Chesterton High School varsity baseball field hosted what seemed to be an MLB scouting convention on Wednesday afternoon. It just so happened that there was a Duneland Athletic Conference game between Crown Point and your Chesterton Trojans at the same time. There were approximately 16 scouts in attendance, and I thought for a millisecond that I had finally gotten the call to go to "the show". Each of them reached high enough with their phones to clear the chain link fence and pointed them directly toward the infield. My first thought was I should've edged the night before or possibly sharpened the blades on the 46-inch Cub Cadet zero turn. I remained confident and poised awaiting a head nod or a wave to come to the fence for a chat. The few seconds that passed seemed like days as I sprayed the home plate dirt with water to suppress the would-be dust created as the young men battled between the lines. Then it hit me when I saw Rob Czarniecki begin swinging his Louisville Slugger out in the front yard of the dugout. My dreams of being a MLB groundskeeper were again crushed as I realized it was the senior slugger they were here to see. It was he and Sean Dunlap, the Crown Point catcher bound for Knoxville to play for the Volunteers next season. The phones replaced the radar guns from back in my day in which none were ever pointed in my direction but I digress. Maybe the striped lines in the checkerboard patterned infield grass weren't straight enough to draw the attention away from the two uber talented ball players. The boys, like men, have earned all the glamour and attention as they have stood out among their peers on the baseball diamond game after game. Czarniecki for his five-tool talent and Dunlap for his huge bat and lightning throws from behind the dish. Had I not been in the dugout and the first base coaches' box, I too would be pointing my phone or my Canon R6 to capture the moment when two potential major leaguers competed in the confines of the natural surface baseball field at Chesterton High School. Dylan Bradford(6IP, H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 5K) had the honor of taking the ball for Chesterton in the second game of the two-game series in which Chesterton got the best of the Bulldogs winning 1-0 last night on a gritty performance by Troy Barrett. Bradford was coming off a great showing in his last outing and had his work cut out for him against Dunlap and his teammate, Caden Matusak, another talented ballplayer who likely had scout eyes looking his way as well. Bradford toed the rubber and went to work. The Bulldogs leadoff man grounded sharply to Ethan Glassman(2-2, R, 2B) at short who gloved it but lost the handle during the transfer allowing the leadoff man to reach. Michigan bound, Matusak, would go down on strikes after fouling off four pitches with a 2-2 count and Dunlap, who was hitless in six plate appearances over the two games, flied to left with contact near the bat label. Crown Point would score in the frame with a double steal attempt with Chesterton getting the out at second base in a first and third situation. In the bottom half Czarniecki(1-4, R, RBI, HR(4)) would give the scouts what they wanted to see from the prospect when he won a seven-pitch battle by punishing the Wilson sphere over the left centerfield wall for a solo blast to get the run right back for his team. Bradford settled in nicely after the rocky first and retired fourteen of the next fifteen he faced with a harmless single coming out of the 9th spot in the lineup. In the second, Chesterton would take the lead when Glassman doubled to the track and scored on an error allowing Nate Redman(0-2, BB, K) to reach but no rbi was awarded to the senior. The Trojans scored again in the third when Troy Barrett drew a free pass and went to third on an Eli McClelland(1-3) knock to right center. Caden Hackett(0-4, RBI) then grounded into a fielder's choice to drive home Barrett from third. The Bulldogs would help the Trojans reach on a couple of miscues in the fifth that saw two Trojans on and no outs. Unfortunately, the runners would be stranded by a fly to first, a K, and an unassisted grounder to first. The game would be turned on its head, from where I don't know, in the top-half after Crown Point got the first two on base in the likes of Dunlap and Gaines via a walk and a hit by pitch respectively. A pitching change brought Czarniecki in from center field to try to close out the game as he did the night before. The right hander got a grounder to Gary Kirkland(0-3, RBI, BB, 2K) at third who traded the out for a run. The Kentucky outfielder to be, then fanned the next hitter on four pitches before things got ugly. The crowd begin to get behind the Trojans and made some, 'down to the last out' noise as all good baseball home crowds do, trying to will the boys to a victory over the #2 ranked Bulldogs. With the tying run on third and two in the wagon with one draggin' the Bulldog hitter, Payne, connected on a knee-high heater back through the middle to knot the game up at three runs each. A four-pitch walk and a double to the right field corner pushed two runs home, running the score to 5-3 in favor of the visitors. Czarniecki would record the last out of the inning by making the leadoff hitter whiff on four tosses. Chesterton would have 2-3-4 due up in the seventh after Czarniecki flied to left just missing the sweet spot of the barrel to end the sixth. Barrett wore a one ball two strike offering and McClelland worked a six-pitch ab to also be hit by the pitch. A pair of fielder's choices by Hackett and Kirkland was enough to bring Barrett to the dish to pull the Trojans back within a run at 5-4. Matusak, in relief, would strikeout Bradford to end the night forcing Chesterton to settle for the split instead of the two-game sweep. With four conference games remaining the Trojan are a game up on CP with Portage looming as the two teams play Tuesday and Wednesday next week. The loss is Chesterton's first in the conference bringing their record to 9-1 to Crown Point's 8-2 and 16-5 overall. Chesterton welcomes the Viking's from Illiana Christian to town tomorrow evening with a start slated for 4:30.