Canes National | www.IndianaRBI.com

Josh Pyne decided early in life that he wanted to play college baseball.
And not just anywhere.
Pyne desired to play at Indiana University, having been born in Bedford, Ind., and grown up near Bloomington in Linton, Ind.
“We were a 25-minute drive away,” says Pyne, a 19-year-old freshman who has started all 31 games so far for the 2022 Hoosiers. “My dad a huge IU basketball fan and still is. I grew up an IU baseball fan.”
Pyne verbally committed to IU his freshman year at Linton-Stockton High School when Chris Lemonis was Hoosiers head coach.
Jared Pyne is a lineman superintendent for Greene County REMC. His wife, Brooke Pyne, works for a Navy contractor. Oldest son Jacob, 23, is a Daviess County REMC lineman. Daughter Adalyn, 17, is a Linton-Stockton junior involved in cheerleading and track and interested in animals.
Middle child Josh followed Jacob into motocross as the family criss-crossed the country on that circuit.
After Josh raced for a few years, along came baseball. He threw himself into the diamond sport, playing for the Smithville Scrappers at 9. Family friend Mike Vaughn coached that team and would be Pyne’s coach with the Indiana Nitro and Indiana Bulls through his 15U summer.
“I appreciate everything he’s done for me,” says Pyne of Vaughn.
Another summer with the Jeremy Honaker-coached Bulls was followed by a summer with Jay Hundley’s Canes Midwest team.
In the fall of his junior year at Linton-Stockton, Pyne was with the Jeff Petty-coached Canes National squad. The next summer he played for Johnny Goodrich’s Orlando Scorpions.
To help with the transition from high school to college, freshmen were brought on-campus last summer to take classes, get in the weight room and begin the bonding process. It’s a class that includes infielder Evan Goforth (Floyd Central), right-handed pitcher Luke Hayden (Edgewood) and outfielder Carter Mathison (Homestead). The latter has started in 29 games and appeared in 31 this spring.
Business Management major Pyne already had a relationship with one Hoosier, having played baseball and basketball with Kip Fougerousse (who was a 1,000-point scorer on the hardwood) at Linton-Stockton.
Josh and sophomore catcher/infielder Kip hang out a lot at IU.
“I go over to his house almost everyday,” says Pyne. “We play cards or get some food. We have a background like nobody else on the team.”
Pyne say it was a big adjustment going from high school to college, but that has been eased by the bonding, the leadership or older players and the coaching staff led by Jeff Mercer.
The biggest difference in high school and college baseball to Pyne is the pace of play.
“I see how much faster everything is,” says Pyne. “Balls are balls hit harder. Pitches are quicker. You have less reaction time.”
To adapt to this, the Hoosiers practice and train at game speed.
“You have to go full speed and push yourself to get used to that pace of play,” says Pyne. “Some drills uncomfortable because it speeds us up. But you have to be uncomfortable to be better.”
Pyne, who was a shortstop in high school and travel ball, has gotten used to “27 outs” when Mercer or assistant Derek Simmons laces balls all over the field and Pyne can get live reads off the bat at 100 mph or more.
Mercer has plenty of praise for Pyne.
“Josh is just an A ++ kid. I’m super proud of him,” says Mercer. “He’s a southern Indiana kid at IU playing his tail off. He’s an awesome dude. He’s very talented. He can have a great at-bat. He’s a great defender and baserunner and an awesome teammate.
“He’s everything a Hoosier should be.”
Pyne was a four-year letterwinner and four-time captain at Linton-Stockton playing for Miners baseball head coach Matt Fougerousse, Kip’s father.
As a senior, Pyne was an all-state selection and the team MVP. He was all-Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference three times and set a single-season school record with 50 hits.
As a basketball player for coach Joey Hart, Pyne was part of three IHSAA Class 2A sectional championships and played in the 2019 2A state championship game as a sophomore.
“I played basketball to keep in shape and for the fun of it,” says Pyne.
Josh recalls that Matt Fougerousse’s was always there for late-night batting practice after basketball games or practices.
“He helped me for those four years,” says Pyne. “He even stayed and coached me for my senior year when he really didn’t have to.”
Matt stepped away from coaching at the end of the 2021 season, giving himself more of a chance to see Indiana play.
Going into a Big Ten Conference series April 15-17 at Rutgers, righty swinger Pyne is hitting .301 (37-of-103) with four home runs, seven doubles (tied for second on the team), 31 runs batted in (second on the team) and 19 runs scored. He carries an OPS of .820 (.365 on-base plus .455 slugging).
Pyne produced a career highs three hits, four RBIs and two runs scored April 10 at Purdue. He rapped two doubles April 2 against Northwestern.
Indiana 13-18 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers are 3-5 in April.
The team’s freshmen third baseman is confident IU will get rolling.
“We just need to compete on the mound and at the plate,” says Pyne. “It will all fall into place.
“We have the talent to do it.”

