BY STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com
Kory Seitz has some points of emphasis as the new head baseball coach at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Ind.
“Out of the gate we’ve got to get stronger and have a little more grit,” says Seitz. “We are going to live in the weight room.
“I’m going to be a little less baseball and a little more that.”
Seitz, a 1996 HSE graduate who has been on the Royals coaching staff the last 18 years under four head coaches (Curry Harden, Scott Johnson, Scott Henson and Jeremy Sassanella), has witnessed a huge uptick in strikeouts by the program’s hitters in recent seasons and sees a solution.
“We’ve been overthinking things,” says Seitz. “It’s going to be different. They’re not going to be told they have to swing a certain way. The kids have to relax and be comfortable in their own skin.”
Seitz spent his entire pre-college career in the Hamilton Southeastern system. His father Ken Seitz was HSE head baseball coach for 25 years and is a member of the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The elder Seitz was also the school’s athletic director for 25 years and was IHSBCA State Clinic chairman for 15.
Kory, a former infielder who played for Bob Morgan at Indiana University, describes his father’s coaching style.
“My dad’s not a yeller,” says Kory. “He built relationships with kids. When he did get loud he got a lot better response. If you’re constantly on the negative side they’re going shut down.
“There’s a reason guys come back 30 years later at alumni night.”
Seitz uses a phrase from HSE head football coach Mike Kelly which also fits.
“You can’t make withdrawals without making deposits with kids,” says Seitz. “They know that you care about them.”
The Royals play and practice on Ken Seitz Field.
Since his retirement as head coach, Ken Seitz (who is married to Kathy with a daughter, Kristy) has served several years as an assistant and is on Kory’s varsity staff along with pitching coach Owen Callaghan (HSE Class of 2017), who just finished his fifth year at Indiana University-Kokomo and was the Cougars’ Friday starter in 2022.
“He is mature beyond his years on the baseball side,” says Seitz of Callaghan, who follows Harden as the man in charge of Royals pitchers
There is one opening at the varsity level.
HSE fields two junior varsity teams — Royal and White. Coaches include Ken Shepherd, Mason Love, John Gibbons and Brian Harrison.
Hamilton Southeastern (enrollment around 3,475) is a member of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference (with Avon, Brownsburg, Franklin Central, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville).
HCC teams play two-game series.
“I love the competition,” says Seitz of the conference. “Playing against the best puts you in the best come tournament time.”
The Royals were part of an IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping in 2022 with Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville. HSE has won 15 sectional titles — the last in 2019. The team went on to win a 4A state championship, edging Columbus East 3-2 in the finale with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Eight of the 12 players to appear in that game were seniors, including starter pitcher Michael Dillon and reliever Tyler Schweitzer.
Right-hander Dillon ranked No. 2 among all NCAA Division II pitchers in saves with 14 for Nova Southeastern University (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) in 2022. Lefty Schweitzer went 11-2 at Ball State and was selected in the fifth round of the 2022 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Chicago White Sox.
Among other recent alums to move on to college baseball are Matt Gorski (Class of 2016) at Indiana University (drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019), Carter Poiry (Class of 2016) at Western Illinois (later Lincoln Trail College, Morehead State University and Quinnipiac University), Sam Bachman (Class of 2018) to Miami (Ohio) University (drafted in the first round in 2021 by the Los Angeles Angels), Carter Lohman (Class of 2018) at the University of Louisville (drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022), Andrew Morlen (Class of 2018) at Anderson University, Lake Land College and Delta State University, Rutger Poiry (Class of 2018) at Lincoln Trail College and Eastern Kentucky University, Greyson Droste (Class of 2019) at the University of Akron, Cole Graverson (Class of 2020) at Butler University and Griffin Lohman (Class of 2020) at Purdue University.
There are no college commitments yet among current players.
Seitz looks at a number of returning pitchers who logged innings for HSE in 2022, including the Class of 2023’s Brady Strawmyer, Eli Lantz, Griffen Haas and Ty Bradle and the Class of 2024’s Ethan Lund. Lund and Haas are left-handers. The rest of right-handers.
“Growing up in this program and working under different coaches,” says Seitz. “I know a lot of these kids really well.
“I know what we have coming.”
Started three years ago, the Royals Baseball Club serves as kind of feeder for HSE. It is run as a separate entity from the school. Beginning at 13, teams play a full travel ball schedule from March to July.
Kory’s oldest son, Kam Seitz (Class of 2024), played for the 16U RBC Select team this summer.
“In our district kids have a choice of which high school they want to go to — HSE or Fishers,” says Seitz. “(With the RBC), we get get to know who are kids are. Our whole coaching staff involved in their winter workouts and are in-charge of teams if possible.
“We don’t have junior high baseball here. This is our way of connecting with those kids and building a relationship with them.”
Besides being a coach, Seitz is a realtor/broker for Keller Williams Realty.
“It’s easy for me to want to promote this area,” says Seitz.
Kory and wife Heather also have twins in the Class of 2027 — Karson (baseball) and Haleigh (softball).
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