Runs had been hard to come by for Chesterton during a four-game losing streak that it took into the Class 4A baseball sectional.

So when the Trojans fell behind Merrillville 5-0 in the third inning of Friday's quarterfinal at Chesterton, the prospects for a rally seemed somewhat bleak.

“It would've been easy to fold our tents,” Chesterton coach Jack Campbell said. “I told the kids, ‘what’s going through your mind?’ Are you thinking, ‘do I have to clean my uniform before it gets turned in?' or are you thinking about coming back?”

Laundry, evidently, wasn’t the Trojans’ concern. As quickly as Xavier Ponce retired the first seven batters, Chesterton knocked him out of the game with a nine-run third inning. The outburst not only wiped out the deficit, it powered the Trojans to an improbable 15-5, five-inning victory.

“That’s why baseball's such a great game,” Campbell said. “(Ponce) couldn’t have gotten us out any easier. It just took something to happen to get something going.”

In this case, it was John Thanos getting hit by a pitch with one out in the third. That was followed in succession by a David Thornton single, a Nick Sharp RBI single, a Frank Raudry RBI infield single that trickled all of 10 feet, a Kevin Gates walk and a Jack Wilson RBI single that chased Ponce.

On came Donnie Cox, who provided no relief for the Pirates, serving up a 3-2 spinner that Dre Dukes launched over the fence in right field for a grand slam.

Deficit gone. Chesterton 7, Merrillville 5.

“I thought he'd try another curve because he got up on me and the two pitches I fouled off were curve balls,” Dukes said. “I thought it was going to hit the top of the fence. It’s a long game. I knew we just had to keep our heads up and keep fighting back, a run at a time.”

The home run was Dukes’ first of the season.

“He’s got outstanding power to all fields,” Campbell said. “When he’s hitting well, he’s hitting the other way.”

The inning was far from over. With one out, Pat Antone doubled and Thanos singled to right to bring him around. Thornton also doubled, his second hit of the inning, to make it 9-5.

“I’ve been on the bad end of that, too,” Campbell said. “Now’s the time to be on the good end.”

Chesterton (11-13) added three runs in the fourth and fifth to end the game. Glenn Peterson (5-6), who came on in the third for Kevin Gates with the Trojans, blanked the demoralized Pirates (3-23) over 2 2/3 innings on two hits to register the win.

“I was definitely nervous, down 5-0,” Peterson said. “We’ve been struggling scoring runs, so it was good to get the offense going, for sure. I just didn’t want to give up another run, just try to stay ahead and start stringing some outs. I didn’t get loose all the way, so I went back to the bullpen to work on my breaking stuff, but as it turns out, I didn’t need it too much. My fastball had good (velocity).”

Gates was touched up for five runs on five hits, but the silver lining was he’'ll be fresh if needed for today's semifinal against LaPorte.

“Kevin has a tendency to overthrow everything,” Campbell said. “When he does that, his fastball’s up and his curve ball flattens out.”

Dukes finished with five RBIs and Wilson added four. Raudry went 3-for-4 with three runs, while Thanos was 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs. Thornton was 2-for-3 as well. Gates and Sharp each scored twice.

Chesterton and LaPorte (21-9) will meet tonight at approximately 7 p.m., following top-ranked Crown Point and Valparaiso.

SCORING BY INNINGS

Merrillville 203 00 -- 5 6 2

Chesterton 009 33 -- 15 13 1

2B -- Xavier Ponce (M); Kevin Gates, Patrick Antone, David Thornton (C). HR -- Dre Dukes (C). Pitching summary -- Merrillville -- Ponce (2.1 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 1 SO), Donnie Cox (0.1 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 SO), Nick Feliciano (1.1 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 SO), Zach Forsell (0.1 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 SO); Chesterton -- Kevin Gates (2.1 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 SO), Glenn Peterson (2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 SO). WP -- Peterson (5-6). LP -- Ponce (2-5).

Posted 6/1/2009