Notre Dame bound for Statesboro Regional; Look who conferences honored

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

Notre Dame — the last college baseball team from Indiana left standing in 2022 — found out today (May 30) that the Irish will be in the Statesboro Regional for the 64-team NCAA Division I tournament.
The No. 2-seeded Irish (35-14) play No. 3 Texas Tech (37-20) at 2 p.m. Friday, June 3. Site host and top-seeded Georgia Southern (40-18) plays No. UNC Greensboro (34-28) at 7 p.m. Friday.
Notre Dame made it to the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
Regionals continue through June 6 with super regionals June 10-13 and the College World Series June 17-27.
Ball State made it to the “if necessary” Mid-American Conference tournament championship game against Central Michigan and lost 11-7 to wind up the season at 40-19 overall and 32-7 as MAC regular-season champions. Central Michigan earned an automatic NCAA tournament bid.
Evansville (32-24, 14-6), Indiana State (26-22-1, 10-10-1) and Valparaiso (16-32, 5-15) bowed out in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.
Seasons came to a close for Purdue (29-21, 9-12) and Indiana (27-32, 10-14) at the Big Ten tournament.
Purdue Fort Wayne (18-36, 13-15) finished up in the Horizon League tournament.
In the past few weeks, conferences have handed out postseason awards at the NCAA D-I, D-II and D-III, NAIA and junior college levels and there is a list of those below.

CONFERENCE AWARDS
NCAA D-I
Atlantic Coast: NOTRE DAME — lhp John Michael Bertrand (first team), of Ryan Cole (third team).
Big East: BUTLER— ss Travis Holt (second team), rhp Derek Drees (second team).
Big Ten: PURDUE — dh C.J. Valdez (first team), lhp Jackson Smeltz (third team), lhp Troy Wansing (freshman), of Tanner Haston (sportsmanship). INDIANA — c Matthew Ellis (third team), 1b Brock Tibbitts (freshman), ss Evan Goforth (freshman), 3b Josh Pyne (freshman), of Carter Mathison (freshman), if Tyler Doanes (sportsmanship).
Horizon: PURDUE FORT WAYNE — c Cade Fitzpatrick (second team), 3b Jack Lang (second team), rhp Rex Stills (freshman).
Mid-American: BALL STATE — lhp Tyler Schweitzer (pitcher of the year, first team), rhp Ryan Brown (freshman pitcher of the year, second team), 3b Ryan Peltier (defensive player of the year, second team, defensive), hc Rich Maloney (coach of the year), 1b Trenton Quartermaine (first team), of Zach Cole (first team, defensive), rhp Sam Klein (first team), of Amir Wright (second team), rhp Ty Johnson (second team).
Missouri Valley: EVANSVILLE — rhp Nick Smith (pitcher of the year, first team), hc Wes Carroll (coach of the year), 3b Brent Widder (first team), of Mark Shallenberger (first team), rhp Shane Gray (first team), 1b Tanner Craig (second team), ss Simon Scherry (second team), rhp Drew Dominik (second team), 2b Evan Berkey (honorable mention), of Eric Roberts (honorable mention). INDIANA STATE — ss Jordan Schaffer (first team), rhp Matt Jachec (first team, defensive), 2b Josue Urdaneta (second team), of Seth Gergely (second team, defensive), of Sean Ross (honorable mention), c Grant Magill (defensive). VALPARAISO — 2b Nolan Tucker (first team), rhp Colin Fields (second team), rhp Bobby Nowak (honorable mention), 3b Kaleb Hannahs (defensive).

NCAA D-II
Great Lakes Intercollegiate: PURDUE NORTHWEST — 2b Ethan Imlach (first team), of Ray Hilbrich (first team), c Jack Gallagher (second team), rhp Tyler Schultz (honorable mention), rhp Sam Shively (honorable mention).
Great Lakes Valley: INDIANAPOLIS — lhp Xavier Rivas (pitcher of the year, first team), ss Alex Vela (second team, sportsmanship), of Brandon DeWitt (second team). SOUTHERN INDIANA —lhp Sammy Barnett (sportsmanship).

