Crown Point IU commit Logan Cotton edges impressive Chesterton senior Kaden Hawksworth in entertaining duel in the sun, 3-1

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

A second-generation DAC dominator, Crown Point right-hander Logan Cotton showed he’s every bit as good as his hype and his statistics Tuesday at Chesterton.
In beating the Trojans, 3-1, the Indiana University recruit ran his record to 6-0 and kept his ERA at 0.00, pitching a complete-game two-hitter with one walk and nine strikeouts, including the last six batters. He featured a sharp-breaking curveball that even Big Ten hitters might have trouble hitting with authority.
The son of Jason Cotton, who went 21-1 at LaPorte, played for the Slicers’ 1990 state championship team and went on to play first base at IU, the son showed why the Hoosiers gave him scholarship money to come to Bloomington. It had nothing to do with bloodlines and everything to do with polished talent.
And Chesterton right-hander Kaden Hawksworth, the only other person to scale the mound for seven entertaining innings on a beautiful day to play baseball, kept the Trojans in the game with a smart, precise approach.
Seldom falling behind hitters and expertly changing speeds and mixing pitches, Hawksworth didn’t walk a single hitter, allowed six hits, struck out four and allowed just two earned runs.
Playing without injured Kentucky commitment, junior center fielder Rob Czarniecki, catcher Caden Hacket and the Trojans didn’t let that or the quality of an opponent that improved its record to 16-3 overall, 9-0 in the DAC, tied for first with Lake Central, intimidate them.
Other than two errors on one play that enabled a runner stealing second to score all the way from first, the Trojans (11-8, 5-4, tied for third with Valparaiso) played solid defense.
Second baseman Jon Knight, making what Chesterton second-year coach John Bogner called “the best play of the year I’ve seen from us,” sprinted way into foul territory and laid out to make a spectacular catch.
“We had him playing behind the bag almost,” Bogner said. “He had to run 100 feet to make that catch.”
First baseman Adam Kurek backhanded shortstop Ethan Glassman’s throw to scoop out of the dirt for an out and soon after that, Glassman’s voice could be heard from the bleachers: “Thank you, Adam.”
Chesterton’s only hits were back-to-back, from Troy Barrett and Nick Foust. Kurek consistently hit the ball hard but had nothing to show for it. He has established himself as a regular.
“He has gotten better with his two-strike approach. There are times he swings and misses because he lifts his head up a little, but he’s gotten considerably more disciplined with it,” Bogner said. “His last 12 to 15 at bats he’s probably had four or five of them with seven or more pitches. One of them he had a nine-pitch at bat at Elkhart and then won it. Those are things you like to see.”
Few things put a charge into first basemen quite the way scooping a ball out of the dirt does.
“I try to practice it with my buddy Lucas (Thompson) before every practice,” Kurek said. “We do at least 100 picks, front hands, backhands, and in between. I’ve always had Lucas with me throughout my whole life, so it’s easy.”
Kurek credited coaches with preparing him for varsity pitching.
“Coach Bogner and coach (Toby) Gentry have been helping me out a lot,” Kurek said. “Since last season, I’ve been finding the ball more. It’s a lot easier seeing the ball.”
Kurek called the job Hawksworth did on the mound “phenomenal, I mean, not the outcome he wanted, but he was phenomenal.”
Hawksworth was effective by not trying to be great during his walk-free outing.
“I mean, I know how to throw strikes,” he said. “I just trust in myself and my pitches. I just throw them down the middle and let them move, let them miss bats.”
And let the defense do its work.
“They usually do a great job out there,” Hawksworth said. “We’ve really improved over the course of the season, especially in the infield. Started out a little rough, and now they’re solid.”
For one thing, Josh Davis again looked smooth at third base.
A four-year varsity player, Hawksworth showed confidence in his ability to throw all his pitches at any time in the count and started off several hitters with breaking balls. The change of speeds, more than the break on the pitch, made it effective in keeping the Bulldogs from teeing off on him.
“I just throw a bunch of different pitches, try to be smarter than them,” he said. “You can’t overpower a team like that. You can’t throw a fastball by them and I’m not throwing 95 or anything, so I just try to mix up speeds, locations, try to get people out.”
With Hackett sidelined by a broken nose, incurred in pregame warmups last Friday, Hawksworth had second baseman Nate Redman catching him.
“He caught me a couple of times over the winter, just in pens and stuff, never in a real game, but I feel like we worked pretty well together,” Hawksworth said. “He’s a pretty smart kid back there. I let him kind of guide me, but if there’s ever a time where I don’t want to throw something or I’m not 100% confident, then I shake him off and work from there.”
Ace Troy Barrett (5-0, 0.98, eight walks, 59 strikeouts) takes the mound for the Trojans today, when they travel to Crown Point in search of what would be their best win of the season.
Barrett has been the team’s top offensive performer as well, hitting .413 with 26 runs, 17 RBI, eight doubles and two triples.
The graduation of Brayden Barrett and Jason Bogner, and injuries, especially to all-state center fielder/power hitter/strong-armed speedster Czarniecki have left the defending sectional champions swinging much quieter bats than during the 22-7 2024 season.
“We’re a little lackluster on the offensive performance,” John Bogner said while leaning against the dugout rail. “You get spoiled when you get used to seeing guys who can pound anything thrown over the plate. Now I find myself just hoping we make contact.”
He was looking onto the infield, where Czarniecki, out with a leg injury, was running the bases under the guidance of athletic trainer Bernie Stento.
“This is a good sign. He’s rounding bases, working on getting back to healthy,” Bogner said and then answered a question about when he might return. “It could be another week. We’ll see. I don’t need an 80% Rob for the last two weeks of the season. I’ll take a 100% Rob for the start of sectionals.”
Bogner estimated that Hackett could be sidelined “probably another week.”
The Trojans will see what they can do in support of Barrett today without them.
“It’s just a matter of we’ve got to get these guys to believe they can win,” Bogner said.