By Steve Krah
PBR Indiana Correspondent
The Elkhart Truth

LAPORTE - A rematch of Duneland Athletic Conference teams again went to the same squad, but the third meeting was closer than the first two.

Lake Central beat Portage 14-1 and 10-0 in DAC play.

The "blue" Indians of LC scored five runs in the bottom of the second inning, erasing an early 3-0 deficit, and topped the "red" Indians of Portage 9-4 in the semifinals of the Class 4A LaPorte Regional Saturday at Schreiber Field.

The offensive balance of Lake Central was in evidence as six players - senior second baseman Ryan Burvan, senior left fielder Nick Kellams, junior shortstop Brenden Seren, senior designated hitter Antontio Mastorov, senior third baseman Brad Staszewski and senior right fielder Steve Fulk - collected two hits each for a squad that wound up with 14 hits - 13 singles and Seren double.

Seren, junior first baseman Tony Schneider and Mastorov opened the LC second with three straight singles.

Staszewski followed with a two-run single, driving in Seren and Schneider.

After a sacrifice by junior pinch hitter Jake Rivera, Fulk singled in Mastorov.

Burvan's infield roller brought in Staszewski.

Kellams produced the seventh hit of the frame that knocked in Fulk.

Lake Central scored one run in the fourth inning when Fulk singled and later scored on the front end of a double steal (Kellams was on the back end).

LC put up a three-spot in the sixth.

Burvan singled and later scored on a single by junior center fielder Alec Olund.

Seren smacked a double to plate Olund.

A Mastorov single drove in Seren.

"We can hit," said Lake Central coach Jeff Sandor. "There's no doubt about that."

Junior Chris Klenk, the Portage designated hitter and lead-off man, drove in two runs with a pair of singles.

Three other Portage players - senior third baseman Eric Mearsch (3), senior catcher Tyler Soberg (2) and junior right fielder Peter Psomadelis (2) - accounted for the bulk of their team's 13 hits.

All of Portage's runs - one in the first, two in the second and one in the seventh - came with two outs.

Mearsch singled in senior center fielder C.J. Haupt in the first game.

In the second, Klenk smacked a two-run double, plating Psomadelis and senior pinch runner Anthony Samano (on after a single by senior shortstop Tyler Kniola).

Psomadelis's single in the seventh drove in Soberg.

Portage coach Tim Piowski noted that his team stranded three runners in the fourth inning and two in the fifth - both scoreless stanzas.

"If we could have done something in those two innings with less than two outs, who knows what happens?," said Piowski. "I have to give (right-hander Mastorov) credit. He pitched out of two big jams."

Junior left-hander Blake Bosold pitched the first two innings for Lake Central before giving way to Mastorov (7-1), who worked the last five innings and struck out four while surrendering one run.

"We have six guys that are the same," said Sandor. "We came into this game planning to use two or three arms.

"We knew that (Portage) would have three (left-handed hitters) out there (Klenk, Psomadelis and junior Kevin Jones) so we went with a lefty arm (in Bosold)," said Sandor. "He filled the zone, they just hit the ball around."

Jones (6-4), a right-handed pitcher, was just three days removed from a sectional appearance where he threw around 140 pitches. Jones had 102 tosses in 4 1/3 innings against Lake Central with four strikeouts before being relieved by right-hander Kniola.

"That was a gutsy effort," said Sandor of Jones.

"He didn't have the same pop on his fastball and bite on his curveball, but I'm proud of the way he battled," said Piowski. "He wanted the ball in that situation."

Portage pitchers issued 21 walks in the two regular-season games against Lake Central and just three in the regional.

Portage finished the season at 19-15.