Indiana Wesleyan U. keeps racking up stolen bases

By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Indiana Wesleyan steals bases at the rate of 4.18 per game.
Led by Lucas Goodin (25), M.J. Stavola (23), Caleb Engelsman (20) and Jake Thompson (18), the NAIA Wildcats have swiped 134 as a team — the most among all 39 college baseball teams in Indiana so far in 2023.
Among NAIA teams, IUPU-Columbus (97) is next, followed by Oakland City (71), Huntington (69), Bethel (62), Grace (59), IU-Kokomo (55), Saint Francis (48), Marian (39), IU Southeast (38), Taylor (36), Calumet of St. Joseph (34), IU South Bend (33), Indiana Tech (29) and Goshen (14).
Paced by Couper Cornblum (14), Mike Bolton Jr. (12) and Evan Albrecht (11), Purdue (56) leads NCAA D-I teams.
Next is Southern Indiana (36), Ball State (31), Notre Dame (30), Evansville (29), Indiana (27), Butler (24), Purdue Fort Wayne (23), Indiana State (15) and Valparaiso (15).
Guiding NCAA D-II leader Indianapolis (62) is Caleb Vaughn (21), Jared Bujdos (11) and Easton Good (10).
Purdue Northwest (19) is the state’s other D-II program.
NCAA D-III base pilferers are Earlham (53), Franklin (53), Anderson (24), Manchester (33), DePauw (21), Hanover (21), Wabash (21), Trine (18) and Rose-Hulman (16).
Nathan Lancianese (10) is out front for Earlham with Tysen Lipscomb (11) and A.J. Sanders (10) spearheading Franklin.
Among junior college teams, there’s Ivy Tech Northeast (52), Vincennes (50) and Marian’s Ancilla (20).
Ivan Balboa (13) leads Ivy Tech and Ethan Burdette (13) Vincennes.

Individual leaders:
Wyatt Sutton (IUPU-Columbus) 27
Lucas Goodin (Indiana Wesleyan) 25
M.J. Stavola (Indiana Wesleyan) 23
Langston Ginder (Huntington) 22
Jeremy Wiersema (Bethel) 22
Caleb Vaughn (Indianapolis) 21
Caleb Engelsman (Indiana Wesleyan) 20
Maximo DeLeon (Grace) 19
Jake Thompson (Indiana Wesleyan) 18
Xavier Croxton (Saint Francis) 15
Couper Cornblum (Purdue) 14
Xander Willis (Oakland City) 14

