Porter County team wins Senior Babe Ruth title

By Mike Clark Post-Tribune correspondent July 17, 2011 10:58PM

CHESTERTON — Zach Thorn knew it was out and Cody Triscik knew it was over.

Thorn’s two-run homer plus Triscik’s complete-game pitching equaled a winning combination Sunday evening for the Porter County Storm Black, which got past the Hammond Hurricanes Black 3-1 at Chesterton High School to win the Northern Indiana Senior Babe Ruth (16-18) title.

Both teams advance to the Ohio Valley Regional, which begins Thursday in Lexington, Ky.

For the Storm, it’s the high-water mark of a program that debuted in 2008, winning just eight games playing mostly with 16-year-olds against older players.

Now the Storm has grown up, just the way founding manager Nick Doud figured it would.

“This is what I told these guys when we formed this team,” Doud said. “I told them, ‘We’re here to win state. That was our goal all along, to bring a championship to Chesterton and that’s what we did.”

This was a collective effort. Three consecutive pinch-hitters in the top of the seventh delivered either a hit or an RBI, and leadoff man Taylor Brown was 2-for-4 with a run scored. But the day’s stars were Thorn and Triscik.

Thorn, a senior-to-be at Portage, came up with Brown on first and one out in the third. He drove Hurricanes lefty Ricky Vasquez’s 1-0 pitch over the fence in left-center, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.

“He gave me a nice pitch to hit and I just made contact,” Thorn said. “Once I made contact, I knew it was gone.”

“When Zach hit that one, the momentum definitely swung in our direction,” Triscik said. “In my head, I knew it was our game eight there. That home run got me zoned in on pitching. I knew all I had to do was hold them ... and we’d win the game.”

Triscik did just that, pitching a four-hitter with three walks and nine strikeouts.

Hammond (21-9) scored in the first on Garrett Litke’s single, Triscik’s throwing error on a pickoff and Mike Dobosz’s RBI double. Tariq Suboh (2-for-3) followed with a bloop single, but Triscik then got an inning-ending double play.

“I was probably a littl;e bit nervous, trying to throw too hard,” Triscik said of his rough start. “All I had to do was hit my spots, get some ground balls and my defense would back me up.”

Thorn gave him the lead and the Storm (18-2-1) added another run in the seventh when John Matlon’s RBI fielder’s choice brought home Jesse Kellar, who led off with a double and advanced on Spencer Sutton’s single.

Vasquez also threw a complete game, allowing five hits. walking two and striking out 10.

“Hard-fought game, they were the better team today,” Hurricanes manager Alex Ramirez said. “This was their moment; we had our moment in 2009 (when the Hurricanes won the Northern Indiana title).”

Ramirez said he and Doud talked about the possibility of a Hurricanes-Storm state final in May, before the season started.

“He got us here,” Ramirez said. “Maybe in the Ohio Valley championship, we can get the better of him.”

The Hurricanes advanced to the final by edging South Bend East Side 4-3 earlier Sunday.