By STEVE KRAH
Jason Dorshorst has been involved in baseball in the Kouts, Ind., community for close to a decade.
The man hired as head baseball coach at Kouts Middle/High School in July has helped out in the Kouts Youth Baseball League for years.
“There’s a lot of families who have put a ton of time and effort into Kouts Youth Baseball and we’re starting to see the rewards of that,” says Dorshorst.
This past summer Dorshorst coached the Kouts Mustangs 11U travel team with oldest son Grayson (now a Kouts sixth grader and nearing 12) on the team.
Dorshorst has lived in Kouts and is now located about 10 minutes away in Valparaiso. He was head baseball coach at Morgan Township Middle/High School 2009-16 and left the school as a teacher after the 2016-17 year and is now a realtor for Listing Leaders.
He has a few more weeks to work with middle school baseball players at Kouts with some high schoolers mixed in. An IHSAA Limited Contact Period goes Aug. 28-Oct. 14.
What does Dorshorst emphasize?
“I’m a pitching-first guy,” says Dorshorst. “That’s always been my thing. We’re going to pitch and we’re going throw strikes.”
On offense, it’s all about applying pressure to the other team. That means putting the ball in-play.
The personnel dictates what the Mustangs will do.
“I’m very adaptable,” says Dorshorst. “It’s not one-size-fits-all for every team. Each team has its own identity.”
Kouts (enrollment around 250) is a member of the Porter County Conference (with Boone Grove, Hebron, Morgan Township, South Central of Union Mills, Tri-Township, Washington Township and Westville).
The Mustangs are part of an IHSAA Class 1A sectional grouping in 2024 with Bowman Academy, DeMotte Christian, Hammond Science & Technology, Morgan Township and Washington Township. Kouts has won five sectional crowns — the last in 2011.
Dorshorst says he expects Ian Garavalia (Class of 2019) to return as a volunteer coach and is working to find other assistants for 2024.
With community assistance, Dorshorst has been working on maintenance at Keith Nuest Field. The mound has been re-worked and an ideas meeting to discuss the master plan is to happen in the next few weeks.
“We’ve got ideas,” says Dorshorst. “It’s a work-in-progress.”
A recent Kouts graduate to move on to college baseball is Owen Winters (Class of 2022) at Purdue Northwest in Hammond, Ind.
The Mustangs have a large sophomore class and Dorshorst sees many of those players that are probably on the college baseball track. The majority of the starting lineup in the 2023 Hammond S&T Sectional were freshmen. Kouts is coming off a 13-12 season.
With the exception of the 2020 which was taken away by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mustangs have won 13 or more games in each campaign since 2019.
While at Morgan Township, Dorshorst coached a player now in his sixth year of professional baseball in 2023. Right-handed pitcher Joe Dougherty is with the Atlantic League’s Lexington (Ky.) Counter Clocks.
A 2022 graduate of Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., Dorshorst received his degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Before injuries curtailed his career, he played for the UWO Titans.
Jason’s wife Katie Dorshorst is a first grade teacher at Kouts Elementary School. Youngest son Maddox is a third grader and almost 9.
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