McIntosh taking advantage of two-way opportunities at Alabama State

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

When Kyler McIntosh followed his brother’s foot steps and went from Columbus, Ind., to Alabama State University baseball it was with the idea he would be a pitcher-only.
Hunter McIntosh, who had been a four-time all-area selection, three-time team captain and two-time team MVP at Columbus North High School (Class of 2012), pitched three seasons for the Hornets (2014-16) and went 14-6 with two saves, a 3.93 earned run average and 152 strikeouts and 69 walks in 151 innings.
Like his brother, Kyler McIntosh was honored as the Baseball Player of the Year for The Republic, the Columbus newspaper.
Righty thrower/swinger Kyler went 8-1 with 1.68 ERA, 60 strikeouts and eight walks in 62 2/3 innings while also hitting .394 with four home runs, five triples, 39 runs batted in and 29 runs scored in his senior season at Columbus North (2021), made the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series as a pitcher and headed for a mound in Montgomery, Ala.
Then McIntosh had a conversation with Alabama State head coach Jose’ Vazquez and his staff.
“I had them watch me swing a little bit and take some ground balls,” says McIntosh. “I was really mainly a pitcher — definitely freshman year — but I had the chance to earn my spot in the lineup.”
In 2022, McIntosh pitched in 17 games (nine starts) and played in 41. He went 4-4 with one save, a 5.78 ERA, 64 strikeouts and 17 walks in 67 innings while also hitting .384 (38-of-99) with three homers, two triples, nine doubles, 22 RBIs and 20 runs. The Hornets went 34-25 overall and 21-8 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and ended the season in the NCAA D-I Knoxville Regional.
This spring, McIntosh has been Alabama State’s starting shortstop when he’s not pitching.
He’s been in 42 games for the Hornets (30-15, 18-3). He is hitting .301 (46-of-153) with four homers, two triples, 10 doubles, 28 RBIs, 38 runs and an .840 OPS (.369 on-base percentage plus .471 slugging average).
On the mound, McIntosh has 11 appearances (eight starts) and is 3-3 with a 5.16 ERA, 35 strikeouts and six walks in 45 1/3 innings.
With all the throwing his does from the bump and in the infield, arm care of McIntosh includes plenty of weighted ball work.
“I get treatment all the time,” says McIntosh. “A couple of days after I pitch I get it scraped out and rubbed out and everything. I just do a lot of recovery. I drink a lot of water.”
McIntosh does not throw bullpens between starts — like many pitchers do.
When it looks like he might be used in relief, he throws flat ground pitches to a teammate instead of taking ground balls between innings.
“I don’t throw off a mound in the bullpen, I just get eight (warm-up) pitches,” says McIntosh. “I have two totally different mindsets when I pitch or play short.
“When I play short, it’s about having fun and keeping my team engaged and locked-in. I’m kind of psycho when I pitch. He flip a switch pretty quickly and focus on keeping me locked-in.”
Not a high-octane hurler (his top velocity is 87 to 89 mph), McIntosh employs a wide variety of pitches — sinker, slider, curveball, change-up and cutter — mostly from a three-quarter arm slot.