NCAA D-III
Heartland Collegiate: FRANKLIN— c Logan Demkovich (first team), of Tysen Lipscomb (first team), rhp Nick McClanahan (pitcher of the year, first team), rhp Alex Reinoehl (first team), ss A.J. Sanders (first team), of Sean Sullivan (first team), 1b Matthew Earley (honorable mention), hc Lance Marshall (coach of the year), rhp Nick Elmendorf (sportsmanship). ROSE-HULMAN — rhp Ian Kline (first team), 1b Josh Mesenbrink (player of the year, first team), 3b Brett Tuttle (first team), 2b Colter Couillard-Rodak (second team), of Harrison Finch (second team), ss Manuel Lopez (second team), ut Adam Taylor (honorable mention), of Nathan Burke (sportsmanship). EARLHAM — dh Andrew Bradley (first team), 3b Devin Basley (second team), 2b Christian Lancianese (second team), of Nathan Lancianese (second team), rhp Aidan Talerek (second team), of Cameron McCabe (honorable mention), c Easton Embry (sportsmanship). ANDERSON— 1b Tyler Smitherman (first team), rhp Evan Doan (second team), lhp Kasey Henderson (second team), rhp Logan Nickel (second team), ss Justin Reed (second team), of Grahm Reedy (second team), of Jake Stank (newcomer of the year, second team), mif T.J. Price (honorable mention), c Tyler Young (sportsmanship). HANOVER — of Andrew Littlefield (first team), c Charlie Burton (second team), 1b Alex Christie (second team), rhp Charlie Joyce (second team), of Eric Roudebush (honorable mention), 3b/1b Jacob Dupps (sportsmanship). MANCHESTER— lhp Carter Hooks (first team), ut Rocco Hanes (second team), dh/ut Harrison Pittsford (second team), rhp/if Zach White (honorable mention, sportsmanship).
Michigan Intercollegiate: TRINE— rhp Josh Hoogewerf (second team), of Brenden Warner (second team).
North Coast: DEPAUW— 1b Kyle Callahan (first team), of Nick Nelson (first team), lhp Michael Vallone (first team), 2b Cameron Macon (second team), ss Evan Barnes (honorable mention), 3b Brian May (honorable mention), of/ut Danny Glimco (honorable mention). WABASH — 2b Austin Simmers (first team).

NAIA
Chicagoland: Calumet of St. Joseph — dh Bubba Davenport (second team), of Gabriel Quinones (second team). INDIANA UNIVERSITY SOUTH BEND— 2b Jake Vanderwoude (first team), c Kole Miller (second team).
Crossroads: TAYLOR — c/of T.J. Bass (player of year, first team), rhp Luke Shively (pitcher of the year, first team), rhp/of Kaleb Kolpein (newcomer of the year, second team), rhp Noah Huseman (first team), if Nick Rusche (first team, gold glove), of Conner Crawford (second team), 1b Kade VanderMolen (gold glove). INDIANA WESLEYAN — if Denver Blinn (first team), c Bryce Ginder (first team), if Lucas Goodin (first team), rhp Hunter Hoffman (first team), ut Evan Salmon (first team, gold glove), c Colby Jenkins (gold glove). HUNTINGTON — 3b Daniel Lichty (first team, gold glove), of/rhp Ian McCutcheon (first team), mif Satchell Wilson (second team). MARIAN — if Matteo Porcellato (first team), 1b Bryce Davenport (second team), of J.J. Rivera (second team, gold glove), Dion Wintjes (gold glove). SAINT FRANCIS — of-dh David Miller (first team), if/of/c Alec Brunson (gold glove). BETHEL— rhp Frank Plesac (first team), c Dominic Densler (second team), if/rhp Jeremy Wiersema (second team), if/rhp Ty Mickiewicz (gold glove). GRACE — rhp Evan Etchison (second team), rhp Hunter Schumacher (second team). GOSHEN — of Jenner Rodammer (second team, gold glove)
River States: INDIANA UNIVERSITY SOUTHEAST — 3b Trevor Campbell (player of the year, first team, gold glove), lhp Hunter Kloke (pitcher of the year, first team), hc Ben Reel (coach of the year), c Brody Tanksley (first team, gold glove), 2b Clay Woeste (first team, gold glove), of Marco Romero (first team, gold glove), rhp Lane Oesterling (second team), of Derek Wagner (second team), ut Brandon Boxer (second team), if Daunte DeCello (gold glove, Champions of Character). INDIANA UNIVERSITY KOKOMO — lhp Owen Callaghan (first team), of Patrick Mills (first team), lhp J.T. Holton (second team), 1b Noah Hurlock (second team), ss Riley Garczynski (second team), of Jack Leverenz (second team), dh Jared Heard (second team), if Matt Iacobucci (Champions of Character). OAKLAND CITY — ss Chandler Dunn (first team), of Noah Baugher (second team), if Austin Morris (Champions of Character).
Wolverine-Hoosier: INDIANA TECH — rhp Hayes Stutsman (first team), c Manuel Ascanio (second team), of Ashtin Moxey (second team), ut Trevor Patterson (gold glove), ss Jayden Reed (gold glove, second team), 2b Mike Snyder (second team), if Michael Oliger (Champions of Character).

