It’s not easy to come out of the dugout and throw strikes.

Doesn’t seem to be a problem for Chesterton’s Glenn Peterson though.

The junior right hander threw four innings of shut out ball Tuesday night and picked up his second win of the season as the Trojans beat Valparaiso 7-3.

“When you have 14 new players, different kids step up and come through for you,” Chesterton coach Jack Campbell said. “Glenn is one of those kids that’s done a great job.”

Peterson allowed just two hits and struck out three after coming in for starter Kevin Gates.

“Glenn is around the plate all the time,” Campbell said. “He has good movement on his fastball and he gets ahead of hitters for the most part.”

The Trojans put two runs on the board in the first thanks in part to three of Valpo’s six errors. Zack Novak reached on a dropped third strike and went to second on a throwing error. He later scored on a throwing error made off the bat of Jeremy Ross. Ross scored on Gates’ RBI single.

The Vikings responded with two runs of their own in the first thanks to a Trojan mistake.

“They gave us two in the first and we gave them right back,” Campbell said. “Kevin (Gates) struggled with his control and got behind.”

Two more runs for the Trojans in the second and a solo run in the third staked them to a 5-3 lead. The big blow came in the seventh inning when Dre’ Dukes lined a two-run single up the middle to push the lead to 7-3.

“Dre’ had a big hit for us to put an end to it,” Campbell said.

The Trojans are 10-3 overall and 6-2 in Duneland Athletic Conference play heading into today’s contest at home against Portage. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

“We gave a couple games away early,” Campbell said. “I think we’re a better team because of that though. Not really having seen them play a lot before this year, I’m certainly happy with where we are right now.”

Chesterton 7, Valparaiso 3

AT VALPARAISO

SCORING BY INNINGS

Chesterton 221 000 2 -- 7 6 1

Valparaiso 201 000 0 -- 3 5 6

2B -- Ryan Lindquist (C). Pitching Summary -- Chesterton -- Kevin Gates (3 IP, 2 H, 1 K, 4 BB), Glenn Peterson (4 IP, 2 H, 3 K, 2 BB); Valparaiso -- Matt Krantz (6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 K, 4 BB), Michael Slack (2/3 Ip, 1 H, 0 K, 0 BB). WP -- Peterson (2-0). LP -- Krantz.

Posted 4/30/2008