Rob Czarnecki celebrates return from injury with three-run home run, of course he does, and leads Trojans to 4-3 win over Portage

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Rob Czarniecki is back, and so is the back, back, back … gone threat he brings on every pitch he sees when he settles into the batter’s box for Chesterton.
The same question dances in the heads of everyone in attendance when Czarniecki walks from the on-deck circle to the plate: When will he crush another pitch over the fence?
The answer in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over Portage was the third inning with two runners on base to give a Chesterton team that has had trouble scoring runs a 3-1 lead.
Portage scored a run in the fifth and another in the sixth to tie the score, 3-3, so that Adam Kurek could win it for the Trojans with a walk-off single in the seventh.
A junior who earned all-state honors last season, Czarniecki injected life into a team that had lost four in a row and scored just one run in each of the final three games of the losing streak.
In the third game of the season, Czarniecki aggravated a leg injury that he suffered during preseason conditioning and the Trojans went 8-10 with him sidelined. Tuesday’s win improved their overall record to 12-10, their DAC mark to 6-5.
As a sophomore, Czarniecki led Chesterton to 22-7 record and a sectional title. He hit .484 with 11 doubles, five triples and 38 RBI and walked 22 times and struck out just 13 times. A speedy, strong-armed center fielder, he followed his all-state sophomore season by earning MVP honors at the prestigious Prep Baseball Report Future Games.
Czarniecki, who has committed to play baseball on scholarship for Kentucky of the SEC, hit the first pitched delivered to him his sophomore season for a home run, and Tuesday was something of a new beginning for him as well, which lent drama to him homering in his second at bat after popping to center on his first.
The Trojans didn’t completely unleash him upon his return, easing him back into the lineup by using him in the designated hitter role, hitting for starting pitcher senior Zach Fender.
Fender delivered another strong performance, repeatedly wriggling out of jams he got himself into by walking five batters in five innings. He allowed just two runs (one) earned, allowed four hits and struck out two.
Dylan Bradford picked up the win with a scoreless seventh inning, walking one and striking out two.
The teams conclude the series Wednesday at Portage.