2024, Varsity Baseball | June 8, 2024
Weight lifted as Lake Central punches ticket to state
nwitimes – David P. Funk
LAFAYETTE â Itâs a relief.
For Lake Central, coach Mike Swartzentruber and the Indians’ class of 2024, Saturday nightâs 6-1 semistate championship win over Homestead is a weight lifted.
LC was a game away last spring. It lost a heartbreaker to Penn in the regional final the year before. Swartzentruber took North Posey to three state title games in the 2000s, winning twice, but hasnât been back since.
Everybody can now exhale.
âI thought I was a little better than I was, as a coach. My next job (after North Posey) humbled me. We werenât very good for seven years. Lake Central revived my career,â he said. âWeâve had heartbreak after heartbreak in the state tournament. We have a group of guys that didnât have a lot of fanfare. Iâve told them many times âWhen you break down our 22 individual parts this isnât nearly the most talented team Iâve coached but when you bond the 22 together, weâre pretty good.ââ
Indians senior starting pitcher Blake Sivak threw like an ace, going the distance while striking out nine, walking none and allowing three hits.
âWeâve had some heartbreak the last few years and to finally make it to state is so unreal,â Sivak said. âIâm so exhausted. Iâm glad I could put my full effort into this team and get us to state.â
Spartans starter Alex Graber, a Northern Illinois commit, was perfect in his first time through the LC order. The Indians (25-9) didnât get to him until the fourth and didnât do serious damage until the third time through the order in the sixth.
Lake Central first broke through in the fourth when Nick Robinson became the gameâs first base runner with a walk. Quinn OâBryan bunted him to second and then Griffin Tobias grounded out to third base. Robinson took third on the play and scored when Homestead first baseman Brady Minnickâs throw to try to get him bounced into left field.
Robinsonâs speed was again a factor when he walked in the sixth, reached second on OâBryanâs single, stole third and then scored on Griffin Tobiasâs single.
âAll season long, coach has talked about guys stepping up and making plays,â Robinson said. âCoach puts a lot of pressure on all of us to go fight for 90 feet and be aggressive on the bases.â
Lake Centralâs biggest blow came two batters after Tobias, when Ryder Fernandez doubled in two more.
Homestead (20-11) finally scored in the seventh on a Minnick RBI single.
âIt feels good to finally punch though, to knock the door down and punch our ticket to state,â Robinson said. âCoach works very hard to make sure weâre ready to play. He takes practice as seriously as each game. It feels good to do this for him. Weâre glad that we can go and win for him.â
Sivak and Graber dueled early.
Sivak was perfect through three and didnât allow a base runner until Homestead designated hitter Cole Kintz tallied the gameâs first hit in the fourth. Kintz poked a triple into the gap between center and right fields. Sivak was able to get the next hitter to ground out to end the threat, though.
âI think this was probably the best Iâve ever felt before a game. I donât know if it was the adrenaline, but I felt great going out there,â Sivak said. âTo (win state) for this town, after the past few years, with all the heartbreak, itâs been on everyoneâs mind for the past three years. To bring back a state title would make it all worth it.â
Lake Central will play Mooresville in the state title game. The Pioneers beat Avon 7-2 in the southern semistate.