Junior College
Michigan Community College: MARIAN’S ANCILLA — if Rylan Huntley (first team), if Josh Ledgard (honorable mention).
Mid-West: Vincennes — ss Peyton Lane (second team), ut Colton Evans (second team).

INDIANA COLLEGE BASEBALL
Records Through May 29
NCAA D-I
Ball State 40-19 (32-7 MAC)
Notre Dame 35-14 (16-11 ACC)
Evansville 32-24 (14-6 MVC)
Purdue 29-21 (9-12 Big Ten)
Indiana State 26-22-1 (10-10-1 MVC)
Indiana 27-32 (10-14 Big Ten)
Butler 20-35-1 (4-16-1 Big East)
Purdue Fort Wayne 18-36 (13-15 Horizon)
Valparaiso 16-32 (5-15 MVC)

NCAA D-II
Southern Indiana 21-28 (10-14 GLVC)
Indianapolis 21-31 (11-13 GLVC)
Purdue Northwest 18-21 (7-17 GLIAC)

NCAA D-III
Franklin 29-14 (13-5 HCAC)
Rose-Hulman 28-13 (12-6 HCAC)
Earlham 26-13 (12-6 HCAC)
DePauw 22-17 (12-6 NCAC)
Wabash 20-19 (4-14 NCAC)
Anderson 20-21 (11-7 HCAC)
Hanover 16-22 (10-8 HCAC)
Trine 14-23 (9-12 MIAA)
Manchester 10-27 (6-12 HCAC)

NAIA
Taylor 41-18 (26-10 CL)
Indiana University Southeast 40-15 (20-4 RSC)
Indiana Tech 32-21 (13-7 WHAC)
Indiana Wesleyan 31-23 (23-13 CL)
Oakland City 31-23 (11-11 RSC)
Huntington 27-23 (21-15 CL)
Marian 27-27 (17-19 CL)
Saint Francis 27-28 (15-21 CL)
Indiana University-Kokomo 26-22 (16-7 RSC)
Bethel 25-29 (19-17 CL)
Grace 17-33 (10-26 CL)
Calumet of Saint Joseph 16-32 (11-18 CCAC)
Indiana University South Bend 16-32-1 (9-20-1 CCAC)
Goshen 11-39 (6-30 CL)

Junior College
Vincennes 25-32 (15-19 MWAC)
Ivy Tech Northeast 16-19
Marian’s Ancilla 8-40 (6-22 MCCAA)

Week of May 23-29
NCAA D-I
Tuesday, May 24
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
Pittsburgh 12, Georgia Tech 6
North Carolina State 11, Wake Forest 8
North Carolina 9, Clemson 2

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
Missouri State 9, Illinois State 4

Wednesday, May 25
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
Pittsburgh 6, Louisville 5
Florida State 13, Virginia 3
North Carolina State 9, Miami 6

Horizon League Tournament
Youngstown State 6, Purdue Fort Wayne 0
Northern Kentucky 3, Illinois-Chicago 2

Mid-American Conference Tournament
Central Michigan 11, Toledo 10

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
Indiana State 8, Valparaiso 0
Missouri State 5, Southern Illinois 1
Evansville 9, Indiana State 1

