Storm Surges In Its Third Year

BY MIKE CLARK, POST-TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT

Funny what a difference a little experience can make for a summer baseball team.

Manager Nick Doud started the Porter County Storm 18-and-under travel team in 2008 as an offshoot of the 15-year-old Babe Ruth all-star squad he coached the year before with the Duneland Diamond organization based in Chesterton.

"The first year, we won eight games," Doud said. "Being 16 in a 16-18 league, we got beat up."

But the Storm won 22 games last season and at midweek was 21-11 overall this summer, including 19-7 in the Northern Indiana Babe Ruth Senior League.

As the Storm has prospered, it's expanded its reach to live up to its name with players from all over Porter County, including Valparaiso's Cody Triscik, Morgan Township's Wes Rettinger, Kouts' Jake Keough and Wheeler's Jordan Wodetzki.

"Now it's come to they're telling their friends and they're trying to get the best players together," Doud said.

The team also has provided exposure for players who didn't get a chance to make a name for themselves in high school. Pat Seller was home-schooled, while Cole Judy, a Valparaiso resident, didn't play for the Vikings but is heading to Purdue North Central to play next season. Triscik and Rettinger also are planning to play for PNC.

According to Doud, players from the smaller schools appreciate the challenge of facing teams like the Hammond Chiefs.

"Jake Keough ... said, 'Wow, I don't see this kind of competition (in the spring),'" Doud said. "For those guys, this is making them better when they go back (to their high school teams)."

Interest in playing for the Storm has heated up to the point that Doud is looking at fielding two teams next summer, one made up of 16-year-olds and one for 17- and 18-year-olds.