Jones pitches Portage to first sectional baseball title since 1995

LAPORTE | For the fourth year in a row, Portage reached the Class 4A sectional championship.

C.P., Plesac edge Hobart, Murray on first-inning balk

LAPORTE | In an epic of battle of aces, it all came down to a balk.

Portage edges Valpo; Merrillville routs M.C. at Class 4A LaPorte baseball sectional

LAPORTE | With Kevin Jones and Devin Bafia dealing, it figured to come down to one play between Portage and Valparaiso in Friday's Class 4A LaPorte Sectional.

Nacovski inducted into IUPUI Athletics Hall of Fame

MERRILLVILLE | Some people have a scorer's mentality.

Fulk’s two-out fifth-inning triple helps L.C. beat Merrillville baseball team

ST. JOHN | Steve Fulk had a bit of an epiphany this week.

Portage baseball team edges Merrillville behind Jones' pitching, Haupt's hitting

PORTAGE | Offense was hard to come by, but some timely hitting by CJ Haupt was all that Kevin Jones needed to earn Times No. 4 Portage a narrow 2-1 Duneland Athletic Conference victory over Merrillville on Saturday.

Times players of the year to be on same team for McLegends

Dariyan Morris and Bria Gaines took different paths to becoming basketball stars.

Player's mom donates kidney to save coach's life

SCHERERVILLE | The Peifer Elementary School second-graders listened closely as a story was told to them Tuesday morning. It was a tale that could change their life.

JIM PETERS: Dream dies hard for Merrillville

LAFAYETTE | The basketball caromed into the third row of the lower-level bleachers during the third quarter of Saturday's Class 4A Lafayetet Jefferson Semistate at Crawley Gymnasium into the hands of a Merrillville fan.

Region toughness gives grid presence to semistate qualifiers

Bowman Academy started this basketball season 2-7 — what is expected at the basketball powerhouse in Gary. Especially after a season where the Eagles ended up in Indianapolis for the Class 2A state championship game.

Merrillville's Owens comes on late, just like his team

MERRILLVILLE | Jamard Owens doesn't likely realize it, but he is a walking billboard for the 2012-13 Merrillville Pirates.

STEVE HANLON: Bowman will go to 3A with a win

There's something special, even loveable, about Hoosier Hysteria. This craziness has been selling tickets for 103 years. Many people have timed their lives by this tourney.

Basketball regional notes

Reverse the curse: Andrean became the first Lake County team since Roosevelt in 2003 to win a Class 3A regional in Plymouth.

Pirates rout S.B. Adams, head to semistate

MICHIGAN CITY | South Bend Adams has one player over 6-foot-2, loves to jack up shots, and makes a sinus headache inviting compared to the extreme pressure it puts on opponents.

Pirates upset Munster on Jenkins' 25-foot bomb

MICHIGAN CITY | Merrillville entered Saturday 10-1 in games decided by eight points or less. Good teams do that.

Merrillville's Pruitt is both fire and ice

MERRILLVILLE | Every day like clockwork, Jelani Pruitt walks into the locker room and puts his stuff on the end of a bench. Then, the 6-foot-4 senior knocks on the window of the coach's office.

Munster's Wuchenich and Ostoich playing for family

MUNSTER | Diana Ostoich was looking through a dusty box of memories last week. It was a nervous week as the Munster Mustangs were preparing for a very difficult draw in the Class 4A West Side Sectional.

Times Indiana Girls Basketball Coach of the Year: Merrillville's Amy Govert

MERRILLVILLE | By the end of the 2012 summer offseason, Merrillville's girls basketball team had lost more than its graduating class of four seniors.

Times Indiana Girls Basketball Player of the Year: Merrillville's Dariyan Morris

MERRILLVILLE | Before every girls basketball game this season, Merrillville's Dariyan Morris would chew a cup of ice.

Merrillville captures DAC title with win over Portage

MERRILLVILLE | Thanks to injuries and the flu, Portage entered its season finale against Merrillville with five players with extensive varsity experience.