Thursday, May 26
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
Georgia Tech 9, Louisville 4
Notre Dame 5, Florida State 3
Virginia Tech 18, Clemson 6

Big Ten Conference Tournament
Penn State 5, Iowa 2
Rutgers 10, Purdue 3
Maryland 6, Indiana 5
Michigan 7, Illinois 5

Horizon League Tournament
Wright State 18, Northern Kentucky 4
Oakland 2, Youngstown State 0

Mid-American Conference Tournament
Ball State 6, Ohio 4

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
Dallas Baptist 4, Bradley 3

Friday, May 27
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
Notre Dame 3, Virginia 0
Wake Forest 16, Miami 3
North Carolina 10, Virginia Tech 0

Big Ten Conference Tournament
Iowa 5, Purdue 4
Rutgers 5, Penn State 4
Indiana 8, Illinois 1
Michigan 15, Maryland 8

Horizon League Tournament
Youngstown State 11, Northern Kentucky 7
Wright State 14, Oakland 3
Oakland 4, Youngstown State 2

Mid-American Conference Tournament
Toledo 13, Ohio 5
Ball State 9, Central Michigan 7

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
Southern Illinois 8, Indiana State 2
Missouri State 19, Bradley 3
Evansville 21, Dallas Baptist 2

Saturday, May 28
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
North Carolina 7, Notre Dame 2
North Carolina State 8, Pittsburgh 3

Big Ten Conference Tournament
Iowa 11, Penn State 3
Indiana 6, Maryland 4 (11 inn.)
Iowa 7, Michigan 3
Rutgers 14, Indiana 2

Horizon League
Championship
Wright State 24, Oakland 0

Mid-American Conference Tournament
Central Michigan 10, Toledo 7
Central Michigan 12, Ball State 3

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
Southern Illinois 7, Dallas Baptist 5
Missouri State 7, Evansville 6
Southern Illinois 8, Evansville 5

Sunday, May 29
Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
Championship
North Carolina 9, North Carolina State 5

Big Ten Conference Tournament
Michigan 13, Iowa 1
Championship
Michigan 10, Rutgers 4

Mid-American Conference Tournament
Championship
Central Michigan 11, Ball State 7

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
Southern Illinois 9, Missouri State 6
Championship
Missouri State 13, Southern Illinois 3

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Indiana Wesleyan, Rose-Hulman, UIndy among state’s hottest teams

