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By Ben Grossberg

Mishawaka – No. 8 Crown Point traveled to take on No. 15 Penn on a cold windy Saturday. Sophomore David Kepshire took the mound for Crown Point to face off against Senior Chris Como.

Crown Point got their offense going in the first inning. Alex Nickla led the offense off with a single and two outs later Ronnie Plesac doubled driving in Nickla.

In the third they added to their lead with two more runs. Zach Plesac hit a one out solo homerun over the left field fence for the first run of the inning. After a walk to Ronnie Plesac, Johnny Lynk doubled to right center bringing Plesac all the way around giving Crown Point a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile Kepshire was cruising through the Penn lineup. In the first four innings he allowed just one hit, a single, and struck out two. He retired nine straight and 12 of 13 batters he faced in the first four innings.

Crown Point got another run in the fifth in the same fashion as the first inning. Nickla led off the inning with a single and would score on a RBI double from Ronnie Plesac.

Penn finally got on the board against Kepshire in the fifth. With the bases loaded and two outs Kepshire was called for a balk that brought in Penn’s only run of the game. Kepshire would strikeout the batter to end the inning and keep the lead at 4-1.

Crown Point added another run in the sixth with two outs. With runners on first and third Tyler Downing got into an intentional rundown between first and second base allowing the runner to score from third.

Jake Jenks relieved Kepshire on the mound. He induced a double play to end the sixth inning, but after loading the bases with one out Zach Plesac came on in relief. Plesac got the next two batters ground out, giving Crown Point a 5-1 win.

Game Two: In game two Crown Point won 6-4. They got up early taking a 3-0 lead after four innings, but Penn scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth to grab the lead.

Crown Point responded with three runs of their own in the top of the sixth to take the lead for good. Jake Jenks was 2-3 with a homerun, three RBI, and a run scored to lead the offense.

Jake Carey doubled and drove in two runs and Johnny Lynk had the other RBI.

For Penn, Andrew Herman was 1-2 with a double, two RBI, and a run scored, Cole Harlacher was 2-2, Austin Toth drove in a run and scored once, and Chris Como had a hit and a RBI.