI BB 2B 3B HR0.285 35 35 130 37 23 24 8 6 3 6

BRIAN CRIDER - IU SOUTHEASTAVG GP GS AB H R RBI BB 2B 3B0.289 34 28 90 26 7 21 6 5 2

CODY DYKEMA - HEARTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGEAVG GP GS AB H R RBI BB 2B HR

0.355 39 39 124 44 33 26 16 7 1

CHASE FIELDHOUSE - KASKASKIA COLLEGENo stats availableSTEVE LETZ - SOUTH SUBURBANNo stats availableEDDIE MOLDENHAUER - PURDUE NORTH CENTRALAVG GP GS AB H R RBI BB 2B0.088 22 20 57 5 4 4 3 1

ANTHONY OLUND - PURDUE NORTH CENTRALAVG GP GS AB H R RBI BB 2B HR0.300 36 36 130 39 23 27 13 9 1

JORDAN POLITO - PURDUE NORTH CENTRALW L ERA IP H R ER BB SO 3B HR2 3 3.09 43.2 33 18 15 9 21 2 2

FRANK PLUSKOTA - IU SOUTHEASTAVG GP GS AB H R RBI BB 2B 3B HR0.340 49 49 147 50 37 27 36 15 1 1

AJ DOYLE - IU SOUTHEASTAVG GP GS AB H R RBI BB 2B0.261 50 50 142 37 18 23 31 7

KURT KUDRECKI - INDIANA STATEW L ERA IP H R ER BB SO

1 1 1.61 28 19 9 5 9 22

TAYLOR LEHNERT - CENTRAL MICHIGANW L ERA IP H R ER BB SO

2 2 4.59 33.1 38 19 17 14 20

JIMMY MCNAMARA - CENTRAL MICHIGANW L ERA IP H R ER BB SO

0 2 3.09 32 32 13 11 9 26

THE NEXT LEVEL

Ryan Boss Brian Crider

Cody Dykema Eddie Moldenhauer

Anthony Olund Jordan Polito

Kurt Kudrecki Steve Letz