Chesterton baseball draws bye in first round, faces winner of Portage vs. Merrillville in semifinal of Valparaiso sectional

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The IHSAA state baseball tournament doesn’t get underway until May 28, but sectional pairings were released Sunday, and defending sectional champion Chesterton received a first-round bye.
The Trojans play the winner of Portage vs. Merrillville in one semifinal and sectional host Valparaiso plays Hobart in the other semifinal. Chesterton swept its DAC series with Merrillville by a combined score of 24-2 and does not play Portage until next week.
The Trojans take an 11-7 overall record and 5-3 DAC mark into this week’s series vs. Crown Point (15-3, 8-0) after winning two of three over the weekend.
Chesterton 13, Hobart 2: Junior left-hander Troy Barrett pitched a complete game, walked one, struck out nine, and one of the runs he allowed was unearned. Barrett, a right-handed batter, also went 4 for 5, scored two runs, drove in three and doubled. Josh Davis and Adam Kurek also had multi-hit games and John Knight drove in two runs for the Trojans, who had 13 hits.
Chesterton 5, Elkhart 2: Zach Fender, used primarily as a reliever this season, was told Friday night that he might start one of the two games the Trojans played Saturday at the Northridge tournament.
Fender was happy to see his name on the lineup card and he rewarded coach John Bogner’s decision with a complete game. Fender allowed two runs on six hits and two walks and struck out three in picking up his first win.
Fender said that because he throws so many pitches warming up when used out of the bullpen, he didn’t have any doubts that his arm could handle going the distance.
“When he asks me to warm up, I usually throw 50, 60 pitches,” Fender said. “I usually throw 10, 15 pitches a game, but I’m always warming up.”
Fender said he last pitched a complete game a year ago for the JV against Portage.
“I like reliving too. Whatever he needs me to do, I’ll do it, but I like starting more,” Fender said.
Fender threw 105 pitches. He said Monday said his arm wasn’t sore at all.
“The curveball was working a lot. I gave up that home run in the first inning,” he said of Max Shreiner’s sixth home run. “I left a fastball inside. Then I knew I had to get ahead early with my curveball. I got a lot of groundballs. That was my main focus, to get a lot of groundballs. I don’t care if I strike people out. I just want to get a lot of groundballs and let my defense work.”
Barrett had another big game at the plate, going 2 for 3 with two RBI and a double.
Northridge 8, Chesterton 6: The Trojans took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first and led 6-3 heading into the seventh, but Northridge exploded with five runs in the top of the seventh.
For Chesterton, Lucas Thompson drove in two runs and Andrew Goveia had a hit and walked three times.
The Trojans were without sophomore catcher Caden Hackett, who suffered and injury during pregame warmups at Hobart, and remained without all-state junior center fielder, limited to nine at bats so far this season by a leg injury.
Barrett leads the pitching staff with a 5-0 record, a 0.98 ERA and has eight walks and 59 strikeouts in 28-2/3 innings. He leads the team in hitting with a .417 batting average, and in runs (25), doubles (8), triples (2) and stolen bases (4) and ranks second to Nick Foust (18) with 17 RBI.