South Bend ready to shine for 2018 IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series July 20-22

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Downtown South Bend will be the site as some of the best high school baseball the state has to offer gather for the 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series.

Activities are planned for Friday through Sunday, July 20-22 at Four Winds Field — home of the Midwest League’s South Bend Cubs. The stadium is at 501 W. South St.

On July 20, teams will practice at Four Winds (North 1:15 to 3 p.m. EST and South 3 to 4:45) and have a 7 p.m. banquet in the Great Room at Century Center featuring guest speaker Greg Kloosterman. Century Center is at 120 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

There will also be the annual IHSBCA Junior Showcase from 9 a.m. EST to 1 p.m.

The North and South clash in a doubleheader on July 21 and a single wood-bat game July 22.

On July 21, South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to greet fans and players beginning at 11 a.m. EST. The IHSBCA will honor two founders — Jim Reinebold and Ken Schreiber — prior to first pitch around noon.

Martin’s Supermarkets will provide box lunches to the teams between games. After the second game, players will be treated to pizza but can eat elsewhere in the South Bend-Mishawaka area with their families.

Peggs in downtown South Bend will feed the players breakfast.

On July 22, the game is slated for noon EST with players wearing their high school uniforms.

Game admission is $5 each day and the banquet is $25 ($15 for 10-and-under) — all payable at the door.

Commemorative T-shirts will sell for $10 and $15 apiece depending on size.

DoubleTree By Hilton Hotel South Bend will house players, coaches and the IHSBCA leadership. The hotel is at 123 N. St. Joseph St.

Most parents and fans will stay at Aloft Hotels South Bend or Courtyard By Marriott South Bend-Mishawaka.

The all-star rosters below reflect players who have accepted invitations. Some may not be able to play because of injury.

Elkhart Central’s Steve Stutsman will be head coach for the North squad.

The South’s coaching staff will be headed by New Palestine’s Shawn Lyons.

New Level Broadcasting plans to webcast throughout the all-star weekend with remotes at the Junior Showcase noon to 1 p.m., practice 1 to 2 p.m. and banquet 7 p.m. on July 20 and games 11 a.m. pregame on July 21 and 11:30 a.m. pregame on July 22. The broadcast team will be Bob Stambazze, Craig Wallen, Mark Lowry and Mike Ganger.

2018 IHSBCA NORTH/SOUTH

ALL-STAR SERIES

(At South Bend)

North Roster

Pitchers

Chandler Banic (LaPorte)

Robbie Berger (John Glenn)

Ryan Bolda (Crown Point)

Tyler Bothwell (Boone Grove)

Ashton Guyer (Western)

Ethan Larason (Maconaquah)

Jake Marin (Lafayette Central Catholic)

Riley Perlich (Fort Wayne Carroll)

Austin Peterson (Chesterton)

Sullivan Swingley (Yorktown)

Alex Voss (South Bend St. Joseph)

Landon Weins (Frankton)

Catchers

Kollyn All (McCutcheon)

Alec Brunson (DeKalb)

Hayden Jones (Fort Wayne Carroll)

First Basemen

Jay Hammel (South Newton)

Pat Mills (Western)

Middle Infielders

Eric Doyle (Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger)

Justin Graves (Lake Central)

Payton Kerr (Penn)

Benji Nixon (Plymouth)

Third Basemen

Riley Hershberger (Logansport)

Matt Meyer (Westfield)

Outfielders

Ian McCutcheon (Huntington North)

Tyler Owens (Noblesville)

Hayden Schott (Culver Academies)

Clay Thompson (Andrean)

Flex

Wes Transier (Oak Hill)

Head Coach

Steve Stutsman (Elkhart Central)

Assistant Coaches

Steve Asbury (Elkhart Central)

Shane Edwards (Oak Hill)

John Huemmer (Mishawaka)

Trainer

Ryan Fagan (Oak Hill)

South Roster

Pitchers

Luke Albright (Fishers)

Jake Andriole (Guerin Catholic)

Drew Hasson (Columbus East)

Cameron Holycross (Lapel)

Carter Lohman (Hamilton Southeastern)

Sam Meek (Hauser)

Zach Messinger (Castle)

Matthew Panagouleas (South Vermillion)

Alan Perry (Seymour)

Joey Weller (Union County)

Catchers

Zyon Avery (Ben Davis)

Lucas McNew (Borden)

Dillon Olejnik (Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter)

First Basemen

Ethan English (Jeffersonville)

Chase Hug (Pike)

Middle Infielders

Aaron Beard (Tecumseh)

Case Eisenhut (Northeast Dubois)

Sam Steimel (Sullivan)

Craig Yoho (Fishers)

Third Basemen

Riley Bertram (Zionsville)

Trever Zink (Forest Park)

Outfielders

Eli Helton (Lawrenceburg)

Caleb Meeks (Evansville Memorial)

Ryan Robison (New Albany)

Chase Springmeyer (Greensburg)

Flex

Tyler Finke (Columbus North)

Head Coach

Shawn Lyons (New Palestine)

Assistant Coaches

Jason Combs (Decatur Central)

Zach Payne (Lanesville)

Curt Welch (Castle)

Trainer

Anna Roberts (South Bend St. Joseph)

 

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Second baseball coaching stint at Peru rewarding for Brimbury

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Chuck Brimbury has enjoyed each stage of his professional life — from teacher and coach to assistant principal to principal to superintendent and then to athletic director along with a return to coach.

