GARY | It's been quite the weekend for the Hanover Central baseball team and the guys named "Dan."
After tossing a complete game win on Friday, all Dan Stum did on Saturday in the RailCats High School Challenge was go 4-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs to pace the Wildcats over South Central 11-9 in Porter County Conference action.
"Yeah, he's having a great weekend, huh?" Hanover Central coach Doug Nelson said. "You're only as good as your last at-bat (an RBI single), so we'll take it."
Not to be outdone, freshman Daniel Balich shined in his varsity debut, earning his first win by throwing four innings of relief, with one hit while striking out five.
"I was excited and nervous, but after getting some consistent outs, I settled down," Balich said.
Balich also added two hits, two RBIs and scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh for the Wildcats (3-6, 2-0 PCC).
"Danny works hard and is a great kid and I'm happy to say that he's here for three more years," Nelson said.
With the score tied at 7-7, Hanover capitalized on two Adam Clindaniel throwing errors in the seventh inning after the Wildcats squeezed three consecutive times, which eventually scored Balich and Tyler Scott on back-to-back plays.
"We were gonna keep doing that until they made a play," Nelson said on bunting three straight times.
South Central (5-6, 0-2) gave the opposition a bit of a scare in the bottom of the seventh by scoring two runs thanks to a Clindaniel two-run single, but Balich was able to pitch out of the inning for the victory.
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