Hladek slams 3 HRs as Hammond Chiefs beat Brookfield, Ill. 16-6, capture Babe Ruth Ohio Valley Regional Championship

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 84 degrees & cloudy - Babe Ruth all-star baseball - Ohio Valley Championship game two at CALUMET CITY, IL

WP - Tony Hoolehan (2-4) 3K, 0 walks (2 inn.)
LP - James Freeman (2-1) 1K, 1 walks (1.3 inn.)

Hammond Chiefs (40-15)
Andrew DeYoung (SS) 2-for-3, walk
Ryan Dineen (2B) 1-for-2, walk, sac bunt, RBI
Mike Kozlowski (3B) 0-for-4
Brian Ritz (LF) 0-for-1, walk, HBP
Jeff Strbjak (RF) 1-for-2, walk, 2 RBIs
Nick Hladek (C) 3-for-3, 3 HRs, 7 RBIs, walk
Adam Enright (1B) 2-for-3, RBI
RJ Legal (P) 0-for-2
Nick DiMarco (CF) 1-for-1, walk, 2 RBIs, stolen base

Brookfield, Illinois (7-2) starters
Mike DeCarlo (LF) 0-for-2, walk
Cody Brown (SS) 3-for-3, double
Jason Stechta (C) 2-for-3, double
Mike Stockwell (1B) 0-for-2
Pat Cullen (CF) 1-for-1, 2 walk
Scot Olsowka (2B) 0-for-3, DP
Mike Stafford (RF) 0-for-3
TJ Little (3B) 0-for-1
James Freeman (P) 0-for-3

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 91 degrees & cloudy - Babe Ruth all-star baseball - Ohio Valley Championship game one at CALUMET CITY, IL

WP - Mike Pokers (5-1)  6K, 0 walks (4 inn.)
LP - Kyle Porter (3-1)  0K, 2 walks (3 inn.)

Hammond Chiefs (39-15)
Andrew DeYoung (SS) 2-for-2, walk, sac bunt
Ryan Dineen (2B) 1-for-2, walk, sac bunt, RBI
Mike Kozlowski (3B) 1-for-4
Brian Ritz (LF) 1-for-2, walk, RBI
Jeff Strbjak (RF) 0-for-4, RBI
Kevin Franchetti (C) 0-for-2, 2 HBP
Adam Enright (1B) 1-for-3, Sac Fly, 2 RBI
Mike Pokers (P) 2-for-3,  RBI
Nick DiMarco (CF) 1-for-3, walk

Brookfield, Illinois (7-1) starters
Mike DeCarlo (LF) 0-for-1, HBP, walk
Pat Cullen (CF) 0-for-3,
Cody Brown (SS) 1-for-2,
Jason Slechta (C) 0-for-3,
Mike Stockwell (1B) 0-for-2
Scott Olsowka (2B) 0-for-2
Mike Stafford (RF) 0-for-1
TJ Little (3B) 0-for-2
Kyle Porter (P) 0-for-1

CALUMET CITY (7-29-2008) - I've talked to Crown Point's Nick Hladek many times and I've seen him do well before.  But I wondered, 'Why him?  In the winner-take-all final game of the 2008 Babe Ruth Ohio Valley Regional championship at TF North high school, Hladek hit three home runs in three consecutive at bats.  Hammond won 16-6 and they were supposed to win.  They were the better  team.  The Chiefs have a lot of good players.  So many that Hladek, a top-of-the-order hitter at Crown Point high school, batted sixth for the Chiefs.

I wanted to know why Nick Hladek thinks he hit three home runs in the biggest game of the summer.  I wasn't talking talent.  I was talking fate.  Why was he 'chosen' to have the biggest power day of his life in one of the two or three biggest games of his life.

The charging shortstop scooping up the ball is Hanover Central's Andrew DeYoung. (All photos by Mark Smith.)

The game one winning pitcher at calumet City was No. 13, Andrean senior Mike Pokers.  (All photos by Mark Smith.)

The catcher with his chest protector on is Crown Point's Nick Hladek (holding the wooden plaque is Andrean graduate Jeff Strbjak.  (All photos by Mark Smith.)

Among the boys holding the Babe Ruth 2008 16-18-year-old Ohio Valley Regional Championship banner is Hanover Central's Jordan Rizo (front row, third from left).  (All photos by Mark Smith.)

The coach talking to the umpire is Chiefs manager Dave Sutkowksi.  (All photos by Mark Smith.)

The player in the dugout with the 'war paint' on his face is Andrean senior Mike Pokers.  (All photos by Mark Smith.)

"I don't know," Hladek said.  "I really don't.  It's just one of those days.  I didn't have two home runs in a game in high school.  I was just feeling it, I guess.  I didn't know this was coming.  You have those days that you walk to the plate and you know you're going to get a hit.  Today they happened to be home runs, but that's the way it was.  I feel good.  I need to catch up on some sleep, but I'm fine."

These games were no contest.  Brookfield, the Illinois state champion, did defeat the Chiefs 6-5 in a winner's bracket game Monday, but the rematches suggested that win was a fluke.  A noisy and enthusiastic Chiefs squad blasted Brookfield 11-0 before the 16-6 triumph with neither game lasting the regulation seven innings.

The second game was so much of a mismatch that a portion of the crowd concentrated more on the over-65 league which played on an adjoining field than they did on a second consecutive 10-run 'slaughter'. 