“I’ve learned to command them so I don’t get beat up too bad on the mound,” says McIntosh, who works this season with first-year pitching coach Branch Kloess.
Of late, McIntosh has been in the No. 2 hole in the Alabama State batting order. He explains his offensive approach.
“As a freshman, I knew (pitchers) were going to attack me,” says McIntosh. “I went up there and hunted the fastball. The first fastball I got I tried to smash it. This year is kind of the same, but they have a scouting report on me. I get pitched a lot differently then I did last year. If I do get a fastball I try to jump on it. This year it’s thinking fastball and adjusting to off-speed.
“If I see a hanging breaking ball I know I have to go after it.”
McIntosh cherishes his time with Puerto Rico native Vazquez.
“I’ve learned so much Spanish,” says McIntosh. “Playing for him is so enjoyable. I enjoy the coaching staff. It’s definitely fun when we’re winning and we’re doing a good job of that right now.”
Currently on a three-game win streak, Alabama State has three more conference series and two mid-week games prior to the SWAC Championship May 24-28 in Atlanta.
Kyler has a number of mentors. Besides his father, there’s father Dennis, Will Nelson (Hunter’s best friend and the owner of Tipton Lakes Athletic Club in Columbus) and Devin Mann (a Columbus North teammate of Hunter McIntosh who is now at Triple-A with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization).
“My dad is consistently on my butt to keep working hard,” says McIntosh. “My mother (Lani) definitely keeps me in-line. When I need something I go to her and she helps me out.”
McIntosh works out and takes lessons from Mann in the off-season.
Born in Seymour, Ind., McIntosh grew up in Columbus. He played rec ball in town and a CERA Sports Park & Campground — aka CERALand — then travel ball with the Indiana Bulls, Indiana Outlaws (which became the Canes Midwest).
Kyler played at Columbus North for head coach Ben McDaniel and assistants Mike Bodart (who is now Bull Dogs head coach), Daniel Ayers (who was selected in the 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft and pitched in the Baltimore Orioles system) and Hunter McIntosh.
McIntosh was with the Canes in the summer of 2020 and in the College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., in 2021.
Following his freshman year at Alabama State, McIntosh played in seven summer games for the Appalachian League’s Johnson City (Tenn.) Doughboys.
“I was super-tired,” says McIntosh. “My first college season really kicked me in the butt when I didn’t think it would.
“I went home early and tried to rest my body and gain weight. Gaining weight has always been my problem. I’ve always gone out there and grinded games out.
“I’ve always been kind of a scrawny kid.”
At 6-foot-1, 172 pounds, McIntosh anticipates staying in Columbus and working out while trying to pounds to come back to the Hornets a little stronger and healthier.
McIntosh is a Business Management major with a minor in Finance. His father owns a mowing business and is a distributor for Pepperidge Farms and George J. Howe Company and Kyler can see himself getting involved with one of those after graduation.