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

Indiana Wesleyan and Rose-Hulman have the longest current win streaks among the 38 college baseball programs in Indiana.
The NAIA Wildcats have won six straight as have the NCAA Division III Fightin’ Engineers.
IWU (12-4) and NCAA Division II Indianapolis (11-5) have the most victories in April.
Among the other leaders in April triumphs are NCAA Division I’s Evansville (9-2) and Notre Dame (8-3), NAIA’s Taylor (9-5) and Indiana University Southeast (8-2) and NCAA D-III’s Franklin (7-1), Rose-Hulman (7-3) and Earlham (7-3).
At 20-8, Taylor is tied atop Crossroads League standings with Mt. Vernon Nazarene, two games ahead of Indiana Wesleyan.
At 15-3, NAIA Indiana University Southeast is tied with Point Park for first place in the River States Conference, 1/2 game ahead of Indiana University Kokomo.
At 10-6, UIndy is two games behind Illinois-Springfield in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Blue Division.
Franklin (7-1) paces the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, one game ahead of both Rose-Hulman and Earlham.
Indiana State (6-2 in April) is 5-1 in leading the Missouri Valley Conference by one game over Southern Illinois, Dallas Baptist and Evansville.
Ball State (6-6 in April) is 15-3 in the Mid-American Conference, two games behind leader Central Michigan.
Pitching victory and batting average leaders among D-I teams include Jackson Smeltz (6) and Evan Albrecht (.407) of Purdue, John Michael Bertrand (5) and Carter Putz (.357) of Notre Dame, Tyler Schweitzer (5), Ty Johnson (5) and Amir Wright (.349) of Ball State, Matt Jachec (7) and Sean Ross (.421) of Indiana State, Shane Gray (5) and Mark Shallenberger (.389) of Evansville, Jon Vore (3), Derek Drees (3) and Aaron Steinhart (.299) of Butler, Colin Fields (4), Jake Miller (4) and Nolan Tucker (.359) of Valparaiso, Bradley Brehmer (3) and Phillip Glasser (.343) of Indiana and Jacob Myer (2), Mitchell Spencer (2), J.D. Deany (2), Brian Skelton (2) and Cade Fitzpatrick (.350) of Purdue Fort Wayne.
In NCAA D-II, there’s Xavier Rivas (5) and Brandon DeWitt (.368) of Indianapols, Brice Stuteville (4) and Lucas McNew (.341) of Southern Indiana and Joe Sullivan (3) and Ray Hilbrich (.429) of Purdue Northwest.
NCAA D-III leaders are Jackson Young (5) and Logan Demkovich (.398) of Franklin, Aidan Talarek (5) and Cameron McCabe (.408) of Earlham, Ian Kline (5) and Kade Kline (.380) of Rose-Hulman, Tavic Simmons (4) and A.J. Reid (.394) of Wabash, Evan Doan (3), Landen Southern (3) and Tyler Smitherman (.413) of Anderson, Matthew Alter (3) and Charlie Burton (.355) of Hanover, Michael Vallone (6) and Allen Cameron (.398) of DePauw, Robert Kortas (2), Cam Nagel (2) and Adam Stefanelli (.375) of Trine and Carter Hooks (2) and Brett Wathen (2) and Zach White (.356) of Manchester.
In NAIA, there’s Luke Shively (9) and Kaleb Kolpein (.410) of Taylor, Hunter Kloke (7) and Trevor Campbell (.408) of IU Southeast, Brennan Morehead (4) and Denver Blinn (.421) of Indiana Wesleyan, Owen Callaghan (6) and Patrick Mills (.365) of IU Kokomo, Cory Wolter (6) and Alec Brunson (.354) of Saint Francis, Owen Spears (4) and Noah Baugher (.364) of Oakland City, Hayes Sturtsman (4), Jared Maxfield (4) and Ashtin Moxey (.311) of Indiana Tech, Damien Wallace (4) and Matteo Porcellato (.365) of Marian, Noah Arbuckle (3), Joey Butz (3), Isaac Horton (3), Tyler Papenbrock (3) and Ian McCutcheon (.394) of Huntington, Frank Plesac (5) and Eli MacDonald (.411) of Bethel, Evan Etchison (3), Kameron Koch (3) and Alex Rich (.345) of Grace, Zack Dobos (3) and Brenden Bell (.386) of IU South Bend, Bubba Davenport (2) and Michael Machnic (.325) of Calumet of Saint Joseph and Camm Nickell (2) and Jenner Rodammer (.350) of Goshen.
Junior college leaders are Connor VanLannen (3) and Peyton Lane (.440) of Vincennes, Adam Besser (2), Matt Peters (2) and Jaden Parnin (.476) of Ivy Tech Northeast and Rylan Huntley (2 and .413) and Bryce Woodruff (2) of Marian’s Ancilla.

INDIANA COLLEGE BASEBALL
Records Through April 17
NCAA D-I
Purdue 22-9 (4-6 Big Ten)
Notre Dame 21-8 (8-7 ACC)
Ball State 21-13 (15-3 MAC)
Indiana State 19-9 (5-1 MVC)
Evansville 19-16 (4-2 MVC)
Butler 16-20 (2-4 Big East)
Valparaiso 13-18 (2-4 MVC)
Indiana 13-21 (2-7 Big Ten)
Purdue Fort Wayne 10-23 (7-8 Horizon)

NCAA D-II
Indianapolis 18-18 (10-6 GLVC)
Southern Indiana 15-20 (4-8 GLVC)
Purdue Northwest 13-12 (2-8 GLIAC)

NCAA D-III
Franklin 22-6 (7-1 HCAC)
Earlham 18-8 (7-3 HCAC)
Rose-Hulman 16-7 (7-3 HCAC)
Wabash 14-11 (0-8 NCAC)
Anderson 13-12 (5-3 HCAC)
Hanover 12-14 (6-4 HCAC)
DePauw 10-14 (3-5 NCAC)
Trine 10-16 (5-6 MIAA)
Manchester 5-18 (2-6 HCAC)

