Floyd Central alum Lozado now coaching at UT Martin

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

Alex Lozado is making the transition from college baseball player to coach.
Lozado was a right-handed pitcher at the University of South Florida after serving as a pitcher and infielder at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Fla.
In 2021, he made five mound appearances for USF and posted a 3.18 earned run average and 1.06 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) in 5 2/3 innings.
The Billy Mohl-coached USF Bulls won the American Athletic Conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals.
One thing that stands out about Mohl is the way he cared. When Lozado and his roommates experienced a gas leak at their apartment, the coach was quick to help.
“He would always tell us that if we got in any trouble — no matter what time it is — to make sure he is our first call,” says Lozado. “I gave him a call at 2 a.m. He said, ‘I’m going to set up the guest bed rooms for you guys. Come on over and stay at my place.’
“Mol is a great coach, but even a better person.”
Lozado, whose playing career was ended by an elbow injury, graduated from South Florida in 2022 with a degree in Communications.
At Gulf Coast State, Lozado played in 66 games (63 starts) in 2019 and 2020 and hit .268 with two home runs, 28 runs batted in and 28 runs scored. He also made 18 trips to the mound (nine starts) and went 5-2 with four saves, a 3.77 ERA, 56 strikeouts and 11 walks in 62 innings. During the COVID-19-shorted 2020 season, he was 4-2 with a 2.61 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 42 strikeouts and five walks in 41 1/3 innings. He hurled the first four innings of a combined no-hitter against Faulkner.
“I was a big-time change-up guy,” says Lozado. “I got the point with my elbow where I couldn’t bend my slider as well.
“Change-up was definitely my pitch.”
The Mike Kandler-coached Commodores went 44-28 during Lozado’s two-year stint.
“I loved Kandler,” says Lozado. “He pushed you real hard, but at the end of the day he’s going to let you know that he loves and cares about you and is going to do anything for your best interests.”
Lozado is glad he went the JUCO route.
“Graduating from high school at 17 my dad though junior college was probably the best option for me and it was,” says Lozado. “I saw a lot of progress not only from high school to college and from my freshman to sophomore year but grew as a person and a player.”
Alex (22) is the oldest of Willie and Karen Lozado’s two children. Floyd Central, graduate Mia Lozado (19) is a junior at the University of Louisville.
Willie Lozado, who comes from a Puerto Rican family, was born in the Bronx and went to high school in Brooklyn. The third baseman/shortstop was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 1977, did not sign and was then selected by the Milwaukee Brewers out of Miami Dade College in 1978.
He met Karen while playing for Triple-A Louisville. Willie played 43 games for Milwaukee in 1984. His only MLB home run — a three-run shot — came on Sept. 11 against Boston’s Steve Crawford at Fenway Park.
Willie later coached at Floyd Central.
Born in Louisville, Alex grew up in Sellersburg, Ind. The family moved up the hill to Georgetown, Ind., his junior year at Floyd Central.
A former Kentucky Baseball Club travel ball player and 2018 graduate of Floyd Central High School (Floyds Knobs, Ind.), Lozado earned three letters and earned all-area, all-Hoosier Hills Conference and Pitcher of the Year honors (he posted a 1.30 ERA as a junior and 1.80 as a senior) while playing for Highlanders head coach Casey LaDuke.
“He has a fire to win that is almost unmatched,” says Lozado of LaDuke.
Lozado arrived at the University of Tennessee at Martin in August as a volunteer assistant coach for the NCAA Division I Skyhawks.
The connection was made through a relationship between USF pitching coach Karsten Whitson and UT Martin hitting coach Pat Cottrell.
Working on a staff led by Ryan Jenkins, Lozado works with outfielders and does a myriad of things, including hitting fungos and pitching batting practice.
Lozado is working at the Play’n Sports vendor booth at the 2023 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention which runs Jan. 5-8 in Nashville.

Alex Lozado. (University of Tennessee at Martin Photo)

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Right-hander Maynard brings ‘bulldog mentality’ to the mound