Kyler McIntosh. (Alabama State University Photo)

New Columbus North head coach Bodart putting program first

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

Mike Bodart conducted a call-out meeting Wednesday, Aug. 31, after being named head baseball coach at his alma mater — Columbus (Ind.) North High School.
There were 37 players in attendance and a few more indicated that they could not be there.
There could be about 40 players to fill out varsity and junior varsity rosters in 2023.
Bodart, a 1993 North graduate who has been a Bull Dogs assistant in two different stints (1998-2000 with head coach Val Nolan and 2014-21 with head coach Ben McDaniel), talked about putting teammates first and lifelong loyalty to Columbus North baseball.
“It’s not about us; It’s about the program,” says Bodart. “We don’t want any individuals putting themselves first.
“It’s about building.”
Bodart has had a number of former players reach out to him this week.
“I’m going to work on getting the alumni re-energized,” says Bodart. “We want to honor them a little bit.”
Ways this can be done is to recognize teams that advanced in the state tournament or prominent alums.
“We want to show the kids how loyalty to the program looks,” says Bodart.
The coach also told Wednesday’s gathering about perseverance.
As a player, he did not make the varsity until he was a senior and convinced head coach Joe Preda to keep him.
“I was not necessarily the most-talented,” says Bodart. “But I gritty, smart and worked hard. I tried to put myself in places to be successful.
“(Current players) are going to get a fair chance from me because I understand. Be ready when your chance comes.”
Columbus North (enrollment around 2,300) is a member of Conference Indiana (with Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Southport, Terre Haute North Vigo and Terre Haute South Vigo).
The Bull Dogs were part of an IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping in 2022 with Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Columbus East, East Central and Shelbyville. Columbus North has won 14 sectional titles — the last in 2021.
Bodart says there has been talk at North of adding lights and turf to the infield at the school’s field at Southside Elementary.
“We’ve never had lights in Columbus at either high school,” says Bodart. “If we end a conference game in a tie for darkness the visiting team has to come back.”
CERA Sports Park & Campground in Columbus is home to a youth baseball league.
Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus will field it first baseball team in 2022-23.
Bodart played two seasons at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany for Rick Parr and later graduated from IU-Bloomington and then joined Nolan’s staff.
“Part of his goal was to get me ready to be a varsity coach,” says Bodart. “Val is still a really good friend to this day.”
Bodart helped Gene Wise at Columbus East during the 2001 and 2002 seasons.
McDaniel, who retired after the 2021 season, did things that impressed Bodart.
“He did a wonderful job of challenging the guys mentally and making sure they were prepared,” says Bodart. “His attention to detail was ridiculously amazing. He was meticulous during the game. It forced me to be a better coach.”
Bodart says McDaniel had a way of addressing mistakes and positives.
“We have to learn from what we did,” says Bodart. “It forced me to start working on that.”
Bodart has also coached with the Diesel Baseball Club — a Bartholomew County-based travel organization — the past three years and plans to continue.
Mike and wife Amanda have two children — North sophomore Lizzie (15) and South Side Elementary fifth grader and Diesel ballplayer Michael (11).
Bodart bought Hoosier Sporting Goods in Columbus in 2003. The business has been in town for generations.
“It keeps me involved in sports,” says Bodart. “I keep up on the trends the kids like.”
He foresees letting current seniors — who missed their freshman season because of the COVID-19 pandemic and have three head coaches in McDaniel, Patrick Antone (now head coach at Roncalli) and Bodart — will be allowed to design a set of uniforms to leave their mark on the program.
There have been no college commitments among current players. Bodart says Tyler Blythe and Luke Harmon are among those from the Class of 2023 who might choose to play at the next level.
Devin Mann (Class of 2015) is a North graduate who played at the University of Louisville and is now an infielder with the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers.
Of late, some college players from North have been the Class of 2018’s Tyler Finke (Snead State Community College in Alabama and Southeastern Louisiana State University), 2019’s Parker Maddox (University of Southern Indiana) and Jakob Meyer (University of Evansville), 2020’s Casper Clark (John A. Logan College in Illinois), 2021’s Austin Bode (Louisville and Indiana University), Reese Harmon (Iowa Western Community College) and Kyler McIntosh (Alabama State University) and 2022’s Will Baker (Snead State), Dyllan Redmon (Franklin College in Indiana) and Zach Wager (University of Tennessee at Martin).

Mike Bodart. (Columbus North High School Photo)

Mike Bodart. (Columbus North High School Photo)

Mike Bodart (left) and former Columbus North head baseball coach Ben McDaniel. (Columbus North High School Photo)

