The Highland Trojans topped the Portage Indians 15-3 on Tuesday night in the Indians’ first home varsity baseball game of the season. At the start of the game, the Trojans jumped out in front 3-0. The Indians scored two runs in the third inning to get back into the game. A Myles Mendoza walk started the rally, then Jeremy Sinkus doubled and Ivan Martinez singled. Mike Bruner was the starting pitcher, but he was chased during the fifth inning. Before the third Portage pitcher of the inning finally got out of it, Highland had plated 11 runs to break the game wide open.
Hits from Mosley and Cheky helped the Indians get one run back in the fifth, but it was not enough to extend the game, which ended because of the 10-run rule. Myles Mendoza reached base in both at bats.
The Indians’ Varsity Softball squad was also in action on Tuesday. The girls played against another team that goes by the name of the “Indians”. The visiting Indians were from Lake Central. The game turned out to be an 11-10 slugfest with Portage coming out on top. Kristen Ashby, Rhi Smolar, Dani Bryan, and Kylie Someson all had 2 hits for the Indians. Natalie Korpak took the hill and struck out 7 batters in 6.2 innings of work. Haley Hodges also had a pair of hits and 3 runs batted in.
The JV Baseball team was also in action on Tuesday. They beat Highland in an away game to notch their first win of the season and improve to 1-1. Travis Marsh pitched a complete game while Jason Roman and Andrew Brown led the Indians offense.
The Boys Varsity Track team hosted Munster on Tuesday night to start the year. The Indians came away with a big win by a score of 85-46. DeAndre Jackson performed outstandingly winning the 110 & 300 hurdles. Jake Dixon (100 dash), Jeron Blake (200 dash), Alvin Best (high jump), Jeremy Anderson (long jump), Max Zmija (1600 Run), Casey Newcomb (pole vault), Tyler Monahan (discus), and Joey Little (Shot Put) all finished first in their respective events.
On Thursday night the wet conditions cancelled play for most of the PHS sporting events, but the girls’ track team toughed out the weather and competed in their home meet against Boone Grove. The Indians beat the Wolves in 14 of 15 events, to get a win to open the outdoor season! Defending state champion Tori Bliss won the shot put as well as the discus. Ashley Farley (100 & 200 meters) and Danielle Randle El were the other 2 Indians who won multiple events. The next Portage meet will be in LaPorte on Tuesday night at 4:30. They will take on the Slicers and the Michigan City Wolves.
On Friday night the Merrillville Pirates came to Portage for a Varsity softball battle. Natalie Korpak was the starting pitcher for the Indians. She worked a great game. The Pirates were shut out and had just one hit all night long. The game resulted in a 4-0 Portage win. The Indians scored 2 in the 4th and twice more in the 5th. Bryan doubled and then scored the first run of the game in the 4th. Haley Hodges hit a 2-run homer to account for the fifth inning scoring. That was Haley’s second home run of her freshman season. Hodges went 2-3 on Friday and scored twice. Dani Lynch singled twice. With the win, Portage improves to 4-2.
After two cancelled games, the freshman baseball team finally took the field to open the season on Friday. The Indians looked sharp beating a good Andrean club by the score of 8-4. Lefty Brad Stemple worked a complete game.
On Saturday the Varsity baseball team returned to action for a makeup game against Lowell. This game was scheduled to take place on Thursday, but rain caused the postponement. In the top of the first, Lowell jumped right on starting pitcher David Jercha with a run on 2 hits to grab the lead. However, the Indians battled right back with a run of their own in the bottom of the first. Tommy Mosley led off with a double and then came around to score on a Nate Ramian single. In the 3rd, the two clubs continued to match one another blow for blow. Both put up single tallies.
Lowell rallied in the fourth which caused Indian’s manager Tim Pirowski to go to the bullpen and bring in Allen Barrett. However, the damage was done and the Red Devils ended up with 3 runs in the frame. In the 5th, the Indians regained the momentum with a key defensive play. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Jeff Harbrecht hit a fly ball to the outfield. Juarez, the runner on third, tried to score after the catch. However, he left too early and when Portage appealed, he was ruled out. Austin Magley went down on strikes after the double play to end the Red Devil threat.
Tony Cheky, who was scratched from the starting lineup with food poisoning, came up as a pinch hitter in the 6th. He launched a long solo home run to make it a 5-3 game. The Indians were still down by two going to their last at bat in the seventh. Leadoff man Tommy Mosley singled to start the inning. Ramian and Myles Mendoza both came through to continue the string of three straight singles. The Mendoza hit tied the game! After Micheal Torres reached on an error, the winning run was only 90 feet away with nobody out. Mike Brunner knocked a game winning single, Mendoza trotted home, and the Indians won the game 6-5! They improve to 3-1 going into Monday’s game @Boone Grove. They will return home on Tuesday night.
The PHS 250 Club is now at 197!