Ivan Balboa (Ivy Tech Northeast) 13
Ethan Burdette (Vincennes) 13
Mike Bolton Jr. (Purdue) 12
Caden Mason (Marian) 12
Logan Smith (IU South Bend) 12
Evan Albrecht (Purdue) 11
Noah Baugher (Oakland City) 11
Conner Beatty (IUPU-Columbus) 11
Trevor Campbell (IU Southeast) 11
Jared Bujdos (Indianapolis) 11
Riley Garczynski (IU-Kokomo) 11
Tysen Lipscomb (Franklin) 11
Luke Montgomery (Purdue Northwest) 11
Coby Campbell (IU South Bend) 10
Phillip Glasser (Indiana) 10
Easton Good (Indianapolis) 10
Evan Kahre (Southern Indiana) 10
Nathan Lancianese (Earlham) 10
Brenden Lytle (Saint Francis) 10
Anthony Miranda (Bethel) 10
Ryan Peltier (Ball State) 10
Eric Roberts (Evansville) 10
A.J. Sanders (Franklin) 10
Satchell Wilson (Huntington) 10
Kade Kline (Rose-Hulman) 9
Jayden Lepper (Saint Francis) 9
Jackson Paradise (IUPU-Columbus) 9
Luke Picchiotti (Taylor) 9
Sam Pinckert (Oakland City) 9
Aron Busick (Oakland City) 8
Seth Gergely (Indiana State) 8
Trey Heidlage (Marian) 8
Christian Lancianese (Earlham) 8
Jack Leverenz (IU-Kokomo) 8
Ian McCutcheon (Huntington) 8
Sam Newkirk (Grace) 8
Cyrus Robinson (IUPU-Columbus) 8
Mason White (IU Southeast) 8
Alex Yurt (IU Southeast) 8
Victor Alvarez (Oakland City) 7
Peyton Blinn (IUPU-Columbus) 7
Jake Danneman (Hanover) 7
Colin Fee (IUPU-Columbus) 7
Sean Jeffries (Earlham) 7
Keenan LeBlanc (Grace) 7
Darrius Little (Calumet of St. Joseph) 7
Cameron Macon (DePauw) 7
Noah Matheson (Ivy Tech Northeast) 7
Ty Mathews (Indiana Wesleyan) 7
Sean Moore (Calumet of St. Joseph) 7
Caleb Niehaus (Southern Indiana) 7
Jeff Pawlik (Grace) 7
J.J. Rivera (Marian) 7
Luke Roman (Indiana Wesleyan) 7
Ren Tachioka (Southern Indiana) 7
Greg Vineyard (Indiana Wesleyan) 7
Noah Wood (Franklin) 7
Alec Beatty (IUPU-Columbus) 6
Raef Biddle (Grace) 6
Brooks Coetzee (Notre Dame) 6
Brandon DeWitt (Indianapolis) 6
Carter Dorighi (Butler) 6
Colton Evans (Vincennes) 6
Kaleb Fritz (Ivy Tech Northeast) 6
Payton Hall (Oakland City) 6
Rocco Hanes (Manchester) 6
Trey Johnson (IUPU-Columbus) 6
Kaleb Kolpien (Taylor) 6
Robert Kortas (Trine) 6
Eli MacDonald (Bethel) 6
Mac Moore (Earlham) 6
Jeff Morton (Indiana Wesleyan) 6
Jack Penney (Notre Dame) 6
Tucker Platt (IU-Kokomo) 6
Jayden Reed (Indiana Tech) 6
Kyle Schmack (Valparaiso) 6
Alex Stout (Bethel) 6
Sean Sullivan (Franklin) 6
Adam Tellier (Ball State) 6
Quinn Willard (Indiana Wesleyan) 6
Owen Benson (IU South Bend) 5
Connor Boone (Marian’s Ancilla) 5
Nolan Bowser (IU-Kokomo) 5
Tyler Cerny (Indiana) 5
Justin Conant (Ball State) 5
Mason David (Taylor) 5
Jake DeFries (Butler) 5
Thomas Dolan (Bethel) 5
Kamden Earley (Wabash) 5
Brennan Frickel (Taylor) 5
Maurey Garrett Jr. (Calumet of St. Joseph) 5
Jarrett Gray (Huntington) 5
Kaleb Hannahs (Valparaiso) 5
Chase Hug (Evansville) 5
Rylan Huntley (Marian) 5
Tyler Jakob (Huntington) 5
Jake Jarvis (Purdue) 5
William Johnson (Ivy Tech Northeast) 5
Kallen Kelsheimer (Huntington) 5
Jonathan LaGuire (Franklin) 5
Vian Mariani (Manchester) 5
Nolan McKim (Indiana Tech) 5
Trevor Patterson (Indiana Tech) 5
Harrison Pittsford (Manchester) 5
Gabriel Quinones (Calumet of St. Joseph) 5
Luke Renard (Anderson) 5
Adam Stefanelli (Trine) 5
Tarron White (Ivy Tech Northeast) 5
Matt Wolff (Huntington) 5

A check of D-I standings sees Ball State in first in the Mid-American Conference, Indiana tied for first in the Big Ten Conference and Indiana State tied for first in the Missouri Valley Conference.
In NCAA D-IIII, Rose-Hulman is in first in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and Trine atop the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Associaton.
In the NAIA, Indiana Wesleyan leads the Crossroads League.
The top current win streaks are owned by NAIA Indiana University Southeast 11, NCAA D-III Rose-Hulman six, NCAA D-III Franklin five, NAIA Indiana Wesleyan four and NCAA D-I Indiana three.