Indiana Nitro grows from one team into successful travel ball organization

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

Indiana Nitro — a travel baseball organization launched in the central part of the state — has had 164 college commits and five Major League Baseball draft selections since 2014.
Among Nitro alums who went on to pro baseball are Zach Britton (Toronto Blue Jays system), Matt Gorski (Pittsburgh Pirates), Niko Kavadas (Boston Red Sox), Devin Mann (Los Angeles Dodgers), Tommy Sommer (Chicago White Sox) and Zack Thompson (St. Louis Cardinals).
The Nitro fielded more than 20 teams — spring, summer and fall — at the 8U to 17U levels in recent seasons. The group has earned many victories and championships and competed in multiple states.
It all began with a single 11U team that took to the diamond in 2010.
Tim Burns, whose sons Brendan and Brock were playing travel ball, was exploring diamond opportunities for his boys when he was approached by some fathers about coaching a team.
With the idea of being able to control development and practice schedules, the elder Burns agreed and led that first Nitro squad, featuring Brock.
Most of the players were from Hamilton County — one of the exceptions being Batesville’s Britton. Brock Burns is now on the football team at Ball State University as an outside linebacker while Brendan Burns was a right-handed pitcher for BSU baseball; Tim Burns is a graduate of Ball State where his major was Telecommunications.
Both Burns brothers are Hamilton Southeastern High School graduates — Brendan in 2014 and Brock in 2017.
Most games in 2010 were played in central Indiana and the team went 50-5 with five tournament titles. Eleven of the 12 players on that first team went on to play at the collegiate level.
Tammy Burns, Tim’s wife, told him that he did not have the time to head a travel organization. Yet momentum kept on building.
“Kids wanted to play,” says Burns.
Parents and players gathered and voted on a team name — Burns presented around 300 choices found on Google — and team colors. The Nitro wound up donning Athletic Gold and Cardinal Red and uses explosive terms like Bombs and Gas on social media.
In 2011, the Nitro had four teams. The number went to seven in 2012 then 11 in 2013. It jumped to 20 in 2014 (the first year the organization had a high school age team).
“The snowball got big,” says Burns. “It took on a life of its own.”
The mantra of the Nitro is “Advancing players to the next level.” That came to mean grooming them to play high school baseball and then — for those who wished to do so — college baseball.
“It’s a very complex recruiting process that we came up with over the years,” says Burns, a 1982 graduate of South Newton High School in Kentland, Ind., who grew up on the diamonds of Goodland, Ind., and counted Tracy Smith (who went on to coach at Miami University-Middletown, Miami University, Indiana University and Arizona State University) as a teammate. “You dive deep into it and build relationships with college coaches and recruiters.
“Learning how to help these kids get recruited was important to our board (of directors) and and organization.”
Nitro staffers work the phones on behalf of their players and are constantly seeking talent and getting ready for the next thing.
“It’s a year-round job,” says Burns, who is employed in sales for Bally Sports Indiana (the Indiana Pacers TV Network). “There’s so much behind the scenes in the off-season. It keeps the board and volunteers busy.”
Randy Poiry has been on the board since the beginning. Two sons — catcher Rutger Poiry (Lincoln Trail College and Eastern Kentucky University) and right-handed pitcher Carter Poiry (Murray State University and Quinnipiac University) — played for the Nitro.
Directors are Chris Poland (daily operations and high school age teams) and Dan Rodgers (ages 8-14). Jared Poland, son of Chris, is at the University of Louisville. Nathan Rodgers (Carmel High School Class of 2024) played for his father on the Nitro 14U Gold team in 2021.
Burns, who coached the Nitro 16U Gold team to a 26-9-1 mark in 2021 and will move up to coach the 17U Gold squad in 2022, gets players from near and far.
“We don’t care where they come from,” says Burns. “We want good kids from good families who want to put in the work.”
Nitro players train at Pro X Athlete Development on the Grand Park campus in Westfield, Ind. A membership is included with fees.
Burns counts four nephews — South Newton graduates Jarrett Hammel and Jay Hammel and Benton Central High school alums Payton Hall and Conner Hall — among former Nitro players. Former Saint Joseph’s College and Valparaiso right-hander Jarrett Hammel is now head baseball coach at Benton Central. Jay Hammel is a righty pitcher at Quincy (Ill.) University. Payton Hall is an outfielder at Oakland City (Ind.) University after transferring from the University of Southern Indiana. Former middle infielder Connor Hall is an Aviation Management student at Indiana State University.

Former Columbus North, Louisville player Mann making his way in the Dodgers system

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

At 6-foot-3, first-year professional Devin Mann is not a typical second baseman.

Of the 30 second sackers in the No. 1 slot on the latest Major League Baseball depth charts, just two are listed as taller than 6-3. Colorado’s D.J. LeMahieu and Milwaukee’s Travis Shaw are both 6-4. Eleven current 2B starters are shorter that 6-foot. And that doesn’t count two stars on the disabled list — 5-6 Jose Altuve of Houston and 5-9 Dustin Pedroia of Boston.

Pedroia is Mann’s favorite player.

Why?

“I just like how he plays the game,” says Mann. “He plays the game really hard.

