They’re not very old to be out there running around at night between two of the busier thoroughfares on the east edge of town – East Washington Boulevard and Maumee Avenue.

At least they’re fenced in.

But for being just a year old, they are, in fact, supervised, and everyone is doing more than OK.

Closing in on their first seasons of competition, the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams at Indiana Tech have exceeded the expectations of their coaches.

And if their records are any indication, they don’t play well with others.

Ed Karasek says he’s gotten grayer since he took over the women’s program full of freshmen, and Terry Nichter says there remains much to learn with his men’s team, also loaded with first-year players. But for a pair of fledgling programs that got started with recruiting a year ago but didn’t hit the fields until late in the winter, the Warriors have justified their school nickname.

With a 13-5 record, Karasek’s women will close the home portion of their season at 6 tonight when they play Notre Dame College of South Euclid, Ohio, then finish the season on the road Saturday at Lake Erie College.

Tech’s men (10-4) will conclude their season at 7 p.m. Friday at home against Trine, a meeting that Nichter already points to as a rivalry.

“It is a big game for us and a big game for Indiana lacrosse,” Nichter said. “We want to have a good showing for that because it’s a big recruiting thing for us.”

Nichter says Tech, Trine and Notre Dame are the only Indiana colleges that have lacrosse teams.

“We played smart and we got smart fast,” Nichter said of this season in which Tech won six of its first eight games. “With a bunch of freshmen, we were kind of worried about the kind of mistakes that these guys were going to be making and what kind of issues they would give us.”

Unlike the men, Tech’s women’s team had a slower start, winning five and losing four. Since then, the Warriors have won eight of their last nine, including five in a row.

“We’re getting better,” Karasek said. “The Mt. St. Joseph game, the first time we played them in (Cincinnati), we won in overtime (12-9), and then they came up here and we just ate ’em alive (24-3).

“At first our girls were afraid of them. I could tell before that game started, because we had such a difficult time with them in Cincinnati, and then we ate them up. We had our bench in there in the end, just to keep the score down. I didn’t want to kill ’em, if you want to see them again.”

Bischoff sets record

Purdue senior pitcher Matt Bischoff (New Haven) became the Boilermakers’ all-time strikeout leader in a 2-1 Big Ten victory over Northwestern on Saturday.

Bischoff, 6-1, struck out 10 in eight shutout innings to push his career strikeout total to 260 – three more than previous record-holder Chris Bloomer.

In his three previous seasons at Purdue, Bischoff has been named either first-, second- or third-team all-conference.

Athletes of note

Saint Francis junior first baseman Taylor Futterknecht recently set the school record for RBI in a season by hitting his 50th. He is also three RBI from tying the school career record of 137 RBI. … Trine junior Elliot Gaff (Churubusco) was named the MIAA Pitcher of the Week. In a 15-2 Trine victory over Alma, Gaff allowed eight hits, struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter in going the distance.