By STEVE KRAH
Lining up schools that are bigger and ones with traditionally-strong baseball programs is the way Jeff Schroeder has built his schedule at Henryville (Ind.) Junior & Senior High School for years and its paid dividends.
makes us better playing tougher competition,” says Schroeder (pronounced SHRAY-der), who is heading into his 27th season leading the Hornets. His teams have won 13 Southern Athletic Conference titles and six IHSAA Class 1A sectional crowns (the last in 2008).
The 2021 Hornets are part of an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping with Austin, Clarksville, Crawford County, Eastern (Pekin) and Providence.
Henryville (enrollment around 350) counts Borden, Crothersville, Lanesville, New Washington and South Central of Elizabeth as SAC rivals.
Conference teams play each other one time each. That suits Schroeder because he can beef up the Hornet slate.
In 2021, non-conference games include 4A’s New Albany (as part of the Stan Szajko Invitational) and Seymour and 3A’s Brownstown Central, Charlestown, Corydon Central, Scottsburg and Silver Creek as well as 2A’s Paoli and Southwestern (Hanover) and 1A’s Orleans and Trinity Lutheran.
Prior to 2020-21, Henryville, Borden and Silver Creek were in the same school district. There’s now the Borden-Henryville School Corporation and Silver Creek School Corporation.
Schroeder, who was an assistant to Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Gary O’Neal while doing his student teaching at Madison Consolidated in 1992 led led the Hornets from 1993-2012 and came back in 2014, emphasizes a commitment to the Henryville program.
“You should be putting forth your best effort everyday,” says Schroeder. “To be successful in life you have to work hard.
“You shouldn’t expect a hand-out. That’s a life lesson.”
Assisted by Brian Consley and Cody Reister (a Henryville alum who pitched at Hanover College), Schroeder expects to have 21 or 22 players to play varsity and junior varsity schedules.
With many playing soccer or tennis in the fall, only a handful participated in fall IHSAA Limited Contact Period workouts. Since the winter window opened Dec. 9, there have been more practicing while some have been busy with basketball.
Schroeder appreciates the multi-sport athlete who can develop a variety of skills while still competing.
Henryville plays its games on-campus. The field was renovated in the fall of 2011. A devastating tornado hit the school and community in the spring of 2012.
“That was a bad situation,” says Schroeder. “Everything you know is gone. They school is demolished. What is going to happen next? We didn’t know what direction we were going to take.
“It took the work of lot of people to put things back together and got things looking good again.”
With much effort, the Hornets were able to take the diamond that year.
“It’s really nice,” says Schroeder. “I’ll put our baseball infield up against any around.”
Bill Miller, who was a very successful coach at Pleasure Ridge Park High School in Louisville, Ky., ran Mid South Baseball until his death in 2018 and his company — a frequent vendor at the IHSBCA State Clinic each January — did the laser grading at Henryville.
The high school program is fed by Henryville Youth Sports, which hosts baseball for ages 3/4 and 5/6 and grades 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6 in the summer and separates seventh and eighth grade junior high teams in the spring.
Schroeder has a number of former players who are now parents and coaching at the youth league and junior high levels.
“They teach these kids the things I expect so they’re not totally lost when they get to high school,” says Schroeder.
Besides Reister, another recent Henryville graduate to move to on college baseball is all-state catcher Luke Stock. The son of Lance Stock and grandson of IHSBCA Hall of Famer Wayne Stock was at Vincennes University.
Current Henryville junior left-hander Dawson Hope has been drawing collegiate interest.
Schroeder is a graduate of Jennings County High School in North Vernon, Ind. (1984) and Indiana University Southeast in New Albany (1988). He earned a Secondary Education degree with an emphasis on Language Arts in Grades 5-12 and currently teaches Junior and Senior LA classes at Henryville.
His high school coach was Bob Howe.
“He was very direct with players,” says Schroeder of Howe. “If he had something on his mind that was bothering him, he was going to tell you.”
That was the same kind of hard-nose approach taken by Jeff’s father Don Schroeder as a long-time baseball and basketball coach at Jennings County.
“You’d better play hard for (my father) or you weren’t going to be on the team,” says Jeff Schroeder.
The elder Schroeder coached Howe.
Jeff Schroeder played one year for Dennis Bohr and three for Rick Parr at IUS.
He describes Bohr as a carefree guy who are also very competitive. Schroeder learned much about the game from Parr, who played in the Boston Red Sox organization.
Jeff’s wife, Jenny, was head softball coach at Henryville for a decade and earned much success. The couple has four children — Floyd Central High School graduates Haley (25) and Braden (21) and Silver Creek students Isabel (16) and Olivia (15). The two youngest girls are cheerleaders. Isabel also runs cross country and track.
The Henryville (Ind.) High School baseball field was renovated in the fall of 2011 then came a devastating tornado in the spring 2012 and the facility needed a lot more work for the Hornets to play there.
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