NAIA
Taylor 30-14 (20-8 CL)
Indiana University Southeast 28-11 (15-3 RSC)
Indiana Wesleyan 25-18 (18-10 CL)
Indiana University-Kokomo 24-14 (14-3 RSC)
Saint Francis 24-19 (13-15 CL)
Oakland City 21-16 (6-10 RSC)
Indiana Tech 21-18 (9-7 WHAC)
Marian 20-20 (12-14 CL)
Huntington 19-17 (17-11 CL)
Bethel 19-25 (13-15 CL)
Grace 15-24 (9-17 CL)
Indiana University South Bend 11-24 (5-14 CCAC)
Calumet of Saint Joseph 9-26 (4-14 CCAC)
Goshen 9-31 (4-24 CL)

Junior College
Vincennes 15-21 (6-10 MWAC)
Ivy Tech Northeast 13-11
Marian’s Ancilla 6-28 (4-10 MCCAA)

Week of April 11-17
NCAA D-I
Tuesday, April 12
Evansville 11, Butler 1
Indiana 6, Indiana State 5
Notre Dame 14, Michigan 5
Eastern Illinois 7, Valparaiso 5

Thursday, April 14
Georgetown 14, Butler 8
Duke 15, Notre Dame 5
Penn State 12, Purdue 7
Purdue Fort Wayne 9, Northern Kentucky 5

Friday, April 15
Ball State 8, Akron 3
Butler 8, Georgetown 7
Evansville 6, Southern Illinois 4
Rutgers 5, Indiana 3
Duke 4, Notre Dame 3 (11 inn.)
Purdue 11, Penn State 5
Northern Kentucky 5, Purdue Fort Wayne 4
Illinois State 7, Valparaiso 0

Saturday, April 16
Ball State 5, Akron 1
Ball State 16, Akron 0
Georgetown 8, Butler 4
Evansville 9, Southern Illinois 2
Evansville 14, Southern Illinois 2
Rutgers 4, Indiana 2
Duke 6, Notre Dame 2
Penn State 7, Purdue 5
Purdue Fort Wayne 10, Northern Kentucky 5
Valparaiso 10, Illinois State 2

Sunday, April 17
Akron 4, Ball State 3
Rutgers 10, Indiana 9
Valparaiso 2, Illinois State 1

NCAA D-II
Tuesday, April 12
Indianapolis 15, Kentucky Wesleyan 1
Indianapolis 11, Kentucky Wesleyan 7
Grand Valley State 10, Purdue Northwest 7
Grand Valley State 9, Purdue Northwest 6
Oakland City 6, Southern Indiana 4

Thursday, April 14
Quincy 14, Indianapolis 4
Purdue Northwest 21, Northwood 19
Truman State vs. Southern Indiana

Friday, April 15
Indianapolis 3, Quincy 2
Indianapolis 3, Quincy 0
Purdue Northwest 2, Northwood 0
Northwood 18, Purdue Northwest 0
Truman State 6, Southern Indiana 5
Truman State 11, Southern Indiana 10

Saturday, April 16
Indianapolis 5, Quincy 3
Northwood 9, Purdue Northwest 7
Southern Indiana 16, Truman State 4

NCAA D-III
Monday, April 11
Trine 7, Kalamazoo 5

Tuesday, April 12
Earlham 12, Transylvania 7
Transylvania vs. Earlham
Hanover 12, Spalding 11
Wabash 6, Manchester 4
Manchester vs. Wabash
Rose-Hulman 3, Mount St. Joseph 2
Rose-Hulman 16, Mount St. Joseph 1

Wednesday, April 13
Trine 11, Adrian 5

Thursday, April 14
Wittenberg 10, Wabash 4

Friday, April 15
Bluffton 11, Earlham 6
Bluffton 9, Earlham 3
Alma 8, Trine 5

Saturday, April 16
Hanover 10, Anderson 4
Hanover 10, Anderson 8
Kenyon 12, DePauw 1
Kenyon 4, DePauw 3
Franklin 9, Manchester 8
Franklin 6, Manchester 4
Rose-Hulman 10, Transylvania 4
Rose-Hulman 12, Transylvania 8
Alma 9, Trine 6
Alma 10, Trine 6
Wooster 4, Wabash 3
Wooster 12, Wabash 7

