Boone Grove wins 2A Regional Baseball Championship, 14-3 over Wheeler

UNION TOWNSHIP (6-04-2008)  - Sometimes in the post-season you go as far as you can go and the end is abrupt.  That's what happened to Wheeler Tuesday in the Class 2A Regional championship game.  In front of about 300 fans in summer-like conditions, Wheeler, which had swept three games for a triumphant sectional triumph at Hammond's Riverside Park, hit the wall.

They had a 3-2 lead after four innings when 'the other shoe dropped'.  Boone Grove, Northwest Indiana's top Class 2A team all season, scored 12 times in the next two innings to run away with a 14-3 win.

"You look at what happens when things start going wrong," said Schimanski.  "The flood gates open and you start fighting yourself.  Tyler's not a strikeout pitcher.  We played great defense behind him all year.  But in high school, if they put the ball in play, you're going to make some errors."

"We play hard," said Boone Coach Rollie Thill.  "That's something that we try to instill and that's something they do.  We aren't a big power team.  We don't have a lot of home runs.  We have doubles and triples.  That's what we do.  That's what hitting line drives and team speed will do for you."

Boone (26-3-1) scored eight times in the fifth inning against three different pitchers aided by five Wheeler errors.  The Wolves followed it up with four runs in the sixth, fueled by a walk, a hit batter and another error.  It was painful to watch and there was no debate about who should have won.

"We rode Tyler Nader the past two weeks," said Schimanski of his left-handed starting pitcher.  "But I could tell early on he wasn't sharp.  We still led in the fifth, but when they got going we couldn't stop it."

The key at-bat of the game came in the fifth inning after Lynn Strohl singled and Ben Vasquez walked.  Nader (9-2) got Drew Kidd to hit a ground ball to shortstop, but Wheeler's Spencer Blaney fumbled it and the game was tied 3-3.  Then Nick DiMarco was ordered to bunt two runners along so the Wolves could put the lead run at third base with one out.

"That's a funny story," said Thill.  "He asked me if he could hit away if he got two strikes.  I said 'Yes', but don't do it on purpose.  I know he did.  He took the first pitch right down the middle and then he pushed the second one foul.  That's just the way he operates."

DiMarco, a soccer, basketball and baseball veteran of Boone, basically admitted that.

"I messed up on the bunt and I did tell coach Thill, 'two strikes, you've got to let me hit'.  But I know I've got to do a job."

DiMarco was 3-for-4 and he scored three times.  After the Wolves, who are undefeated against 2A competition, fell behind, they scored in every time at bat.

"When we get down, we're not down," DiMarco said.  "That's the difference between last year and this year.  I think our 1-through-6 is hitting over .400."

Wheeler (20-12) finished with the school's second sectional championship and a 20-win season.  They graduate six seniors and Nader, who won almost 50% of their games and was 3-1 in the post-season.

"We had a great season," said Schimanski.  "And we won our first sectional title since 1986.  I'm proud of them."

Boone would be disappointed if this was it.

"We're satisfied with winning the regional," said DiMarco.  "But we definitely want more."

REGIONAL NOTES:  Boone Grove coach Rollie Thill said he was glad that rain postponed all other regional games in Northwest Indiana.

"This was the only game going," he said.  "Some people came here because there wasn't any other baseball."

The Boone-Wheeler rivalry, which goes back to the decades when they were Porter County Conference (PCC) rivals, is not as fun-loving as Boone's rivalry with neighbor Hebron.  There were some crisp words exchanged Tuesday, especially when the game was still in doubt.

"In basketball, it's a big time rivalry," said center fielder Nick DiMarco.  "Every game, we were gunning for each other.  It's fun to come out on top."

Boone was glad to play Tuesday for a lot of reasons, but some of them were happy because Crown Point played Wednesday in the 4A Regional title game against Lake Central.  Several Boone and Crown Point players grew up together in the Lakes of the Four Seasons community on the Lake County-Porter County line.

"Mike Kozlowski," said DiMarco.  "He's my best friend.  In basketball, I know the (CP's Scott and Jimmy) Donleys.  Jeff Limbaugh.  If we had all the LOFS guys on the same team we'd never lose."