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

Johnny Maynard is not yet sure where he’ll throw his next regular-season collegiate pitch.
But he is certain how he will approach baseball. The way he always has — with a strong work ethic and bulldog mentality.
“It’s how I raised by my parents,” says Maynard, who turns 22 today (June 30). “Whatever you start you have to finish. I never quit anything ever. Always go full-out.
“I really don’t care who I’m competing against, I know they’re not going to beat me. I’m a 5-foot-10 right-handed pitcher. I’m usually one of the smaller guys on the team. I have to work harder to the get the results and earn respect.”
Maynard (rhymes with Play Hard), a 2019 Griffith (Ind.) Junior/Senior High School graduate who is now in the Transfer Portal after two seasons at Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill., (2020 and 2021) and one at NCAA Division I Radford (Va.) University. The Sports Management and Marketing major hurled 5 1/3 innings in six appearances for the 2022 Highlanders.
Alex Guerra was hired as Radford head coach after the season.
This summer, Maynard is pitching for the Coastal Plain League’s Jeremy Knight-coached Asheboro (N.C.) ZooKeepers.
Throwing from a high three-quarter arm slot, Maynard uses on four-seam fastball, one-seamer, curveball and change-up.
The four-seam sits 87 to 89 mph and has been up to 92.
“The one-seamer (finger on just one seam) I learned this year,” says Maynard. “My two-seamer was not moving the way I wanted it to. (The one-seamer) gets pretty good movement away from a lefty and has pretty good sink to it. It works off my (circle) change-up (which is generally thrown 82 to 84 mph.”
Maynard employs a curve that is 1-to-7 on the clock face.
“It drops off the table pretty well,” says Maynard.
Born in Munster, Ind., Maynard moved to Griffith as a sixth grader. He played in Munster and Griffith youth leagues then went into travel ball and suited up for the Northwest Indiana Shockers, Steelheads, Cobras, Slammers, Hammond Chiefs and 18U Midwest Irish.
At Griffith High, Maynard played four years for Panthers coach coach Brian Jennings, starting as a freshman.
“He’s a great guy,” says Maynard of Jennings, who retired after the 2022 season.
Lincoln Trail coach Kevin Bowers allowed the righty got to close some games for the Statesman. One of his highlights is slamming the door on highly-ranked John A. Logan during the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Maynard split the summer of 2019 between the Irish and Midwest Collegiate League’s Northwest Indiana Oilmen. He also got in a few innings with that Whiting-based team in 2020. He was with the Tropics of the College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., in 2021, which allowed him to work at home and then commute two-plus hours to games.
Johnny’s mother, Jen Maynard, is a cardiac tech in northwest Indiana. Father Mike Maynard is recently-retired and living in Florida. Sister Lauren Maynard played and coached softball at Purdue Northwest and is now in nursing school.

Johnny Maynard (Asheboro ZooKeepers Photo)

Johnny Maynard (Anne Bowers Photo)

Johnny Maynard (Anne Bowers Photo)

Johnny Maynard (Lincoln Trail College Photo)

Johnny Maynard (Lincoln Trail College Photo)

Southern Illinois slugger Archer basking in bonus baseball season

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

“Play until you can’t play no more.”

Philip Archer plays baseball with the words of his father — Leslie Archer — ringing in his ears.

Granted an extra year of college eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Archer has had hits ringing off his bat in 2021 as a powerful puncher in the Southern Illinois University lineup.

“It’s certainly a blessing to extend your career one more year,” says Archer, a 2016 graduate of Floyd Central High School in Floyds Knobs, Ind., in his fifth college diamond season. “I need to play until I can’t play no more because one day I’m going to be done and enter the real world.

“I will not be a kid anymore.”

As Archer and the Salukis (33-15) enter a Missouri Valley Conference series at Indiana State May 14-16, the lefty-swinging first baseman is hitting .324 (60-of-185) with nine home runs, 16 doubles, 49 runs batted in, 40 runs scored and .965 OPS (.408 on-base percentage plus .557 slugging average).

The 6-foot-3, 240-pounder has produced 13 multi-hit games, including four against Mercer Feb. 26, Southeast Missouri March 24 and Austin Peay April 6.

Archer drove in five runs against Mercer and seven against Austin Peay.

In three seasons at SIU-Carbondale covering 114 games (112 starts), Archer is hitting .302 (127-of-421) with 16 homers, 26 doubles, 94 RBIs, 84 runs and an .869 OPS (.382 on-base percentage plus .487 slugging average).

He was at Olney (Ill.) Central College in 2017 and 2018 and hit .341 (120-of-351) with 15 homers, 29 doubles, 102 RBIs and 82 runs  and an .950 OPS (.397 on-base percentage plus .553 slugging percentage).

What’s Archer’s secret sauce?

“Discipline, hard work and having good coaches and people around me,” says Archer. “With our lineup this whole year, we’ve got a lot of guys swinging it well.”

Archer often bats in the No. 5 or No. 6 hole in SIU head coach Lance Rhodes’ batting order. 

Besides input from Rhodes, Archer also works closely with staffers Brett Peel (hitting coach), Ben Brewer (volunteer) and Kirby McGuire (director of player development).

“Power hitter — that’s my main role on the team,” says Archer. “I’m there to knock in some RBI’s and make some things happen.”