Below are season records, weekly results and links to web pages, schedules and statistics.

INDIANA COLLEGE BASEBALL
Records Through April 2
NCAA D-I
Ball State 20-7 (10-2 MAC)
Indiana 20-8 (5-1 Big Ten)
Evansville 16-11 (3-3 MVC)
Notre Dame 14-11 (5-7 ACC)
Indiana State 14-12 (5-1 MVC)
Purdue 12-14 (3-3 Big Ten)
Valparaiso 8-12 (0-5 MVC)
Southern Indiana 8-20 (1-5 OVC)
Purdue Fort Wayne 8-20 (5-4 Horizon)
Butler 7-20 (0-0 Big East)

Schedule Links
Ball State
Butler
Evansville
Indiana
Indiana State
Notre Dame
Purdue
Purdue Fort Wayne
Southern Indiana
Valparaiso

Stat Links
Ball State
Butler
Evansville
Indiana
Indiana State
Notre Dame
Purdue
Purdue Fort Wayne
Southern Indiana
Valparaiso

NCAA D-II
Indianapolis 14-11 (2-0 GLVC)
Purdue Northwest 5-17 (1-7 GLIAC)

Schedule Links
Indianapolis
Purdue Northwest

Stat Links
Indianapolis
Purdue Northwest

NCAA D-III
Franklin 14-6 (4-1 HCAC)
Earlham 14-7 (4-2 HCAC)
Wabash 14-9 (0-2 NCAC)
Rose-Hulman 13-6 (5-0 HCAC)
Anderson 12-9 (2-4 HCAC)
Trine 11-9 (2-0 MIAA)
Manchester 10-11 (1-4 HCAC)
Hanover 7-13 (1-4 HCAC)
DePauw 5-11 (0-0 NCAC)

Schedule Links
Anderson
DePauw
Earlham
Franklin
Hanover
Manchester
Rose-Hulman
Trine
Wabash

Stat Links
Anderson
DePauw
Earlham
Franklin
Hanover
Manchester
Rose-Hulman
Trine
Wabash

NAIA
Oakland City 22-12 (6-9 RSC)
Taylor 23-11 (16-4 CL)
Huntington 21-10 (15-5 CL)
Indiana Wesleyan 20-11-1 (15-3 CL)
IU Southeast 17-13 (11-4 RSC)
Indiana Tech 16-7 (4-4 WHAC)
IU-Kokomo 16-13 (7-6 RSC)
Grace 13-14 (5-11 CL)
Marian 13-15 (7-9 CL)
Bethel 13-19 (6-14 CL)
Calumet of St. Joseph 13-20 (5-7 CCAC)
Saint Francis 12-16 (7-9 CL)
IU South Bend 11-17 (7-3 CCAC)
Goshen 7-21 (3-13 CL)
IUPU-Columbus 1-30

Schedule Links
Bethel
Calumet of St. Joseph
Goshen
Grace
Huntington
IU-Kokomo
IUPU-Columbus
IU South Bend
IU Southeast
Indiana Tech
Indiana Wesleyan
Marian
Oakland City
Saint Francis
Taylor

Stat Links
Bethel
Calumet of St. Joseph
Goshen
Grace
Huntington
IU-Kokomo
IUPU-Columbus
IU South Bend
IU Southeast
Indiana Tech
Indiana Wesleyan
Marian
Oakland City
Saint Francis
Taylor

Junior College
Vincennes 16-16 (4-4 MWAC)
Ivy Tech Northeast 14-13
Marian’s Ancilla 3-19 (2-2 MCCAA)

Schedule Links
Ivy Tech Northeast
Marian’s Ancilla
Vincennes

Stat Links
Ivy Tech Northeast
Marian’s Ancilla
Vincennes

Through April 2
NCAA D-I
Tuesday, March 28
Ball State 7, Southern Indiana 6 (11 inn.)
Notre Dame 4, Butler 0
Indiana 4, Kent State 3
Indiana State 8, Purdue 2
Bowling Green 7, Purdue Fort Wayne 4
Valparaiso 7, Milwaukee 6 (11 inn.)