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

Andrew Dutkanych IV is a dedicated student – academically and athletically.
During the current fall semester at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis, senior Dukanych is taking nine courses and eight are of the Advanced Placement variety. During the spring semester of 2020-21, he earned a weighted 4.65 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.
As a baseball player – particularly as a pitcher — the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder has investigated ways to make steady progress.
Dukanych committed to powerhouse Vanderbilt University at the beginning of his sophomore year at Brebeuf. In two seasons with the Braves (2020 was taken away by the COVID-19 pandemic), he is 12-6 with a 1.29 earned run average, 206 strikeouts and 35 walks in 119 innings. He averages 12.1 K’s and 2.0 walks per seven innings. His WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) is 0.84.
He tossed an 18-strikeout no-hitter in the 2021 Marion County tournament championship game against Lawrence North at Victory Field and earned honorable mention on the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 3A all-state team.
Jeff Scott is Brebeuf’s head coach. Wes Neese is the pitching coach.
“He’s really good,” says Dutkanych of Scott. “He puts a lot on us players. He likes us to lead the team.
“Coach Neese and I talk about pitching and planning.”
The 18-year-old right-hander’s four-seam fastball has been clocked at 97 mph and regularly sits in the mid 90’s. He credits his training to his climb in speed.
“I’ve had consistency in the weight room and with my plan and gradually added velo,” says Dukanych, who has been working on strength training and arm care since he was 14. Greg Vogt is the founder and Anthony Gomez the lead floor trainer at PRP Baseball in Noblesville, Ind.
“It’s an independent thing, but I have constant communication,” says Dutkanych. “They devised a plan for me.”
Pulldowns — aka Running Throws or Run ’n Guns — are max-effort throws with a running start in the off-season. They are often charted on standings boards, giving an extra layer of competition to training.
“It’s it’s a tool that helps you condition your arm and gradually throw harder,” says Dutkanych. “If you want to throw harder you’ve got to practice throwing hard at times.”
Dutkanych offers a comparison.
“Sprinters sometimes run slightly downhill which forces their legs to move faster,” says Dutkanych. “With a pulldown, your arm is going to move faster. Your body can feel what 102 (mph) is like and that can translate to the mound. But I do pulldowns like three times a year. It’s more important to throw bullpens on the mound.”
Dutkanych’s mound arsenal — thrown from what he describes as “a relaxed over-the-top” arm angle — also features a slider, curve and change-up and he plans to add a two-seam fastball.
“I use a lot of my own ideas,” says Dukanych. “I don’t think I’ve had a coach call my pitches since I was 13.”
His slider is characterized by its late movement.
“I try to make it look like a fastball,” says Dutkanych. “When its good, it breaks late to the left and falls to the ground. It’s not a sweeper.”
The curve spins over the top with downward bite.
“I like to throw it for strikes because it freezes the batter,” says Dutkanych.
The change-up is new. He did not throw one in the spring or at the beginning of the summer.
Major League Baseball and USA Baseball hosted the High School All-American Game at Coors Field in Denver July 9 and Dukanych worked one inning.
Dutkanych pitched two innings in the Perfect Game National Showcase July 14-18 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Dutkanych was invited to the Prospect Development Pipeline League in July. From the Top 96 in the country, he made the trials then the Team USA roster for a Sept. 2-8 seven-game Friendship Series vs. Canada in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. He started Game 1 and relieved in Game 6.
Before that came one inning in the Perfect Game All-American Classic (July 29 in San Diego) and three in the East Coast Pro (Aug. 2-5 in Hoover, Ala.). Between them he began working on the change-up and began using it as another weapon.
“This off-season I’m going to try to develop a two-seam fastball to develop at the bottom of the zone,” says Dutkanych, who also found time in the summer to play in Perfect Game tournaments with the Philadelphia Phillies Scout Team in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Atlanta and with the Indiana Bulls in Hoover.
His summer number is often 84 since it equates with initials of “AD4.”
It was just this week that Dutkanych the academic caught up on the classwork he missed while he was away from Brebeuf.
In 2020, Dutkanych the athlete helped Canes National win the Perfect Game National Championship. He was with the team in events in Atlanta and the the USA Baseball complex in Cary, N.C.
The righty is on a path to college baseball in Nashville, but there is a possibility that he could be selected high in the 2022 MLB First-Year Player Draft and decide to begin his professional career.
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Dutkanych played at Washington Township Little League and then went into travel ball during his 13U summer with the Indiana Bulls. Before entering Brebeuf, he attended Westlane Middle School (an Indianapolis North Central High School feeder).
He is the oldest of attorney Andrew Dutkanych III and grants manager Caroline Dutkanych’s four boys. Sam Dutkanych (14), Jack Dutkanych (11) and Luke Dutkanych (8) are all involved in multiple sports, including baseball.