NAIA
Monday, April 11
Bethel 13, Goshen 10
Bethel 12, Goshen 1
Calumet of St. Joseph 13, Trinity Christian 8
Indiana Tech 1, Rochester 0
Indiana Tech 12, Rochester 5
Spring Arbor 15, Taylor 7
Taylor 10, Spring Arbor 9

Tuesday, April 12
Goshen 17, Grace Christian 5
Goshen 3, Grace Christian 1
Marian 5, Huntington 2
Marian 19, Huntington 5
Oakland City 6, Southern Indiana 4
IU South Bend 18, Trinity Christian 8
IU Southeast 7, Georgetown (Ky.) 5
Madonna 7, Indiana Tech 6
Indiana Tech 16, Madonna 6
Indiana Wesleyan 10, Cleary 7
Indiana Wesleyan 8, Cleary 0
Mount Vernon Nazarene 10, Saint Francis 6
Saint Francis 9, Mount Vernon Nazarene 2

Thursday, April 14
Saint Xaver 17, IU South Bend 13

Friday, April 15
Bethel 2, Huntington 1
Huntington 9, Bethel 7
Olivet Nazarene 15, Calumet of St. Joseph 2
Indiana Wesleyan 14, Goshen 2
Indiana Wesleyan 13, Goshen 6
Saint Francis 5, Grace 3
Saint Francis 2, Grace 1
IU Kokomo 9, Brescia 1
IU Southeast 11, West Virginia Tech 0
Spring Arbor 8, Marian 5
Marian 16, Spring Arbor 3
Taylor 9, Mount Vernon Nazarene 5
Taylor 17, Mount Vernon Nazarene 9

Saturday, April 16
Bethel 3, Huntington 1
Huntington 9, Bethel 2
Olivet Nazarene 12, Calumet of St. Joseph 4
Olivet Nazarene 14, Calumet of St. Joseph 3
Indiana Wesleyan 12, Goshen 2
Indiana Wesleyan 15, Goshen 6
Grace 10, Saint Francis 8
Saint Francis 14, Grace 4
IU Kokomo 7, Brescia 3
IU Kokomo 13, Brescia 2
IU Southeast 11, West Virginia Tech 1
IU Southeast 9, West Virginia Tech 6
Lawrence Tech 2, Indiana Tech 1
Lawrence Tech 7, Indiana Tech 4
Marian 7, Spring Arbor 5
Marian 11, Spring Arbor 3
Mount Vernon Nazarene 6, Taylor 4
Mount Vernon Nazarene 14, Taylor 1

Junior College
Monday, April 11
Ivy Tech Northeast 6, Trine JV 5
Ivy Tech Northeast 8, Trine JV 5

Tuesday, April 12
Kellogg 6, Ivy Tech Northeast 3
Kaskaskia 13, Vincennes 6

Friday, April 15
Lake Michigan 7, Marian’s Ancilla 2
Lake Michigan 9, Marian’s Ancilla 1
Heartland 11, Vincennes 2
Heartland 13, Vincennes 4

Saturday, April 16
Lake Michigan 13, Marian’s Ancilla 3
Lake Michigan 7, Marian’s Ancilla 3
Heartland 16, Vincennes 5
Heartland 12, Vincennes 2

Alum Douglas wants his Frankton Eagles to be embrace competition

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Brad Douglas played for a high school baseball coach who appreciated hard-nosed players and those willing to lead.

Kyle Campbell was guiding the Frankton baseball program when Douglas was a student-athlete and now 1994 graduate Douglas is entering his fifth season as Eagles head coach in 2018.

“He would always challenge his guys,” says Douglas of the late Campbell. “He was always interested in giving guys opportunities to lead. He was always somebody who was going to earn what you got.

“He recognized hard work.”

Douglas takes much the same approach with his players at Frankton Junior/Senior High School.

He wants competitors.

“You play the kids who are up for the challenge,” says Douglas. “If you can play, I don’t care if you’re a sophomore or a freshman.”

Frankton is a small town in Madison County and the school has around 480 students.

Douglas tells his players that they are making lifetime of memories during their school days.