Brookfield (7-2) was an all-star team from Lyons Township, Morton East, Riverside, Brookfield and a couple of other north suburban Chicago schools that was thrown together for the state tournament. 

The Chiefs (40-15) are basically the elite players from all of Lake County who have played together for two months.  They felt they were supposed to win the state and regional titles and they acted like it.

The first game was an 11-0 romp as Andrean senior Mike Pokers was dominant for four innings, striking out six and allowing just one single.  The 'contest' was never in doubt after Brookfield right fielder Mike Stafford dropped a two-out, first-inning fly ball in right field, allowing the first two Hammond runs to score. 

Brookfield, which was 7-0 before the finals, was very poor in the field on a very hot day, making five errors in the first game.

The Chiefs scored nine times in the second inning of the second game, including a two-run single by Boone Grove center fielder Nick DiMarco and a two-run homer by Hladek.  Brookfield scored four unearned runs in the second inning, but Hladek's three-run home run into the TF North tennis courts beyond left center field upped the lead to 13-4 and the game was out of reach. 

Kozlowski, who set a school record with 14 home runs at CPHS this spring, could only smile at his Bulldog teammate's three HR day.

"That's some Crown Point power there," said Kozlowski.

Hanover's Andrew DeYoung had a couple of errors in that second inning, but he also had a couple of RBI hits and he will go to the Babe Ruth World Series for the first time.

"Everybody was pretty mad yesterday," said DeYoung, about the Chiefs 7-6 loss to Brookfield in the double-elimination tournament's fourth round.  "It definitely helped to come back and play the same team again."

The Chiefs had more talent and more reasons to pour it on in the late going.

"When we were all 16," said Hladek, "we kept hearing how we were going to go to the Series and get rings (as world champions).  We got beat by the Seminoles when we were 16 and then we got beat at the regional last year."

"We thought about that after we lost yesterday.  We just could not let that happen again."

BABE RUTH NOTES:  With the Hammond Chiefs qualifying for the Babe Ruth World Series in Newark, Ohio Aug. 7-15, the clock began ticking for third-baseman pitcher Mike Kozlowski, the Crown Point two-sports senior. 

Obviously, with the season opener on Aug. 22, the CP football team would rather Kozlowski (5-10, 215) to skip the Babe Ruth baseball world championships and stick around for the pre-season.  Kozlowski's baseball teammates want him to skip the pre-season workouts and help them go for the Chiefs second national championship.  Mike bats third in the order.

"It's a hard decision," said Kozlowski, a running back and punter who figures to be a significant part of coach Chip Pettit's CP squad this year.  "What's different this year is that I have a week (pre-season football starts Aug. 4) before I go."

Kozlowski might remain with football for the first week (Aug. 4-9) and then head for Newark to join his baseball brothers.  The Chiefs are scheduled to play the Canadian Babe Ruth champion at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 8.  They take on the Pacific Northwest champion on Aug. 9 at 11:00 a.m.  The Chiefs do not have a pool play game on Sunday, Aug. 10.

A compromise might be for Kozlowski to miss the first two games (it's a double-elimination tourney), play baseball Aug. 11-15 and return in time for game week (Monday, Aug. 18) leading up to the season opener with Lowell the night of Friday, Aug. 22. 

Obviously, the CP star has played almost 100 baseball games in the last four months and he's not out of shape.  He's also a returning starter who isn't learning a position unless he's switched to tailback, which is a possibility.

Kozlowski has a choice.  Clark graduate Trent Howard does not.  The tall right-handed pitching star has a shoulder injury that is improving, but not quickly enough to be at full strength in two weeks.

"Could I pitch? Yeah," said Howard, was 8-1 with a 1.06 ERA with the Pioneers this spring.  "But I'm not at 100%.  I know I'll be OK by the time I get to Central Michigan.  The coach says that playing time will be determined by who works the hardest.  I should be able to go.  But I wish I could play in the series."

Andrew DeYoung, who was the Porter County Conference MVP at Hanover Central, changed his college choice from Rose-Hulman to Division I Ball State University after getting a late call from the BSU coaching staff.

"I went to a pre-season showcase," he explained.  "And then they saw me again when we (the Chiefs) played a tournament in Cincinnati.  They gave me a call.  Things just keep getting better for me.  I really didn't expect to be playing D-1 to be honest."

DeYoung, a tall slim basketball player who began his career as a center fielder at Hanover, has been told to concentrate on shortstop for now.

"They told me I have a chance to start at shortstop my freshman year if I work hard enough," Andrew reports.  "They've got one guy in the infield who's going to play for sure, but he could play anywhere (besides first base).  The other two spots are open for anybody who wants to get them.  I could not be more happy than that."

"My new coach is coming to the World Series. He's going to be there."

DeYoung has played almost 100 baseball games since April, but he says he's not tired.

"I like it," he smiled in the early evening gloom last week in Calumet City.  "I really do.  We've got a tournament in North Carolina before the World Series.  We just keep playing.  I really like it."

CP's Nick Hladek believes that playing for the Chiefs is similar to the commitment you must make in college.

"It opens your eyes up to what college will be like," said Hladek.  "Guys you don't know that you're going to play with.  But guys with talent.  Not that we didn't have talent at Crown Point.  But everybody here is good, too."

Copyright © 2008 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: August 01, 2008.