Wednesday, March 29
Southeast Missouri 10, Evansville 4

Thursday, March 30

Ivy Tech Northeast 6, Indiana Tech JV 1

Ivy Tech Northeast 10, Indiana Tech JV 8

Friday, March 31
Akron 4, Ball State 0
Illinois-Chicago 10, Indiana State 7
North Carolina 10, Notre Dame 8
Purdue 8, Northwestern 4
Youngstown State 12, Purdue Fort Wayne 9
Lindenwood 6, Southern Indiana 3

Saturday, April 1
Eastern Illinois 12, Butler 0
Belmont 8, Evansville 1
Penn State 7, Indiana 2
Youngstown State 15, Purdue Fort Wayne 14
Lindenwood 6, Southern Indiana 3

Sunday, April 2
Ball State 11, Akron 6
Ball State 9, Akron 1
Butler 6, Eastern Illinois 5 (14 inn.)
Butler 2, Eastern Illinois 0
Belmont 9, Evansville 2
Belmont 7, Evansville 5 (13 inn.)
Indiana 4, Penn State 1
Indiana 22, Penn State 11
Indiana State 13, Illinois-Chicago 7
Indiana State 10, Illinois-Chicago 1
North Carolina 5, Notre Dame 2
Notre Dame 9, North Carolina 1
Northwestern 7, Purdue 3
Purdue 4, Northwestern 3 (10 inn.)
Purdue Fort Wayne 9, Youngstown State 3
Southern Indiana 12, Lindenwood 9
Murray State 14, Valparaiso 3
Murray State 14, Valparaiso 5

NCAA D-II
Monday, March 27
Grand Valley State 7, Purdue Northwest 3
Purdue Northwest 7, Grand Valley State 2

Tuesday, March 28
Indianapolis 14, Findlay 8

Friday, March 31
Davenport 5, Purdue Northwest 1
Davenport 3, Purdue Northwest 2

Saturday, April 1
Indianapolis 13, Missouri-St. Louis 6
Missouri-St. Louis 7, Indianapolis 5

Sunday, April 2
Missouri-St. Louis 3, Indianapolis 2
Indianapolis 18, Missouri-St. Louis 8
Wayne State 5, Purdue Northwest 0
Wayne State 6, Purdue Northwest 5

NCAA D-III
Monday, March 27
Southwestern 10, DePauw 9
Wabash 7, Illinois Wesleyan 4

Tuesday, March 28
Bluffton 4, Anderson 2
Southwestern 8, DePauw 1
Alma 14, Earlham 5
Franklin 10, Millikin 4
Manchester 15, Hope 6
Ohio Northern 5, Trine 3

Wednesday, March 29
Texas Lutheran 9, DePauw 0
Texas Lutheran 9, DePauw 0
Rose-Hulman 6, Wabash 0

Saturday, April 1
Earlham 12, Anderson 8
Transylvania 10, Manchester 9
Transylvania 9, Manchester 0
Rose-Hulman 8, Mount St. Joseph 5

Sunday, April 2
Anderson 5, Earlham 0
Earlham 9, Anderson 8
Franklin 13, Hanover 6
Franklin 18, Hanover 8
Rose-Hulman 10, Mount St. Joseph 8
Rose-Hulman 10, Mount St. Joseph 9
Trine 5, Olivet 0
Trine 7, Olivet 3
Denison 10, Wabash 4
Denison 11, Wabash 1

NAIA
Monday, March 27
Indiana Wesleyan 19, Goshen 0
Mount Vernon Nazarene 10, Grace 4
Grace 4, Mount Vernon Nazarene 2
Ohio Christian 9, IU-Kokomo 8

Tuesday, March 28
Trinity Christian 15, Calumet of St. Joseph
IU-Kokomo 13, Georgetown (Ky.) 4
IU South Bend 7, Judson 3

