Lake Central takes a swing at the Trojans
Varsity boys baseball brings home another win in the semi-sectional championship
The Indians get up from their dog pile after winning game two. The boys played with a sick pitcher and first baseman.
May 31, 2014
The Lake Central Indians spent their first day of summer break preparing for the semi-sectional game against the Highland Trojans. Despite the challenges they faced, the team walked away with a 1-0 victory.
“We’ve been hitting really well as a team but today our defense couldn’t find it. We got into a lot of positions where there was a guy on third base, and we just had to execute to get an out and get in to hit it,” Alexander Mantel (12), catcher, said.
The team had to overcome not one, but two challenges: both the starting pitcher, John Milaszewski (12), and the first baseman, Charles Alexa (12), were sick.
“I spent the majority of the last three days in bed because every time I moved or got up I immediately got a headache. Pitching when I was sick wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. In the dugout, I was constantly coughing and had to drink water nonstop. But when I was on the mound, the adrenaline started flowing and the symptoms disappeared,” Milaszewski said.
The game came down to the final inning. Neither of the teams had made it across the plate. At the bottom of the 7th with two outs, Benjamin Nisle (9) came up to bat.
“I went up there [to bat] with confidence and tried to do anything possible to get on base,” Nisle said.
After Nisle rested on first base, John Gbur (12) came up to bat and knew he had to get Nisle home to win the game.
“I had a lot of confidence in me going up to bat. I may have not hit the ball as well as I wanted to, but I got lucky and they made and error and I knew I had to stay in the pickle as long as I could. It was an ugly win, but we’re gonna try to win every game because now it’s win or go home and it’s all or nothing,” Gbur said.
Nisle raced to second, and Gbur rounded first, made it to second and realized he had to make it back to first. As he was getting chased down by the Trojans, Nisle made it to third. With a vital error on their fielding, Gbur was able to make it safe to second and Nisle was the first man of the game to cross home plate.
“I think both teams worked hard and unfortunately there always has to be a loser and both of the starting pitchers worked their butts off. It was unfortunate to see someone lose, but a win is a win. I think we are going to work hard and be in the game from here,” Jeff Myzak, Assistant Coach, said.
