The Chesterton baseball team mounted a seventh inning rally, but it wasn’t enough as they dropped a 5-4 Duneland Athletic Conference decision at Merrillville on Thursday.

After Merrillville scored the game’s first run, the Trojans answered back with a solo run in the second to tie the game. Brandon Jenks opened the frame with a single and later scored on an RBI single by KJ Zelenika.

The Pirates jumped ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the second before the Trojans tied things up again in the third. Andrew Ralph singled with one out and moved to third on a single by Jenks. As Jenks stole second, Ralph was able to score from third.

Chesterton took its only lead of the night with a solo run in the fifth inning as Ralph came up with a one-out single. Ralph would eventually score with two outs as Aery Pratt reached on an error.

Merrillville answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth and made the score 5-3 with another run in the sixth.

The Trojans tried to mount a rally in the seventh as Austin VanderZanden doubled with one out. Zach Jenks’ single plated VanderZanden and Pratt’s single put runners on first and second. Both advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch, but Feliciano struck out Brandon Jenks looking to end the game.

SCORING BY INNINGS

Chesterton 011 010 1 -- 4 10 4

Merrillville 110 021 x -- 5 6 3

2B -- Austin VanderZanden ©; Dye (M). Pitching Summary -- Chesterton -- Bobby Humphreys (5 IP, 4 H, 4 K, 4 BB), Mitch Kobitz (1 IP, 2 H, 1 K, 0 BB); Merrillville -- Feliciano (7 IP, 10 H, 2 K, 0 BB). WP -- Feliciano. LP -- Humphreys.

Posted 4/27/2012