Wednesday, March 29
IU Southeast 19, Lindsey Wilson 8
Indiana Tech 16, Indiana Wesleyan 10

Thursday, March 30
Indiana Wesleyan 10, Bethel 3
Indiana Wesleyan 7, Bethel 4
Calumet of St. Joseph 7, Saint Xavier 4
Goshen 11, Grace 5
Grace 9, Goshen 7
Taylor 15, Huntington 11
Taylor 4, Huntington 2
Midway 13, IU-Kokomo 1
Midway 10, IU-Kokomo 7
Asbury 14, IUPU-Columbus 4
Asbury 12, IUPU-Columbus 8
IU Southeast 11, Oakland City 6
Marian 6, Mount Vernon Nazarene 5
Marian 5, Mount Vernon Nazarene 3
Spring Arbor 5, Saint Francis 1
Saint Francis 7, Spring Arbor 5

Friday, March 31
Indiana Wesleyan 13, Bethel 3
Indiana Wesleyan 8, Bethel 3
Huntington 11, Taylor 9
Huntington 9, Taylor 7 (8 inn.)

Sunday, April 2
Saint Xavier 5, Calumet of St. Joseph 0
Calumet of St. Joseph 2, Saint Xavier 1
IU South Bend 12, Saint Ambrose 3
Saint Ambrose 1, IU South Bend 0
IU Southeast 4, Oakland City 2
IU Southeast 11, Oakland City 3
Madonna 4, Indiana Tech 2
Madonna 15, Indiana Tech 5 (8 inn.)

Junior College
Monday, March 27
McHenry County 4, Ivy Tech Northeast 0
McHenry County 8, Ivy Tech Northeast 0
Illinois Central 7, Vincennes 5
Illinois Central 8, Vincennes 2

Wednesday, March 29
Vincennes 12, Olney Central 6

Thursday, March 30
Lansing 13, Marian’s Ancilla 3
Frontier 4, Vincennes 2

Sunday, April 2
Vincennes 12, Frontier 4

Advertisement

Big Head Sports’ Miranda puts love into every glove

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

A baseball or softball glove is like a person.

Both need TLC.

A person who provides tender loving care to those fly catchers and grounder grabbers is Joey Miranda. 

He taught himself how to repair his own glove as a ballplayer and he’s been doing it for others as owner of Big Head Sports. His repeat customers include the South Bend Cubs, Notre Dame, Bethel University, Indiana University South Bend and several travel organizations.

“I really enjoy doing glove work. I really do,” says Miranda, an Osceola, Ind., resident. “It keeps me around baseball.”

Miranda, 51, grew up in Woodland, Calif., near Sacramento and went to Oakland A’s game with father Joe Sr., and San Diego Padres with his grandfather (Luis and grandmother Eva lived in Tijuana and had Joey visit each August after his baseball season) and uncle and played lots of ball while tending to his glove and those of his ball-playing buddies.

“I got really good at it,” says Miranda, who moved to northern Indiana in 2008. 

Over the years, he did research and learned how to break in gloves — what to do and not to do.

Miranda says a glove should not be put in the oven, microwave or steamer.

“It causes cracking,” says Miranda. It will also void the warranty at some sporting goods retailers. “Conditioner soothes the outside of the glove and puts moisture back into glove.”

Proper care will also extend the life of the glove.

“It won’t last as long if you don’t clean it with conditioner,” says Miranda. “I used to to use mink or Neatsfoot oil, but I’ve gotten away from that.

“If you use too much it will make the glove heavy. (Oil) doesn’t dissipate.”

Miranda, who sells new and used gloves, gives maintenance information.

“I recommend conditioning twice a year — the middle of the season and the end to protect the glove over the winter,” says Miranda. “I really like it when parents bring their athlete with them. I can inform the player on how to take care of their glove.

“At $200-$400, that’s a little bit of an investment for the parents.”

High-end gloves can have map or steer or some other kind of leather while low end ones are made of average hyde.

