By STEVE KRAH
Indiana Tech’s 2019 season ended in Lewiston, Idaho, at the NAIA World Series. The Warriors went 42-16-1.
Tech concluded play in 2020 much sooner than planned because of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.
With a win against Viterbo March 11 in Georgia, the Warriors finished at 11-5.
Since then, the Tech team and coaching staff have been moving forward while social distancing.
“Everybody’s numb to how it happened,” says second-year assistant coach Brent Alwine of how the season was rolling and then came to a screeching halt. “We’ve got (players) doing workouts. We’re hoping a lot of guys get to play this summer.
“So much is unknown.”
What is known for Alwine is that he is not the same coach at 36 and married with three sons and with many different diamond experiences behind him than he was at 23 and just out of college.
“I used to think there was only one way to teach,” says Alwine, who works with infielders and hitters. “You learn to adapt to the personnel you have rather than philosophy that’s cut and dried.”
It has also become relational vs. transactional. It’s a point that has become clearer since Brent and Brandi Alwine, a physician’s assistant for Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, have had Beckett (7), Bode (5) and Brooks (8 months). All three have baseball ties to their names.
There are four reasons for Beckett — the sports card magazine, the ballplayer (Josh Beckett), the brand of boilers his father, Jim, sells, and the town in Massachusetts where he worked at a camp with former Indiana University head baseball coach Bob Morgan. The boy’s full name is Beckett Steven James Alwine. Brandi’s father Steve passed away in 2001. The other middle name to to honor Brent’s father, who has coached high school baseball at North Miami and Peru.
Bode’s middle name is Maddux as an homage for Hall of Famer Greg Maddux.
Brooks is a nod to former Western Michigan University catcher Brooks Beilke.
“I’m coaching someone’s kids,” says Alwine. “I want to win. But I would rather win and 10 years down the line have a relationship with the players I coached.”
Alwine joined head coach Kip McWilliams in Fort Wayne, Ind., having been an assistant to Billy Gernon at Western Michigan (2011 and 2012), Ed Servais at Creighton University (2009 and 2010) and Gernon at alma mater Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne (2007 and 2008). He holds a bachelor’s degree from IPFW (now Purdue Fort Wayne) and a master’s degree from Indiana University.
He was head coach at Perry (Mich.) High School (2013) and a director for Prep Baseball Michigan and has coached with the Summit City Sluggers, leading 12U, 13U and then 17U travel teams and served as an associate scout for the Texas Rangers.
“You learn a lot when you coach younger kids,” says Alwine. “You have to really explain things and get them to buy into it.”
An attribute that Alwine appreciates about McWilliams is that he values the opinions of his assistants.
“He lets his assistant coach,” says Alwine. “He doesn’t micro-manage and he looks for our input.
“I trust him. In today’s world, it’s hard to trust everybody.”
Alwine has a few points of emphasis with his infielders.
“I want them to be athletic and take good angles to the baseball,” says Alwine. “It starts with our throwing program. Throwing and catching is the main thing in baseball.”
He makes it a point to observe when his fielders are playing catch to see that they are getting their footwork right and taking it seriously.
“When the pressure’s on, a good throw is going to win you a game,” says Alwine, who has his infielders practicing double players during between-innings warm-ups.
Alwine observes how organized McWilliams is, something that is vital when you carry a roster of more than 60 players — varsity and developmental.
“You have to be organized to get everybody involved,” says Alwine. “Year 2 helped me see that a little better than Year 1.”
The Warriors make a point of hustling all the time — even the coaching staff runs on the field.
“That’s the way it should be,” says Alwine. “(On game day), it sets a tone for your own team and the team you’re getting ready to play.
“These guys are here for business.”
Alwine says having the season stopped is likely to make the players more appreciative of the opportunity to play when fall camp rolls around.
“Fall can be a tough time to motivate because there’s nothing on the line,” says Alwine. “(Players) should be excited. They had baseball taken away from them.”
Alwine says 10 of 14 seniors this spring have opted to come back for an extra year of eligibility granted by the NAIA.
With the Indiana Tech campus closed to all but essential workers, students have been finishing their spring term online.
“It’s new to a lot of these professors, too,” says Alwine. “Everybody’s going through the same thing. It’s brought a sense of community back.”
To stay connected the to the baseball community, Alwine says Tech coaches have regular Zoom meetings. These have been done by class and within the staff, which also includes Gordon Turner, Miguel Tucker and Marshall Oetting, and will also include positions, incoming freshmen and transfers.
Alwine was born in Peru, Ind., and grew up in Mexico, Ind. He played soccer, a little basketball and baseball North Miami Middle/High School. John Burrus was the head coach for basketball and baseball. Alwine was a shortstop on the diamond.
At IPFW, he played second base for Gernon.
“He does things the right way,” says Alwine of Gernon. “He demands a lot of his players. He care for his players, too.”
Alwine went to Creighton to be a volunteer coach. Within a month of arriving in Omaha, Neb., a paid assistant position opened up and he took it. There, he was in charge of outfielders and catchers.
“It made me a better coach,” says Alwine. “I had to learn those positions in detail to make players better.”
Servais displayed an attention to detail and stressed the fundamentals.
“That’s why Creighton — year in and year out — leads the country defensively.”
Servais, the uncle of former big league catcher Scott Servais, did not get too high or too low.
“He’s very level-headed,” says Alwine. “He thinks forward — next player, next pitch, next at-bat.”
The Bluejays skipper has been rewarded with 745 career victories.
More than 20 players that have been selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, including two at Creighton that made it to the majors — San Franciso Giants first baseman Darin Ruf and Baltimore Orioles left-handed pitcher Ty Blach.
Alwine coached infielders and hitters at Western Michigan. He was in the fall of his second year with the Broncos when he got into a very bad car accident on I-94 near Kalamazoo, Mich.
He was put into an induced coma with a traumatic brain injury. After a couple weeks at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, he was transferred to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich. After about three weeks, he regained consciousness.
Among the first requests he had was for a second opinion on the plastic surgeon.
“I am very, very fortunate to be alive,” says Alwine. “God was looking out for me that day. The biggest thing is the amount of people who prayed for me.
“I had very positive people around me who supported me and got me through it. I get to coach baseball and see my kids grow up.”
Brent Alwine (left) observes players during Indiana Tech’s 2019 NAIA World Series appearance. It was Alwine’s first season on the Warriors baseball coaching staff. (Indiana Tech Photo)
Brent Alwine (center) is in his second season as an assistant baseball coach at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 2020. He is a graduate of North Miami High School and Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne. (Indiana Tech Photo)
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