Tuesday night was the 2010 Indiana Crossroads Series Showcase at the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary. The event, now in its second year, gives incoming high school juniors and seniors a chance to showcase their talent for the many college scouts in attendence.
The 90 best players from the state of Indiana were invited to participate in the day of action. Fifteen of the 90 made up the Northwest team, including Portage High stars Tony Cheky and Gabe Acevado. It was a full day for the guys, as they reported to the ballpark at 7:30am. In the morning, drills took place leading up to three games (one for each of the six teams) with the opener starting at 12:30.
From 7:45 to 9:45, players split up into groups by position and rotated from different throwing drills to running the 60 yard dash. At 10:00, all players met with their district teams and coaches to talk about their BP schedule. Batting practice got underway at 10:20, with clubs rotationing from on the field BP, to hitting in the cage, to taking a team picture on the concourse.
Finally, the showcase game got underway at about 12:45pm. However, it was a long day of waiting before the Northwest club played their game, which was the last of the day. Each game was 8 innings in length, giving pitchers a chance to deliver 12 showcase pitches on the mound before throwing in the game.
Finally, the first pitch of the Northwest game against the “North District” (South Bend area) was delivered at 6:50pm. All the guys on each team had matching shirts (gray for North, red for Northwest) but the guys sported their own schools’ hat. Both Indians on the roster were in the starting lineup. Tony Cheky, an incoming senior, was in centerfield and batting third. Gabe Acevado, an incoming junior, got the nod at thirdbase batting tenth in the lineup.
LaPorte ace Connor Podkul was the starting pitcher for the Northwest. He was very sharp in the top of the first and needed only eight pitches to strike out the side. Cheky was right in the middle of the Northwest rally in the bottom of the first. He hit a deep fly ball to the warning track in center that was dropped. Had the centerfielder caught the ball, it would have been a great play, but it was ruled an error none the less. Tony came around to score on a single by Kyle Upp, part of a three-run Northwest first.
Acevado stroked an RBI single in the second to prove himself at the plate. Gabe came around to score on a Jacob Craft single. Cheky stepped in for the second time and crushed an RBI triple to the track in right to make it 6-0. The visiting North team rallied for three in the third to cut the lead in half. Cheky launched his second triple of the night to the gap in right center to lead-off the fifth. He was later picked off. The Indians centerfielder flied out to deep right in his final at bat to finish the night 2-4 with two triples, a reached on error, and a run scored. Cheky hit the ball hard everytime at the plate and certainly impressed college scouts.
Acevado struck out swinging at a bad pitch in the fourth and then flew out to end the sixth. He played solid defense at the hot corner. Michael Manian of Crown Point pitched a scoreless eighth to nail down the 8-4 victory. The Northwest team scored an extra run in their meaningless at-bat in the bottom of the eighth (the inning was played so scouts could see the final North pitcher).
Portage head coach Tim Pirowski was in the dugout as an assistant coach for this special game. He got the chance to see his studs play and has to be optimistic about the future of Indians baseball.
