By STEVE KRAH
The ability to keep the offensive line moving is one reason Fremont (Ind.) High School finds itself ready to compete for the third IHSAA regional baseball title in school history. The others came in 1998 and 1999.
“We like to move and put pressure on the other team,” says Ian Burkhart, a 2011 Fremont graduate who first coached at his alma mater at the end of the 2015 season is in his second season as Eagles head coach in 2024. He is taking his 14-14 squad into one-game Class 1A regional against North Miami (8-16) at 3 p.m. today (June 1) at Bill Nixon Field in Plymouth. “We’ll put guys in motion, bunt-and-run and hit-and-run. It’s very cool that — 1 through 9 — we can bunt at any time. (Our players) embrace it and they run with it.”
The Eagles also keep moving via running for stolen bases.
“We give them all the green light until they show us that they can’t,” says Burkhart.
Led by senior Brody Foulk (15), junior Cayden Hufnagle (12) and senior Corbin Beeman (11), the team has pilfered 62 bags.
Among regulars, Fremont’s top hitters are No. 2 hitter/center fielder Foulk (.424), No. 5 hitter/catcher Tyler Miller (.368), No. 4 hitter/pitcher/third baseman Hufnagle (.366) and junior No. 3 hitter/shortstop Colten Guthrie (.357).
Leading the Eagles on the mound are right-hander Hufnagle (6-4, 1.81 earned run average, 50 1/3 innings), right-hander Beeman (1-1, 2.59, 21 2/3 IP), junior left-hander Jackson Foster (5.47, 15 1/3 IP and right-hander Guthrie (0-3, 4.64, 22 2/3 IP).
What does Burkhart ask of his pitchers?
“You’ve got to throw strikes, pound the zone as much we and and force weak contact,” says Burkhart. “We pride ourselves on defensively making the automatics. We don’t need to make all the outstanding plays. We need to make as many of those 90-percents as we can.”
To get to regional and earn that fire engine ride around town, Fremont hosted and won a sectional title, beating Elkhart Christian Academy 12-2 and Fort Wayne Canterbury 10-0. Others in the seven-team field were Bethany Christian, Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian, Hamilton and Lakewood Park Christian.
Starting with 1976, Fremont has now earned nine sectional championships. The last three came in 2018, 2019 and 2022.
Fremont (enrollment around 290) is a member of the Northeast Corner Conference (with Angola, Central Noble, Churubusco, Eastside, Fairfield, Garrett, Lakeland, Prairie Heights, West Noble and Westview).
Rob Hale, Travis Parnin and Dave Smith are varsity assistants at Fremont and Christian Bice (Class of 2021) leads the junior varsity.
The Eagles’ home diamond is Probst Park, named in honor of former head baseball coach/athletic director Roger Probst.
“We take a lot of pride in the playing surface and how our infield plays,” says Burkhart. “We make it as smooth it can be.”
Re-sodding is done every few years.
The facility has had lights for many years.
“That’s a fortunate thing for us,” says Burkhart. “We are able to play games all times of day.
“We have an athletic director (Cal Stone) is willing to help us out with whatever we need. He’s told us that whatever we need to be successful, he’ll make it happen.”
While there are no commits in the current group, tecent college players include Class of 2022’s Nick Miller at Indiana Tech and Gabel Pentecost at Taylor University.
Burkhart dressed for sectional as a Fremont freshman in 2008. That was the last season as head coach for Probst. Justin Bock was head coach the next three seasons with power-hitting Burkhart on varsity full-time.
“I enjoyed the way Justin coached the game,” says Burkhart, who got his ideas about motion while playing for and coaching under Bock. “He was very much about getting guys moving and getting the defense to adjust and adapt to us.”
After high school, Burkhart played four years (2012-15) at Defiance (Ohio) College. He was a catcher when he joined the then-Derek Woodley-coached Yellow Jackets and transitioned to first base as a junior. Woodley is now minor league defensive coach in the New York Yankees organization.
Defiance is also where he met his future wife Stephanie. The couple lives in Fremont and this summer are in charge of the community’s youth baseball and softball programs (ages 4-14) with help of many adult voluteers.
Ian coaches the Fremont Eagles 14U team in the Coldwater, Mich.,-based Sandy Koufax League.
And if there’s not enough excitement around Fremont, the softball team is also still in the postseason. The slugging Eagles are in the 1A Northern Semistate today (June 1) at Frankfort.
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