“He goes about his business everyday. That’s what they taught at (the University of) Louisville. I love that about him.”

Mann, 21, was a shortstop during his four seasons at Columbus (Ind.) North High School, which concluded in 2015.

When Mann arrived at the Louisville, he was moved to second base by Cardinals head coach Dan McDonnell.

That was the position played by McDonnell at The Citadel and he put Mann through enough reps on that side of the infield that it became his natural defensive spot.

“(McDonnell) helped mold me (at second base) everyday,” says Mann. “Every kid deserves to play for a coach like that — the things he does for you as a baseball player and a person off the field don’t compare to anyone else.”

Mann also learned to flourish with the bat.

The right-handed swinger hit .303 in 39 games with no homers, nine doubles, 17 RBIs and one stolen base in 2016, .268 in 64 games with eight homers, 11 doubles, 44 RBIs and nine stolen bases in 2017 and .303 in 69 games with seven homers, 17 doubles, 52 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 2018. He hit in the No. 3 slot for the Cards this past spring.

Mann earned Atlantic Coast Conference honors in each of his three college seasons — all-freshman in 2016, third team in 2017 and all-tournament in 2018.

During that span, the Cardinals combined to go 148-45 with NCAA tournament appearances each season. U of L went to the College World Series in 2017. Louisville had eight players drafted each year, including first-rounder Brendan McKay and Jeffersonville’s Drew Ellis in 2017 and Batesville’s Bryan Hoeing (who’s announced he’s returning to Louisville for 2018-19) and Mann in 2018.

Mann was selected in the fifth round of the 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

After two games with Arizona League Dodgers, Mann has logged 38 with the Low Class-A Midwest League’s Great Lakes Loons in Midland, Mich., and is hitting .252 with one homer, eight doubles, 14 RBIs and five stolen bases. He consistently hitting from the third or fourth hole in the Great Lakes lineup.

Mann’s first professional long ball — a two-run shot — came July 8 in Midland against Dayton.

John Shoemaker is the Loons manager. The hitting coach is Jair Fernandez.

Mann says he has gained an awareness as a hitter. He recognizes the pitches he can do damage on and aggressively pursues those pitches.

“I’ve trained myself to see pitches early and have an awareness of the strike zone,” says Mann. “It’s paid dividends for me.

“I’ve definitely worked hard at it.”

Watching his power numbers go up at the end of his college career, Mann credits the increase too good mechanics and hitting his preferred pitch more times than not.

“It’s about not missing the pitch you’re getting each at-bat,” says Mann. “The rest might be pitcher’s pitches which are tougher to hit.”

Told the importance of finding a daily routine in pro baseball, where games are played nearly everyday, Mann says he was able to find one early.

Mann more of less re-wrote the offensive record book at Columbus North, finishing his prep career as the Bull Dogs’ career leader in average (.449), runs (118), hits (150), doubles (36), triples (10), home runs (20), RBI (111) and stolen bases (92). The right-handed swinger batted .410 with nine homers and 35 RBIs as a senior, earning all-state honors. He hit .433 average with 14 doubles and 24 RBIs as a junior. He set single-season records for average (.532) and stolen bases (30) as a sophomore.

His head coach was Ben McDaniel.

“He’s similar to Coach McDonnell,” says Mann of McDaniel. “He cares about you as a person off the field and knows the game.

“He demands the most out of you everyday. That’s what a team needs. He treats everybody the same — varsity, JV and freshmen.”

Devin, an only child, calls McDaniel “a second father” and says he and his parents — Bill and Diana Mann — are close friends. Bill owns Moore’s Roofing and Diana works for an asset management company.

Growing up in Columbus, Devin played early travel baseball for the Indiana Blazers. His 12-year-old summer, he was at Bartholomew County Little League as it attempted a run at the Little League World Series in Williamsport.

Mann also played travel ball for the Indiana Nitro and then the Indiana Bulls leading into his junior and senior years at Columbus North.

Dan Held was his head coach with the Bulls.