Miranda invites customers to shoot him a text and he will walk them through any questions they might have.

“It’s about my customers,” says Miranda. “It’s like an honor for me working on their glove.

“I have some really loyal customers that only come to me.”

Joey and Rebecca Miranda had four children. The oldest — Casey — died a few years ago. Then there’s sons Andrew and Anthony and daughter Jordan. The boys all played baseball.

When Anthony was at what is now Harris Baseball/Softball in Granger, Ind., and his glove broke his father informed him that he could fix it. The laces were swept out for white ones and it was a real attention-getter.

The next thing you know other players and parents are coming to Miranda for his glove TLC.

He started buying lace from a local man and word of his work began spreading like wildfire.

Then came Big Head Sports. The name comes from the inflated egos Miranda saw while he was a player.

“I grew up with guys who were supposed to get drafted and didn’t,” says Miranda. 

Best friend Jeff Moore is a graphic designer in California and crafted Miranda’s logo. The business motto is “Don’t let your head get bigger than the game.”

“That’s what keeps me humble in what I’m doing. I have yet to advertise other than on Facebook (or Twitter). I get new people every year by word of mouth. That feels good.

“I treat each glove as if it was my own. That’s my work that I’m putting out there.”

Joey and Rebecca have talked about one day opening a store and have been collecting old gloves and baseball memorabilia for decor.

Miranda backs up his work. He will replace materials up to four months and offers free glove-tightening.

A relationship with former South Bend Silver Hawks manager and current general manager of the 1st Source Bank Performance Center and head of the South Bend Cubs Foundation travel baseball organization Mark Haley got Miranda in with the South Bend Cubs.

Miranda’s turnaround time is often a few days depending on his schedule. Miranda is a material handler at RC Industries in Elkhart and coaches a Hitters Edge 14U travel team.

Sometimes a glove emergency arises. Like this spring when there was a blowout of Notre Dame senior and Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft prospect Niko Kavadas’ first baseman’s mitt during pregame of a game at Frank Eck stadium.

Miranda, who often took glove-related calls from Irish assistant coach Rich Wallace, got a call from the ND staff and he was off to the ballpark — about 10 miles away.

Miranda knew Kavadas from the player’s time at Penn High School and training with Mike Marks at the Hitters Edge in Sturgis, Mich., and had done a small repair on the same beloved glove.

“Niko is pretty superstitious,” says Miranda.

When Joey saw the mitt this time it had zip ties holding it together. Miranda feverishly did his thing and got it to Kavadas in the nick of time.

“I got the glove done as lineups being announced,” says Miranda.

Many folks will use bunny cords or rubber bands when breaking in a glove. Miranda discourages this because it can cause the glove to flex where the cord or band is placed. 

With his wife’s permission, he uses old dish towels and puts a ball in the glove pocket where his has been pounding it with a 5-pound weight or glove mallet.

“There’s no flex point and you’re covering a wide area,” says Miranda. “You want to make the pocket round. 

“The ball is round — not flat or taco-shaped.”

Miranda recommends catching balls off a pitching machine as part of the break-in process.

“You need to get use to the glove,” says Miranda. “A lot of it is feel.

“Also— old or new — you should be squeezing all the time.”

Many players look for the glove to do all the work.

It’s just part of fundamentals — the kind that Miranda teaches as a coach with his travel team or as an assistant to Lawrence “Buster” Hammond at South Bend Washington High School (the Panthers did not field a team this spring because of low participation numbers).

Miranda has been coaching baseball for more than two decades.

“I love coaching because it’s about the kids,” says Miranda. “You make a difference in a young man’s life.

“I’ve been clean and sober for 24 years. That’s my way of giving back.”

To contact Miranda, call 574-855-6332 or email bigheadsports28@gmail.com.

Joey Miranda (left) of Big Head Sports and Eloy Jimenez when the ballplayer was with the South Bend Cubs.

The motto of Big Head Sports — a glove care and re-lacing business owned by Joey Miranda of Osceola, Ind.