By Steve Krah
PBR Indiana Correspondent

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The calendar may have read April 16, but it was a “playoff atmosphere.” 

Penn, a year removed from an IHSAA Class 4A state championship, and Crown Point experienced the intensity of the postseason. 

Both perennial Indiana high school baseball powerhouses got into and out of jams and made clutch plays in what could be a preview of a 4A matchup during the state tournament series in June. 

“Crown Point is traditionally a very good team,” Penn coach Greg Dikos said of the Steve Strayer-coached Bulldogs. “They are strong and fast.” 

In the end, Penn (6-1) pushed across a run in the bottom of the sixth inning then closed out Crown Point 4-3 in the finale of a three-game day Saturday at Penn’s Jordan Automotive Field (Penn beat Hammond Noll 10-0 and Crown Point edge Noll 1-0 before the Bulldog-Kingsmen showdown). 

Junior Nolan Metcalf led off the Penn sixth against Crown Point by being hit with a pitch from junior right-hander Dillon Farinelli (0-1).  

A walk and strikeout were followed by a single to left field by Connor Neal loaded the bases. 

When junior Ryan Lau was plunked by a pitch it forced in senior R.J Green (running for Metcalf) with Penn’s fourth run. 

Working in his third season of relief of sophomore right-hander Brandon Campbell (making his first varsity mound start), blazing senior right-hander Skylar Szynski (3-1; 1 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 strikeout, 0 walks) retired the Bulldogs in order in the seventh to help the Kingsmen moved to 6-1. 

Dikos said he did not intend to use his ace on Monday, April 18, when Elkhart Central comes to Penn, so he wanted to get Indiana University recruit Szynski some mound work Saturday to prepare for a Wednesday, April 20, contest at Mishawaka Marian.  

“We’re picking our spots with Skylar,” Dikos said. “We planned on having him go short relief (Saturday). He just went a little longer than we had anticipated.” 

“I was very pleased,” Dikos said of Campbell (4 1/3 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks). “The only thing is he has to learn how to hold runners. It’ll mean a little something extra when we practice it next time. 

“(Campbell) kept the ball low. He was a pitcher. His curveball was there. He had a pretty decent-hitting team fishing. He did a nice job. He just kind of ran out of gas at the end.” 

Dikos said if it was tournament time now, his top three pitchers (in order) would be Szynski, junior Niko Kavadas and senior Brandon Stesiak. 

It was on defense that Stesiak shined Saturday in temperatures dancing around 80 degrees. 

Playing in right field against Noll, Stesiak threw a runner out at the plate. At third base in the Crown Point game, he made a slick pick on a fielder’s choice play in the second inning and, moments later, started a double play — third base to junior second baseman Matt Kominkiewicz to first baseman Lau. 

“He could have been missing a few teeth,” Dikos said of the first play by Stesiak. “He’s got a great arm.” 

Crown Point (4-3) scored the game’s first run in the top of the first inning.  

Senior Mark Mazure walked and later came in on a Penn error. 

Penn scored twice in the third inning for a 2-1 lead.  

Against Bulldogs junior right-hander Ty Wentz, Kominkiewicz led off with a single to right and later scored on a single to left by Szynski.  

Szynski tallied the Kingsmen’s second run when Metcalf lofted a sacrifice fly to left-center field where Crown Point senior center fielder Alex Ruiz made a sliding catch. 

Penn took a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning with first-pitch single to center by Kominkiewicz, plating senior Luke Schneider (on bases with a lead-off walk). 

The Bulldogs made it 3-all with two runs in the fifth inning.  

Four straight singles off Campbell to open the frame by senior Joey O’Keefe, senior Evan Frank, junior Luke Adams and junior Brandon Haczynski (RBI) made it 3-2. 

Szynski then took the mound and yielded a fielder’s choice to Mazure, scoring Frank with the tying run (credited to Campbell) before getting the third out. 

“Yesterday (against Chesterton), we went into an offensive funk,” Strayer said. “At the end of (the Penn) game, we played some pretty good baseball. They had a lefty who got in our heads. It took us about 10 innings today to get going.  

“We battled a lot better offensively. When we get into a funk like that, we’ve got to get out of it faster than 10 innings. In the state tournament, you can only lose one game.” 

Saving his best arms for Duneland Athletic Conference games, Strayer used his top four pitchers — right-handers Mazure, (senior Mike) Wathier and Haczynski and left-hander Ruiz —  in the Bulldogs’ last three contests. That gave some other hurlers a chance to work Saturday. 

Strayer said he has been juggling his lineup in the early season. The Bulldogs will play next Tuesday, April 19, at conference foe Lake Central. 

The DAC has adopted “piggyback” scheduling in 2016 with teams seeing each other on successive days or two times in three days. 

“I like it,” Strayer said of the format which was designed to make teams have a deeper pitching staff. 

After moving to 2-3 on the season, Noll coach Anthony Hoolehan assessed his Warriors, members of the . 

“I’m really happy with the way my guys are playing early on,” Hoolehan said. “(Pitcher) Zach Hoffman gave us a great start today with eight strong innings. 

“We went against two very strong programs today. We don’t have a lot of depth with pitching, but we have a lot of guys who are capable of going deep into a game. If they are on that day, they are going to be very successful. 

“As long as we get better each game, that’s all I can ask for.” 

Seniors Eryk Jones and Shawn Haugh and juniors Hoffman and Robert Aguirre make up Noll’s mound regulars with some others mixed in. 

Jones is the lone senior returning starter from 2015 for the Warriors. 

“We’re really a young and inexperienced team,” Hoolehan said. “But the way we’re coming along is pretty good.”