When you face the State’s best team, you just can’t give them extra outs.

Chesterton allowed Crown Point to score seven unearned runs and that was more than enough as the No. 1 ranked Bulldogs picked up a 10-2 victory in the IHSAA Chesterton Sectional championship.

“You can’t give up seven unearned runs against anybody, but especially against a team as good as they are,” Chesterton coach Jack Campbell said. “We had plays we didn’t make that we should have.”

CP (28-2) scored right away in the top of the first inning when Scott Donley hit a one-out home run to right field. Mike Kozlowski reached on a two-base error. He moved to third on Jeff Limbaugh’s ground out and scored as Josh Negele struck out, but a passed ball allowed Kozlowski to score.

The Trojans answered right back when Nick Sharp doubled to start the game. After Frank Raudry reached on an error and Kevin Gates was hit by a pitch, CHS had the bases loaded with nobody out.

A fielders choice erased Sharp, but a walk to De’Andre Dukes pushed the Trojans first run across the plate. Josh Chase reached on a fielders choice to tie the game at 2-all.

Crown Point scored three runs in the second inning on back-to-back singles from Jake Lindeman and Matt Zurbriggen and a two-run double by Brian Holloway. Donley’s sacrifice fly made it 5-2.

The Bulldogs scored two more runs in the third inning thanks in part to a Trojan error as the lead grew to 7-2.

“We had a lot of ups and downs this year,” Campbell said. “We’d make some great plays and have some great games, but we had other nights when we were our own worst enemy.

“Sometimes the game of baseball was very difficult for us.”

Chesterton (12-14) tried to get back into the game in the third inning when runners reached second and third with two outs, but the Trojans couldn’t get the big hit.

They never threatened again as Crown Point scored a solo run in the fifth inning and two more in the seventh inning to set the final score.

SCORING BY INNINGS

2B - Brian Holloway (CP); Nick Sharp (C). HR - Scott Donley (CP). Pitching Summary - Crown Point - Josh Negele (6 IP, 4 H, 4 K, 2 BB), Mike Manion (1 IP, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB); Chesterton - Kevin Gates (4 IP, 6 H, 5 K, 3 BB), Glenn Peterson (1 IP, 3 H, 0 K, 1 BB), Kyle Kerr (1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K). WP - Negele (9-0). LP - Gates.

Monday night’s game was good enough, but Tuesday night’s finale even overshadowed that.

The Chesterton baseball team got its second grand slam of the State Tournament and turned it into a 7-5 victory over LaPorte in the Sectional Semifinals.

After the Trojans went down quietly in the top of the sixth inning, the Slicers got a leadoff double and hit by pitch to start a threat of their own.

After a passed ball, Dustin DeMuth singled to left field to score Rosenbaum. Tyler Overmyer’s sacrifice fly plated Evan Jurjevic for a 5-3 lead.

“They got two runs like that and you can fold the tents, but we got some help from them and took advantage,” Campbell said.

Jack Wilson’s soft liner toward second base was misplayed and when De’Andre Dukes singled to center field, the Trojan rally was on.

A sacrifice bunt by Josh Chase and a walk to Pat Antone loaded the bases. After John Thanos flew out to right field, David Thornton ripped the first pitch he saw from Clay Manering over the left field wall for a grand slam.

“He didn’t have the speed on the ball he did last night,” Thornton said. “I was just looking for a fastball and trying to hit it in a gap. I knew it had the distance. I just didn’t know if it was high enough.”

In the bottom of the seventh, Glenn Peterson picked up an easy first out and then watched as Darius Kincaid reached on a two-base error. Peterson set down Rosenbaum and struck out Jurjevic to end the game.

“When this is all over, nobody’s going to remember what your record was,” Campbell said. “It’s special. It’s games like this that you’ll remember. This one you won’t forget.”

SCORING BY INNINGS