John Knight shuts down Hobart 2-0 with a two-hit shutout to send Chesterton on the way to a 2-1 weekend

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Chesterton pushed its winning streak to 11 games with a 2-0 win over visiting Hobart on Friday night and at the same time was given a reminder of how upsets can happen at any time in baseball.
The Brickies fell to 6-10, but records can be misleading when a starting pitcher is adjusting well to an umpire’s strike zone, hitting his spots, moving the ball around the strike zone and changing speeds.
That’s what Hobart senior Zach Terek did in limiting the Trojans to two runs in six innings. Terek allowed six hits, didn’t walk a batter, kept his team in the game and did his part to keep an upset in the air.
Chesterton junior John Knight’s outing wasn’t quite as efficient, as evidenced by the 116 pitches he threw, but was even more effective. He pitched a two-hit shutout, walked four and struck out nine on a chilly May night that felt more like February.
In support of Knight, senior Rob Czarniecki hit a deep flyball to left-center for a two-out, run-scoring double in the third to break the scoreless tie. Promising sophomore Gary Kirkland singled in a run in the fourth to furnish the insurance run and followed that with a double in the sixth.
A couple of encouraging takeaways came with the tension that always accompanies closer-then-expected contests.
First, should the Trojans be tempted at any point to take a postseason game lightly, all they need to do is think back to the Hobart scare.
Second, it supplied more evidence of the depth of Chesterton’s starting pitching. Knight’s two-hit shutout came in the wake of Dylan Bradford’s one-hit shutout two days earlier.
“With this weather especially, to get 116 pitches out of him, that’s a good, strong kid,” Chesterton coach John Bogner said. “And that’s what we needed. With two games tomorrow, he saved our bullpen a little bit.”
Primarily an infielder last season, Knight showed promise in 10 innings on the mound, striking out 17. His bigger role on the pitching staff this season did not happen by accident.
“I spent a lot of time over the offseason working on pitching,” Knight said after his shutout. “Every time I toe the rubber I really enjoy pitching with this great defense behind me.”
Knight improved to 3-0 with a 1.18 ERA. In 23-⅔ innings, Knight has allowed 12 walks and struck out 29.
“He’s a strong kid, but he’s also high in the pitch count and he’ll take guys to 3-1 and then 3-2 and then 3-2 and a foul ball and then he’ll strike guys out,” Bogner said. “He’s a bulldog.”
The moments never seem too big for him, no matter how much traffic might crowd the bases at any given moment.
“I like the calmness of it,” Knight said of pitching. “It’s two-faced: calmness and fire. I feel both of them.”
Two Brickies reached base with two outs in the sixth, but Bogner stuck with the junior and he rewarded the coach’s decision by retiring the final four batters on a strikeout, strikeout, strikeout, groundout and it was time for everyone to find someplace warmer. At that point, the temperature was 42 degrees, registering a 36 on the “feels like” tracker.
The game kicked off a 2-1 weekend for the Trojans (15-4).
Saturday, May 2:
Four schools gathered for a mini-tournament on Chesterton’s varsity and JV fields, with the winners of the first games pitted against each other on the varsity field and the third-place game taking place on the JV field.
In one morning game, Northridge defeated Elkhart 4-2 to advance to a game vs. Chesterton.
In the other:
Chesterton 5, Morgan Township 0: Czarniecki hit his fourth home run, doubled, singled and stole two bases to trigger the offense. Cam Campbell and Troy Barrett combined on a one-hit shutout, walked none and struck out seven. Campbell pitched four no-hit innings with three strikeouts and Barrett allowed one hit and struck out four in three innings.
It was the third game in a streak in which Chesterton pitchers totaled 21 innings, allowed four hits and no runs, walked 10 and struck out 22 against Lake Central, Hobart and Morgan Township.
Northridge 8, Chesterton 5: Czarniecki tripled and drove in a run and Ethan Glassman and Troy Barrett each drove in a run against a Raiders team that committed three errors and allowed two unearned runs, but the Trojans’ winning streak ended at 12 games. Northridge scored seven runs on nine hits and three walks vs. Glassman, chasing him in the fifth inning.
Morgan Township defeated Elkhart 13-1 in the other game.
Chesterton resumes its schedule with a DAC Tuesday-Wednesday series that has the first-place Trojans (8-0) visiting second-place Crown Point (7-1).