Saluki hitters receive a detailed scouting report before every game. 

It tells them the pitches and tendencies of opposing pitchers.

“If lefty is busting me in, it’s different than a righty living on the outer half,” says Archer.

Archer, who turns 23 on May 28, was born in Indianapolis but grew up in Greenville, Ind.

He got his organized baseball start at Floyds Knobs Community Club. He played travel ball through Highland Youth Recreation and later for the Louisville Elite and Midwest Prospects.

At Floyd Central, Archer played for Highlanders head coach Casey LaDuke.

Casey is a great guy and a great coach,” says Archer. “He’s done a great job with the program and the facilities.

“Learning from him at a young age was huge for me with his elite-level practices.”

At Olney Central, Archer played for veteran Blue Knights head coach Dennis Conley.

With Conley’s success and demeanor, Archer likens him to Hall of Famer Augie Garrido.

“You can’t beat knowledge and experience of Dennis Conley,” says Archer. “He’s got it all.

“He’s calm when he needs to calm, but he’s got a fire.”

During his time at Olney, Archer was a Great Rivers Athletic Conference and National Junior College Athletic Association District 24 Player of the Year. The Blue Knights went 41-16 in 2017 and 42-16 in 2018.

During his college summers, Archer has played for the Dubois County (Ind.) Bombers (2017) and Richmond (Ind.) Jazz (2018).

The Bombers were managed by Andy Lasher, who is now head coach at Oakland City (Ind.) University where Philip’s little brother, Joel, is a freshman infielder/pitcher. 

Former Zionsvillle Community High School and University of Southern Indiana player and SIU assistant Ryan Bertram managed the Jazz.

Leslie and Mary Anne Archer have three sons — Andrew, Philip and Joel. Andrew Archer is with the Clarksville (Ind.) Police Department.

Archer did not play in 2019 while attending to summer classes and a job. There was very little opportunities to play in 2020 due to the pandemic.

A Sport Administration degree was completed last spring. He is now half way to becoming a Master of Health Administration.

After the Indiana State series, Southern Illinois completes the MVC slate with games agaisnt Dallas Baptist and then hosts the conference tournament.

Will professional baseball coming calling for Archer after that?

“If I have an opportunity to play at the next level I’d for sure take it,” says Archer. “If not, I’ll move on and be satisfied with my career.”

Philip Archer (Southern Illinois University Photo)

LaDuke offers life lessons to Floyd Central Highlanders

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Casey LaDuke grew up around Floyds Knobs in southern Indiana and played baseball and football at Floyd Central High School.

Along the way he decided he’d like to be a head coach in one of those two sports.

The opportunity came first in baseball. After earning his Industrial Technology degree at Ball State University, LaDuke spent one year teaching and leading the baseball program at Springs Valley Junior-Senior High School in French Lick, Ind. 

Bill Pierce, his baseball coach at Floyd Central, let him know about a teaching and coaching opening at Floyd Central and LaDuke came home. After a few years as an assistant, the 1984 FCHS graduate has led the Highlanders on the diamond since 1999.

LaDuke also spent about 15 years on the Floyd Central football staff — most of those with Ron Weigleb, a man he had been a wide receiver, kicker and punter for as a player (LaDuke played one season at Kentucky State University before transferring to BSU, where he decided on an education path as a junior and graduated in 1990).

“He’s my big influence as a coach,” says LaDuke of Weigleb. “Some of the things he instilled into the football program we try to do with the baseball program — things like discipline, responsibility and keeping kids accountable. There’s more to it than just playing the game.”

It’s the life lessons that last.

LaDuke appreciated how Weigleb created a family atmosphere. When his coaches went to a clinic, the wives came along and everyone got close.

Dora LaDuke, a 1986 Floyd Central graduate and former Highlander athlete, died after a long battle with Leukemia in 2012 at age 45. Casey and Dora’s daughter, Sydney, is now a senior Elementary Education major at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany.

Floyd Central is in the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation (along with New Albany High School) and serves Floyds Knobs, Galena, Georgetown and Greenville. Locals like to say Floyds Knobs is on the “hill” overlooking New Albany in the “valley.”

Built in 1967, FCHS was formerly called Floyd Central Junior-Senior High School until the opening of Highland Hills Middle School in 2004.

Floyd Central (enrollment around 1,900) is a member of the Hoosier Hills Conference (with Bedford North Lawrence, Columbus East, Jeffersonville, Jennings County, Madison Consolidated, New Albany and Seymour).

Bedford North Lawrence, Jeffersonville, Jennings County and New Albany all have turf on their home diamonds. 