“I’m a firm believer in the kids being good citizens and good students,” says Douglas. “I want them to be extremely involved with the community, have school spirit and support everyone. They should appreciate the four years and make the best of it.”

This high-knit community lost a baseball coach and teacher the day after Christmas 2017 when Chris Hatzell died unexpectedly at 44. The 1992 Frankton graduate was an eighth grade social studies teacher and tended the first base box for the Eagles.

“He was a great guy and a great dad,” says Douglas, who was a a high school teammate of Hatzell’s for two years. “You learn a lot about people after they’re gone. Students were very touched by the loss of Coach Hatzell.”

Douglas works as a union representative for Rolls Royce in Indianapolis and Hatzell was his “eyes and ears” at the school and did many things behind the scenes. On the diamond, he would throw batting practice or swing the fungo bat for hours.

“We reflected each other well,” says Douglas, who recalls Hatzell coaching a 12-year-old Frankton team to a Town & Country Baseball state championship.

To honor Hatzell, there will be a patch on Frankton jerseys this spring. There are also plans for a memorial marker near the dugout on the Eagles’ home field.

That field, located on the Frankton Elementary School grounds, has an infield that’s been re-graded and re-sodded with an irrigation system installed. The mound and home plate areas have been re-built. There is also new on-field storage in the home dugout, new concrete and safety hand rails in each dugout and concrete tee stations in the batting cage.

Frankton is part of two-high school district in Frankton-Lapel Community Schools.

“The kids still have a passion for the rivalry” says Douglas of the Lapel Bulldogs. “It keeps our kids motivated. You don’t want to go a whole year wearing a loss from your sister school.”

While Lapel is an athletic independent, Frankton belongs to the Central Indiana Conference (along with Alexandria-Monroe, Blackford, Eastbrook, Elwood, Madison-Grant, Mississinewa and Oak Hill).

Since Douglas took over the program, he has gotten the Eagles schedule back up to the 28-game regular-season limit and includes plenty of quality.

“When you have Shenandoah, Wapahani, Tipton and Yorktown in addition to our CIC schedule (each team meets the other once on Tuesdays and Thursdays), you’re in for some good baseball,” says Douglas.

The Eagles are in an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping with Lapel, Monroe Central, Muncie Burris, Shenandoah and Wapahani.

“We play in one of the toughest sectionals in the state,” says Douglas. “It’s competitive regardless of the names of the players. You’ve got coaches like Brian Dudley at Wapahani, Matt Campbell at Lapel, Bruce Stanley at Shenandoah and Keith Nunley at Monroe Central.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us. But it’s a good challenge that we embrace.”

The Eagles’ last two sectional titles came in 2003 and 2016. They were also regional champions in ’03.

Returnees for Frankton in 2018 include to college baseball-committed seniors in right-handed pitcher/shortstop Landon Weins (Morehead State University) and right-hander/infielder Evan Doan (Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Mo.) plus others from the Class of ’18 in right-hander/center fielder Travis McGuire, outfielder Will Harris, utility Brock Threet and Noah Van Slyke.

“We have nine seniors returning,” says Douglas. “That’s unheard of for a small school.”

There’s also junior right-hander/third baseman J.J. Hatzell and sophomore left-hander/outfielder Ethan Bates.

Frankton’s 2018 assistant coaches are Rick Dellinger, Tim Friend and Mark Caldwell.

Alumnus Matt Kunce is currently a player at Huntington University.

Prior to taking over the program at his alma mater, Douglas was coaching in youth and travel baseball. He continues to coach son Bradyn Douglas (a seventh grader) with Tony Cookerly and the 13U White Indiana Bulls.

“I’m a huge proponent of travel baseball,” says Douglas, who has had Frankton players also play for the Indiana Prospects, Indiana Mustangs, USAtheltic and others. “I use a lot of things that (executive director) Dan Held preaches throughout the Bulls organization.”

Frankton’s high school program is also fed by Red and White seventh and eighth grade club teams.

Brad and Tricia Douglas also have a daughter. Sydney Douglas is a Frankton junior.

Frankton baseball coach Brad Douglas (left) celebrates with Jake Richwine in 2017. The 2018 season will make the fifth as Eagles head baseball coach for 1994 Frankton graduate Douglas.