“He taught us about work ethic and getting the most out of each day,” says Mann of Held, who is now on the baseball staff at Indiana University.

Mann was a sport management major in college and is a semester shy of graduation. He says he plans to finish his degree this year or next.

Devin Mann, a Columbus, Ind., native is playing with the Great Lakes Loons in the Los Angeles Dodgers system. (Great Lakes Loons Photo)

A shortstop at Columbus (Ind.) North High School, Devin Mann was moved to second base at the University of Louisville and that’s where he plays much of the time in his first professional baseball season. (Great Lakes Loons Photo)

Devin Mann, who played at Columbus (Ind.) North High School and the University of Louisville, smacks a pitch as a member of the Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League. (Great Lakes Loons)

Columbus North’s McDaniel speaks out about travel baseball, recruiting

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Travel baseball continues to grow in Indiana.

Player are increasingly aligning with organizations for the chance to play more games.

One of the reasons many high school-aged players go with travel teams is to get seen by college coaches who attend showcase tournaments during the college off-season.

As a long-time travel ball coach and head coach at Columbus North High School, Ben McDaniel knows both worlds.

Heading into his fifth season of leading the Columbus North Bull Dogs, McDaniel has been with the Indiana Outlaws and now it’s the Evoshield Canes Midwest. The Indianapolis-based Canes draw players from around Indiana plus Ohio and Kentucky.

One Canes player from the Class of 2021 — catcher Austin Bode — has already verbally committed to the University of Louisville.

“And he hasn’t even played an inning of high school baseball,” says McDaniel of North freshman Bode. “Kids are worried about (playing in college) at earlier ages. More and more, there are coaches at every game. It used to be that I didn’t used to have a roster with me (with contact information and grade-point). Now if you’re going to coach these players, you have got to play the game.”

If McDaniel has his way, the IHSAA rule of allowing coaches to work with just two players at a time three days a week out-of-season would be lifted.

“If the kids going to put the time in, it would be nice to provide the instruction,” says McDaniel, a member of the Indiana High School Coaches Association executive committee. “I think more high school coaches would coach summer baseball if it wasn’t so strict during the summer. The game could go completely to travel and that’s not good for high school baseball.”

McDaniel says the trend now is for recruiting to be handled more by travel coaches — who have more exposure college coaches — than leaders of high school programs.

“I’m very involved (with recruiting) as a high school coach,” says McDaniel. “I know all the (travel) coaches my (Columbus North) kids are player for. You have to work in-tandem. I believe it’s a high school coach’s job to build that relationship with the college coach.”

It’s also important to not over-sell a player. That’s a good way to burn a bridge.

“You come into this world with a few things — your last name and your word,” says McDaniel. “My kids know that if a coach calls me, they’re going to get an honest assessment.”

McDaniel says his No. 1 priority as a coach is getting players who want to play college baseball, the opportunity to do so.

Since becoming North head coach for the 2014 season and winning an IHSAA East Central Sectional title (he was Brian Muckerheide’s assistant in 2013), McDaniel has watched several players sign on with colleges, including ’14 graduate Christian Glass at Xavier University, ’15 graduates Cody Burton at Indiana State University, Evan Finke at Snead State Community College and Devin Mann at Louisville, ’16 graduates Collin Lollar at Ohio State University (he’s now at Wabash Valley College) and son Brice McDaniel at Purdue University (he’s now at Walters State Community College) and ’17 graduates Cooper Trinkle at the University of Evansville, Wade Rankin at Kankakee Community College, Kevin Thompson at Olney Central College and Nolan Wetherald at Marietta College.

Mann represented North as an all-state shortstop and IHSBCA North/South All-Star in 2015. Trinkle was an all-state shortstop as a junior and all-state second baseman as a senior. He and teammate Thompson were both IHSBCA South All-Stars.

Current senior Tyler Finke is to follow brother Evan’s foot steps to Snead State.