Floyd Central plays at spacious Highlander Field.

“It’s one of the biggest fields at the high school level,” says LaDuke. “It’s one of the best natural surface fields in the area. We take pride in it.”

LaDuke, his assistants and players have put in many hours maintaining the field.

“It’s my place to get away,” says LaDuke.

The FCHS sports complex includes two fields each for baseball, softball and soccer next to a stadium used for football and track and field.

Tennis courts are less than a mile away at the middle school, which has club baseball with two eighth grade squads feeding the three at the high school — varsity and two junior varsity teams.

LaDuke says 72 players signed up for fall activities. About 60 participated in tryouts this spring, leaving about 45 players.

The coach says the numbers going into tryouts were higher since cuts were not made prior to the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown and loss of season and many of those players came out again in 2021.

Highlander Youth Recreation sponsors baseball teams from age 5 to 13.

Floyd Central is part of an IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping with Bedford North Lawrence, Jeffersonville, Jennings County, New Albany (the 2021 host) and Seymour. The Highlanders have won 13 sectional crowns — the last in 2015.

The 2013 squad was ranked No. 1 in the state. The Highlanders lost to Jeffersonville in the Bedford North Lawrence championship game.

Tell City, Fort Wayne Carroll, South Dearborn, Corydon Central, South Spencer, Owensboro (Ky.), Castle, St. Xavier (Ky.), Columbus North, Trinity Lutheran, Lanesville, Brownstown Central, Evansville North, Evansville Mater Dei, Providence, Seymour, Charlestown, Heritage Hills, Bloomington North, Bloomington South and Clarksville are also on the 2021 slate.

LaDuke’s main 2021 assistants are Floyd Central graduates Jamie Polk and Chris Hogan. With a hiatus as head coach at North Harrison High School in Ramsey, Ind., Polk has been with LaDuke since he took over the Highlanders. Hogan came on board about three of four years in.

Seniors Evan Goforth (Indiana University) and Casey Sorg (Bellarmine University in Louisville) have made college baseball commitments. Caleb Slaughter has drawn collegiate interest.

Tristan Polk is planning to attend Marian University in Indianapolis to play quarterback on the football team.

There are many recent Floyd Central graduates on college baseball rosters, including Philip Archer (Southern Illinois University), Alex Lozado (University of South Florida), Max Meyer (Indiana State University), Jon Cato (Bellarmine), Adam Spalding (Bellarmine), Joel Archer (Oakland City, Ind., University), Joe Harrington (Oakland City), Daly Skees (Hillsdale, Mich., College), Blake Barrett (Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill.) and Josh Gross (Glen Oaks Community College in Centerville, Mich.).

“I take pride in helping kids find schools,” says LaDuke.

He notes that college coaches — particularly at the NCAA I level — are reaching out to players at earlier and earlier ages while recruiting on the travel ball circuit.

Says LaDuke, “Coaches don’t like it, but that’s what their competitive is doing so they have to do it to keep up.”

Casey LaDuke

Knight teaching Clarksville Generals tradition, respect for the game

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Clarksville (Ind.) High School sports a robust baseball past.

The Generals earned plenty of IHSAA hardware in the 39 seasons that Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Wayne Stock was head coach.

Besides a State Finals appearance in 1971, Stock’s teams won 744 games with 20 Mid-Southern Conference titles, 12 sectional championships, five regional crowns and one semistate trophy.

Clarksville appears all over the IHSBCA record book.

The Generals hold single-season team marks in batting with 241 walks and pitching with 32 complete games — both in 1971.

The 1973 pitching staff racked up 428 strikeouts and posted a 0.73 earned run average, accomplishments which rank second and third, respectively. The 1968 team hurled 16 shutouts, which ranks tied for fifth.

Dan Gibson set a record for at-bats with 152 in 1971.

Joe McMahel (1995-98) had the most career at-bats with 459 while Matt James (1994-97) ranks fifth. McMahel and James (1994-97) are tied for 10th in career hits with 173 apiece.

D.J. Dewees stole 60 bases in 1992, the third-most in single-season state history.

Brad Turner (1993-96) enjoyed quite the Clarksville pitching career. He is second in starts (52), third in complete games (420), fourth in innings (356) and tied for fifth in shutouts (14).

Guy Finch (1975-78) is third in career shutouts (17), tied for fifth in career wins (43), tied for sixth in single-season strikeouts (199 in 1977) and eighth in career strikeouts (524).

Gary Melson (1968-71) is tied for seventh in career shutouts (13). The right-hander played at Middle Tennessee State University and was selected in the 15th round of the 1975 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Cleveland Indians. He pitched in the minors through 1981, spending part or all of three seasons in Triple-A.

