Less has been more for Lake Central’s Josh Adamczewski.
The Ball State signee tweaked his mechanics heading into his senior season, and it has paid dividends.
“I changed my swing a little bit,” Adamczewski said. “I widened out a little bit, shortened up my stance and just been more simple to the ball. That’s helped me a lot to stay closed and just straight to the ball.
“I haven’t really worried much about power. The power still does come. But I’ve just been focusing on line drives, everything oppo, and if I get a pitch inside, turn on it.”
Adamczewski is hitting .493, second on the team to senior shortstop Hunter Snyder, with team highs of six homers and 41 RBIs.
Adamczewski stayed hot by going 3-for-3 with a triple, two runs and a stolen base in the Indians’ history-making 7-4 win at home against Crown Point in a Duneland Athletic Conference finale in St. John on Wednesday.
Lake Central became the first team to go undefeated in the DAC since joining it for the 2003-04 school year.
Adamczewski is one of the reasons. He has three grand slams in the past four games for Lake Central (21-4, 14-0), which is ranked No. 2 in the Class 4A state coaches poll. He hit two in the series opener at Crown Point (13-10, 8-6) on Tuesday.
“His slumps, he gets one hit in a couple of games. … He’s just good,” Lake Central coach Mike Swartzentruber said. “He knows how to hit. He has a good plan when he gets up there. He doesn’t swing at garbage. He swings at strikes. He’s good with two strikes — he gets the bat on the ball. He’s just a good high school hitter.”
Adamczewski started at second base the past two seasons. He hit .488 with four homers and 36 RBIs last year and .470 with 23 RBIs in his high school debut after his freshman season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 6-foot Adamczewski has gained weight throughout his career. He went from 145 pounds as a freshman to 195 this season.
“I’ve definitely seen more pop and gotten a lot stronger this year,” he said. “I’ve grown in that sense.”
Adamczewski has also taken a position switch in stride. He was moved to third base this season in an attempt to protect the arm of No. 1 pitcher Griffin Tobias, with the Indiana commit playing second instead of third when he’s not on the mound.
“It’s a little bit more difficult,” Adamczewski said of playing third. “It’s the first time I’m ever playing there. But I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job.
“I played shortstop my whole life until I got to high school. Even now I’m still at short in travel ball. But I just do what’s best for the team.”
No matter the position, Adamczewski has continued to produce at a high level.
“He’s electric,” Snyder said. “Griffin uses that word all the time, but that’s the perfect way to summarize him. He always has that bulldog in him. He thinks he’s better than the pitcher and always thinks he’s going to get the best of him, and that’s exactly what he does.”
Ball State coach Rich Maloney saw the additional potential in Adamczewski, who plans to study exercise science.
“He is a physical young man who shows promise in becoming an elite hitter,” Maloney said in a statement in November after Adamczewski signed his national letter of intent.
Snyder, a Columbia recruit, went 3-for-3 with a triple, a double, three RBIs and two runs against Crown Point on Wednesday. With one out and runners on second and third in the sixth, the Bulldogs intentionally walked No. 2 hitter Adamczewski. Snyder then delivered a sacrifice fly to plate the game’s final run.
“Snyder and Adamczewski are just good. They’re just good,” Swartzentruber said. “They hit every ball on a line, hard somewhere. I know they’re in a predicament there when they walk Adamczewski. They go from 1A to 1B as far as probably the two best hitters in, well, maybe the state. I don’t know. I’d take those two over just about anybody.”
Adamczewski is savoring Lake Central’s undefeated run through the conference.
“It means a lot,” he said. “We might not have the best team we’ve ever had, but we surely got it done (Wednesday) and over the year. It feels special.
“We’re fighters. We’ll do anything for each other. We know how to have each other’s backs.”
Crown Point actually took the lead on Wednesday with two runs in the second. Lake Central tied the score in the bottom of the inning and went ahead for good with two more runs in the third.
Swartzentruber received a celebratory postgame dousing from senior catcher Matt Santana.
“There are going to be people who say the conference is down and this and that,” Swartzentruber said. “But when we fell behind (Wednesday night), we’ve been behind three innings, four innings tops, all year in the conference.
“Are we the best DAC team ever? I don’t think that’s what that means. We just did a good job navigating, being ready to play, knowing we’re going to get everybody’s best shot. Winning 14 games in this conference, no matter what the situation is, it’s pretty good. I told our guys that’s 20 in a row since we won the last six last year. You win 20 in a row in this league, against these teams, I don’t care how you slice it, it’s pretty good.”
Adamczewski said he believes Lake Central can make a deep postseason run next.
“The way we’re playing right now, I really do think we have a good shot at going to state,” he said. “We just have to perform and take it one game at a time.”