Parker Maddox (Class of 2019) and Casper Clark (Class of 2020) have both committed to Indiana University.

Jake Petrusky (Class of 2018) and Jakob Meyer (Class of 2019) have not yet made their college commitments.

McDaniel graduated from Westerville (Ohio) South High School in 1992. His job with Honda brought him to Indiana and it became home. He still works in the automotive industry with Faurecia.

As a baseball coach, he has come to put a lot of stock in mental toughness training.

“I’m firm believer in the mental aspect of the game,” says McDaniel. “It’s an area that is under-taught and underdeveloped.”

Especially on bad weather days when the Bull Dogs can’t get outside, they will spend time doing visualization exercises.

Brian Cain, Justin Dehmer and Indiana’s Dan Thurston (confidenceinbaseball.com) are some of McDaniel’s favorite mental conditioning professionals.

“We used (Thurston) last year and we’ll probably use him again,” says McDaniel. “He worked one-on-one with a pitcher of mine. I saw some of the results first-hand.”

Columbus North advanced to the Class 4A Plainfield Semistate. Before bowing 6-0 to eventual state champion Indianapolis Cathedral, the Dogs won the Bloomington North Sectional (topping East Central 4-3, Columbus East 7-6 and Bloomington South 11-1) and Evansville Reitz Regional (besting Martinsville 3-0 and Evansville Central 7-1).

The Dogs are members of the Conference Indiana (along with Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Franklin Central, Perry Meridian, Southport, Terre Haute North Vigo and Terre Haute South Vigo).

In a format change for 2018, all conference teams will play each other once to determine the champion. Before, there were divisions with an end-of-season tournament.

McDaniel works closely with the school administration on North’s non-conference slate.

“I’m constantly trying to improve our strength of schedule,” says McDaniel, who typically sends his teams against the powerhouses around central and southern Indiana and will again take the Dogs to the early-April Super Prep Tournament hosted by Louisville Ballard. The annual event brings some of the best from multiple states.

“It’s a very good measuring stick for us at the start of the season,” says McDaniel, whose team is to play twice Friday and twice Saturday. “We get the toughest schedule I can get to prepare the guys for the postseason.”

Also helping to prepare the team is a staff featuring three pitching coaches — Jason Maddox (third season), Hunter McIntosh (second season) and Daniel Ayers (second season). Ayers pitched in the Baltimore Orioles organization and McIntosh pitched at Alabama State.

McDaniel leaves strength training, professions etc. up to his pitching experts. With their input, he sets the starting rotation and relief assignments.

North has mound depth and the new pitch count rules (1 to 35 pitches requires 0 days rest; 36 to 60 requires 1 day; 61 to 80 requires 2 days; 81 to 100 requires 3 days; and 101 to 120 requires 4 days) adopted in 2017 really meant they now had something to track and report (to the athletic director) and they developed a third starter in order to deal with the sectional.

“We always kept our guys around the 120 number anyway,” says McDaniel. “Before (the new rule), we did it more based on performance. We didn’t keep our guys on a pitch count. It was what they were conditioned to do.

“We pride ourselves that we’ve never had any arm injury.”

The varsity coaching staff also features Chris Gerth (sixth season), Will Nelson (second season) and speed and agility instructor Nathan Frasier.

Junior varsity coaches are Mike Bodart (fifth season) and Alex Engelbert (second season). North typically plays 24 to 28 JV games per spring.

The Bull Dogs play their games at Southside Elementary School near the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds — about five miles from the high school campus. The five-year facility features a locker room that’s equipped with a sound system and a TV to watch instructional videos plus ping pong and air hockey tables.

“The community gave us a pretty nice complex,” says McDaniel. “We take pride in the facility. Having a place to call their own is something special.”

Players and coaching tend to field maintenance.

“It instills a little discipline and appreciation into the kids,” says McDaniel.

Ben McDaniel is head baseball coach at Columbus North High School and also coaches for the Evoshield Canes Midwest travel organization. He also serves on the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association executive committee.