Coach Scott Upp expressed concern over the Slicers inability to get key hits with men on base this past week. He noted that La Porte left men on base in seven of the eleven innings during Tuesday night’s 2-1 win. Problem solved for at least one night. LP travelled to Crown Point Wednesday afternoon banging out 10 hits and leaving only three men on base in an 11-1 five inning win. The win improves the Slicers record to 6-3 and 4-0 in the Duneland Conference.

 

La Porte jumped ahead 1-0 in the top of the first inning, scoring after two were out. Ben Dubbs and Carter Moses both flew out to center field to open the game. Kade Flores reached on an error by the first baseman, stole second and scored on RJ Anglin’s single to right center. Kai Jones smashed a line drive to right at Bulldog right fielder Ryan Radanovich to end the inning. 

 

Senior lefty Grant Olson got the start for La Porte and was nearly unhittable for the first three innings. Leadoff man Luke Burford grounded to Jones in the bottom of the first inning. Olson struck out the next two hitters. In the second Olson struck out the side and issued two walks. In the third he struck out three and walked three. Crown Point sent thirteen hitters to plate in between fair balls.

 

The Slicers made it 2-0 in the third. Drew Catron smashed a double to the right field fence. He moved to third on Dubbs’ ground out to second. Moses drew a walk and Flores was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Anglin then skied a popup into short center field. Bulldog center fielder JJ Johnson never saw the ball due to the bright sun and it fell in for a single. Only one run scored as the runners were tagging up. Jones, who has been hitting with incredibly bad luck recently, hit a hard ground ball that brought shortstop Burford right to second base for an easy shortstop to first double play to end the inning.

 

La Porte broke the game open in the fourth scoring five run to increase their lead to 7-0. Tommy Samuelson was hit by a pitch to lead things off. DH Jax Land hit a one hopper right back to pitcher Aslyn Farinelli that looked to be a perfect double play ball. Farinelli’s throw to second was high and both runners were safe. Crown Point brought in reliever Logan Cotton. Ryan Bruemmer surprised CP with a perfect two strike bunt down the third base line to load the bases. Catron ripped a single to drive in two runs putting runners at first and third. Dubbs followed with a hit to drive in two. Flores’s ground out drove in Dubbs.

 

In the bottom of the fourth Olson allowed a leadoff single from Johnson and a one out hit from Noah Erlich. After Olson go Caleb Schoonover to pop up, Kade Flores made the defensive play of the year so far. Burford hit a hard grounder up the middle. Flores snagged the ball with a full extension dive, summersaulted and was still able to make a solid throw to Samuelson to get the speedy Burford. The score remained 7-0 after four.

 

The Slicers took an 11-0 lead with a four run top of the fifth. Jones doubled to right field and scored on Samuelson’s base hit. After Land struck out, Bruemmer got an infield hit to put runners on first and second. A wild pitch moved them to second and third. Both scored on Catron’s third hit and second double of the game. Catron scored on a throwing error by the left fielder after a fly out.

 

Crown Point needed to score two runs in the bottom of the fifth to avoid a ten run mercy rule loss. They got only one. Olson fanned pinch hitter Austin Leeming to start the inning. He walked Blake Sabau, who was pinch run for by Bryce Schuster. Schuster advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Linus Chariton’s base hit. Anglin made a nice catch deep down the right field line for the second out and Olson got Johnson looking for the final out.

 

Olson picked up his third win of the year pitching all five innings, striking out eleven, walking six while allowing just one run and three hits. He was named co Salisbury and Spence Player of the game along with Catron who was three for three with two doubles, three runs scored and four RBI. Anglin and Bruemmer each had two hits. Anglin knocked in two and Bruemmer scored twice.

 

La Porte travels to Goshen Saturday for the annual double header with the Redhawks. First pitch scheduled for 10:00 AM Central time. Both games can be heard on WCOE 96.7 the Eagle. Pregame at 9:45.

 

Photos courtesy of Susan Anglin.