Jeff Lentz (1965-68) is tied for seventh in career complete games (34).

Turning to defense, Rob Stockdale (1977-80) ranks first in putouts for a career (952) and single season (360 in 1977).

Steve Hartley (1984-87) is sixth in career infield putouts and assists excluding a first baseman (391).

Kelly Allen (1995-98) is ninth in career putouts (712).

Shayne Stock, Wayne’s son, used to be head coach at Hanover (Ind.) College. Wayne Stock once counted Chris McIntyre (New Albany High School head coach) as an assistant and Eric Stotts (Borden High School head coach) as a player.

Jamie Knight, who has coached at various levels since he was 18, is heading into his sixth season as head coach at his alma mater. The 1983 Clarksville graduate played for Stock and is trying to restore an expectation of excellence if not in quite the same old-school way that his coach did.

“He was definitely an influence on me,” says Knight. “He was a cross between Johnny Carson and Bobby Knight.

“He was a funny guy, but he’d certainly tell you when you weren’t doing things right.”

Knight founded the Floyds Knobs (Ind.) American Legion Post 42 baseball program and credits that experience, working with Ricky Romans (who is also head coach at Charlestown High School) for showing him how to handle the current generation of ballplayer.

After serving one season as junior varsity coach at Floyd Central, Knight took the reins at Clarksville for the 2014 season. The Generals had just 12 players in the entire program that first spring.

By the next year, participation had doubled and Knight re-established a JV team and the varsity earned the school’s first sectional title since 2003.

“Clarksville has been a strong baseball school,” says Knight. “When I got here it resembled nothing like that. I’ve tried to to bring that back — the respect for the game, tradition and doing things the right way.

“I’m a strong believer that if you do things the right way, act the right way and show respect for the game that will translate into wins and success

“The hardest part was to get the kids to believe they could reach that level again.”

Another sectional championship was claimed in 2018, beating Eastern (Pekin) in the Class 2A final at Clarksville’s Wayne Stock Field. The Generals’ season ended with a semifinal loss to North Posey at the Austin Regional.

Senior Dee Shelton, a lefty-swinging center fielder and righty-throwing pitcher, has committed to play baseball at Trine University.

Recent Clarksville graduates to move on to the college diamond include Ethan Cummings (Vincennes University), Seth Hamilton (Manchester University for baseball and football) and Nick Jones (Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg, Ill.).

Clarksville is in a sectional grouping with Crawford County, Eastern (Pekin), Henryville, Lanesville and Paoli. The IHSAA success factor has moved Providence to 3A while Lanesville came up from 1A.

With an enrollment around 490, Clarksville is the second-smallest school in the Mid-Southern Conference (Austin is smallest at around 375). Other MSC members include Brownstown Central, Charlestown, Corydon Central, Eastern (Pekin), North Harrison, Salem, Scottsburg and Silver Creek.

Knight’s 2019 assistants are Joel DeMoss (fourth season) and Nathan Kane (first season). His first two years at Clarksville, Knight took two former Indiana University Southeast players — Zach Adams and Carter Sibley — as assistants on the recommendation of Grenadiers head coach Ben Reel.

“I like having young coaches coming right from playing in college,” says Knight. “They bring knew drills and they can throw lots of batting practice.”

Adams went on to coach at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill., while Sibley went to coach at Campbellsville (Ky.) University.

Clarksville Little League develops some players that will wind up at Clarksville. Others go to Jeffersonville, Providence or Silver Creek.

Former Generals base stealer Dewees is a regional director for the Clarksville/Louisville portion of the Rawlings Tigers travel organization.

Knight spent 25 years with Louisville Metro Police.

“This is kind of my second career,” says Knight of serving as head baseball coach and assistant to athletic director Levi Carmichael at Clarksville.

Knight signed out of high school to play tennis and baseball at Franklin College. When the men’s tennis season was moved from the fall to the spring, he stayed on the court instead of the diamond. He transferred to the University of Louisville and earned a degree in police administration.

Jamie and wife Debbie reside in Floyds Knobs and have been married almost 20 years. She is an occupational therapist.

“She’s fantastic,” says Jamie. “She allows me to coach.”

Jamie’s two sons are both former baseball players at Floyd Central.

Ryan Knight (28) played baseball and tennis for the Highlanders then signed at Franklin College. An injury kept him from playing. He is now a Sellersburg, Ind., police officer.

Patrick Knight (26) was a left-handed pitcher for two seasons at Ancilla College in Donaldson, Ind.

Jamie Knight, a 1983 Clarksville (Ind.) High School graduate, is the head baseball coach at his alma mater.