When they passed out good luck charms at St. Joseph’s, Jordan Peterson must have been absent that day.
The Chesterton grad carries a 3.02 ERA and recently became the program’s all-time strikeout king, but only has a 3-5 record to show for it.
Some of his struggles can be traced to St. Joseph’s anemic offense. The Pumas have dropped 11 one-run decisions.
Peterson has struck out 61 in 56.2 innings, boosting his career total to 255. His season-high of 11 strikeouts came in a two-hit shutout of Southern Indiana.
The 6-foot-6 senior earned Great Lakes Valley all-conference honors last spring. In 2013 he racked up eight complete games in 13 starts and was named GLVC pitcher of the year.
Chase Fieldhouse (St. John/Lake Central) tops the Pumas with a .340 batting average. The junior outfielder ranks first in doubles with 15.
*Ball State’s Zach Plesac (Crown Point) has pitched three complete games and gone eight innings in his last four starts, the latest a 4-3 victory over Toledo. He leads the Cardinals in innings (78.1) and strikeouts (57). He has a 2.76 ERA.
*Georgia Tech’s Zach Ryan (Valparaiso/Andrean) picked up a victory with two hitless innings of relief in a 4-2 victory over Clemson and a save with two innings of work in a recent 4-3 victory over Virginia. The sophomore has a 6-1 record with seven saves in 21 appearances. He has struck out 35 in 38.2 innings. Opponents are batting just .212. The Rambling Wrecks are 25-16. Ryan has a 2.66 ERA, building off a solid freshman year of 29 strikeouts in 30 innings. His debut included a victory and a save.
*Manchester’s Jordan Nieman (Michigan City) leads the Heartland Conference in three categories. The senior third baseman is batting a sizzling .434 with 10 home runs and 41 RBIs in 30 games. Nieman has an .822 slugging percentage. The Spartans are 19-11.
*Crown Point’s Scott Donley had his team-high hitting streak snapped at 15 games Sunday in Indiana’s 7-0 loss to Michigan State. The senior DH is batting .356 and has struck out only 11 times in 167 at-bats.
*Butler’s Danny Pobereyko (Munster/Noll) has made 12 pitching appearances. His record is 1-1 with a save in 24 innings. The sophomore right-hander has a 4.88 ERA.
*Marian’s Sam Bell (Munster) has pitched 29.1 innings in six appearances with 22 strikeouts. The freshman is 1-4.
Golf
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Indiana senior Nick Grubnich (Crown Point) carried a 75.4 season average for 27 rounds into the Big Ten tournament.
Through three rounds of the rain-plagued meet at Newburgh he carded 74-76-72. Grubnich slipped to 81 in the final round to finish with a 303 total.
Earlier highlight included rounds of 72-73-72 in the Boilermaker Invitational. His best round of the season was a 69. In his junior year Grubnich fired 19 rounds of 75 or better.
Illinois won the team title.
*St. Joseph’s Stephanie Drake (Chesterton) fired an 84 at the Illinois-Springfield Invitational.
Softball
Freshman Nickole Finch (Wheeler) has been used primarily in relief at IUPUI, which owns a 30-12 record. She has a 4.48 ERA spread over 20.1 innings.
*St. Joseph’s Emma Littrell (Lowell) carries a .314 batting average. She catches and plays first base. Teammate Tiffany Gibson (Hanover Central) is batting .280.
Mutka is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.