By STEVE KRAH
Covington (Ind.) Community High School has enjoyed some special moments on the baseball field in recent years.
The past three seasons, the Trojans have been ranked among the top IHSAA Class 1A teams in the state by the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association.
In 2023, Covington went 14-11-1 and 10-4 in the Wabash River Conference. The Trojans came within a win of at least sharing the WRC crown, bowing to champion South Vermillion in the nightcap of a doubleheader after taking the first contest.
In the Lafayette Central Catholic Sectional championship game, Covington led eventual state champion LCC 2-1 in the middle of the fifth inning before the Knights took control.
Covington and Lafayette Central Catholic also met in the 2022 sectional final.
Among those earning Class 2A all-state honorable mention in 2001 were Trojans Terry Badger, John Paddock, Steve Pierce and Ryan Sowers.
Scott Holycross, a 2001 Covington graduate who played on the 2000 team that spent the season ranked No. 1 before getting upset by North Montgomery in the 2A Covington Sectional championship game, is heading into his fourth year as Trojans head coach in 2024.
Eight players from 2023 were lost to graduation, but Holycross is upbeat about this spring.
“We’ll be young this year, but I’m optimistic,” says Holycross. “We’ve got some good ballplayers.”
Lifelong resident Holycross coached for a decade in Covington Youth Baseball League (T-ball through age 16) and was president of the organization established in 1952 for eight years. When he started there were 97 players. In 2024, there are 264.
Holycross also started junior high club baseball for seventh and eighth graders. A 14-game schedule has been put together for a team of 15 players.
At the high school, Covington is expecting to have at least 21 when the season opens April 2 at Southmont.
Covington (enrollment around 270) is in the WRC with Attica, Fountain Central, North Vermillion, Parke Heritage, Riverton Parke, Seeger and South Vermillion.
The Trojans are part of a Class 1A sectional grouping in 2024 with Attica, Fountain Central, Lafayette Central Catholic, North Vermillion and Riverton Parke. Covington has won 12 sectional titles — the last in 2018.
Other Indiana teams on the schedule include Benton Central, Clinton Prairie, Danville Community, North Montgomery, North Putnam, Terre Haute North Vigo, Terre Haute South Vigo and West Lafayette.
Illinois opponents are Bismarck-Henning, Danville, Milford Area and Oakwood.
Covington is less than 10 miles from the Indiana-Illinois State Line.
Holycross played for Coach Rusty Goodwin, respects the “old school” and expects the same from his players.
Goodwin ran a program based on discipline and so does Holycross. There are school rules, but also team rules.
“Parents had to understand we abide by the team rules,” says Holycross. “If we got a detention at school, we knew we owed Coach 10 foul poles.
“If there was an in-school suspension, it was an automatic one-game suspension and 30 foul poles.”
If player could not maintain a C average during the season, they were suspended until they brought that grade up.
“These are the rules we abide by,” says Holycross. “(Players are a) direct representation of our school name and our coach. I won’t have that dark cloud hanging over my head. We don’t tolerate profanity.”
Covington baseball is also built on giving back. With high school players leading the way, a youth clinic on the last two Saturdays in February and first two in March drew 110 participants.
Covington does not have any recent graduates currently playing college baseball. There has been interest shown in Cian Moore (Class of 2025) and Kyven Hill (Class of 2026).
Holycross counts four other Covington alums as assistant coaches — Matt Gerling with the varsity, Bradley Slider as junior varsity head coach and Ethan Engle and Jordan Inman as JV assistants. Gerling has been a coach in the program for the better part of a decade.
“We’re all homegrown,” says Holycross.
Located less than a mile north of the school, Covington Trojan Complex is home to baseball, softball, tennis, track, football, cross country and soccer.
With no trees right next to it, there is a fair amount of wind at the baseball field.
“Keep the ball low when you’re pitching,” says Holycross. “If you get it up in the air it’s going to carry.”
Home runs to left field land in a cornfield.
There are no lights for baseball, meaning Covington has not hosted sectional in years. This year, the Trojans are getting a new scoreboard.
The facility also gets TLC from the players.
“We take care of our field before, during and after games,” says Holycross, who divides them into groups to take care of raking, tamping, tarping etc. “We’re finally getting it up to where it needed to be when I played.”
There is a Covington Trojan Baseball Facebook page. Plans call for home games to be streamed on GameChanger.
Holycross is general manager at Glasscock Equipment & Sales in Veedersburg Ind., which specializes in farm implements.
Scott and Rebecca Holycross have been married for 16 years and have two children — Emma (18) and Raylon (11).
Rebecca Holycross attended Covington until her junior year then graduated from Schlarman Academy in Danville, Ill., in 2003. She was in dance, basketball, softball and tennis during her school years.
Emma Holycross is a Covington senior who plays soccer, basketball and softball.
Fifth grader Raylon Holycross is in football, basketball and baseball and is already a veteran varsity batboy.
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