Brimbury is really basking in his second go-round as head baseball coach at Peru High School.

“I’ve loved every single job I’ve had in education,” says Brimbury, who also served 15 years as a football coach at Peru, including one as interim head coach. “The more you move up, the farther you seem to be from the kids and the daily guidance of them. I missed coaching. It was huge part of my life.

“I’ve been blessed to get back into it.”

After serving four years as superintendent of Peru Community Schools and helping to earn the district four-star status as one of the best-performing systems in Indiana, he opted in June 2014 to become AD and once again lead the Tigers on the diamond.

Beginning in 1998, Brimbury previously held the job for a decade.

“We had a really good run,” says Brimbury, whose teams were state-ranked in most seasons and had his 2000 squad reach the IHSAA Class 3A Final Four.

Brimbury borrowed methods he learned while serving as an assistant to Don Sherman at Huntington North High School.

The Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer taught him all the intricacies of running a successful baseball operation.

“We believe in holding people to high standards,” says Brimbury. “We get off the bus all looking the same and we stay together. Our top players carry the water cooler. There’s no job too small.”

Peru baseballers wears “Program” on their shirts to remind themselves and everyone else that “the program is more important than any player or any coach.”

Brimbury also uses drills and teaching methods gleaned from Hall of Famers Bill Jones of DeKalb, Bill Nixon of Plymouth and Chris Stavreti of Fort Wayne Northrop as well as the man who won 1,010 games and seven state championships — Ken Schreiber of LaPorte.

It doesn’t have to be a Thursday for the Tigers to throwing it back.

“We’re throwbacks,” says Brimbury. “It’s an old-school approach and our kids thrive off it.

“If you resemble a lot of guys with blue rings you’ll get one for your community one day. If their kids can do it, we can do it. We believe that here. We use a lot of what works.”

In his first season back in charge (2015), Brimbury enjoyed Peru’s first sectional championship since 2000.

When the Mid-Indiana Conference dissolved at the end on the 2014-15 academic school year, the Tigers joined the Three Rivers Conference and have reigned in baseball in their first two seasons in the new league (2016 and 2017).

“It’s a really good small-school conference,” says Brimbury of a conference which also includes Maconaquah, Manchester, Northfield, North Miami, Rochester, Southwood, Tippecanoe Valley, Wabash and Whitko. “I really enjoy the competition.”

Brimbury has also savored the ability to build a non-conference which has pitted the Tigers against the best competition from around the state and to a variety of venues.

Peru played Lafayette Central Catholic at Purdue University and both Providence and Rossville at Alexandria-Monroe in 2017 and this year will feature a program first — a southern spring break trip with stops at League Stadium in Huntingburg (where much of the movie “A League of Their Own” was filmed) to play Southridge and games at Muhlenberg County and Christian County in Kentucky.

“I want to make sure these kids have a tremendous experience in their four years at Peru,” says Brimbury. “I like exposing these kids to beautiful places and really good programs.

“Each year our schedule is a little different. We want to get our kids used to playing on the road.”

The idea is to prepare the Tigers for the postseason, which begins in 2018 with the Peru Sectional but another title would mean a trek to the always-tough Griffith Regional.

Getting to Griffith will be no small task. The 3A sectional grouping also features Benton Central, Maconaquah, Northwestern, West Lafayette and Western.

Peru is to play at Indiana State University May 5.

Nolan Brimbury — the oldest of Chuck and Michelle Brimbury’s three children — is a redshirt sophomore infielder for the Indiana State Sycamores.

Tiger Field will also be the site of 2018 Miami County Classic. Two of the three teams that visit Peru feature head coaches with close ties to Brimbury — former assistant Shane Edwards at Oak Hill and former player Troy Hudson at North Miami. Maconaquah rounds out the field for the May 12 all-day event.

“We have an old-time field,” says Brimbury. “It’s beautiful at night. It’s a really good atmosphere for home games.

“It’s one of the better small-school stadiums out there.”

Brimbury’s public address announcer at Tiger Field and assistant at Peru athletic events is Mike Stewart.

Now retired, Stewart was Chuck’s baseball coach at Fountain Central High School who also found his way to “Tiger Town.”

“(Stewart) was passionate about the game,” says Brimbury, who graduated from high school in 1988 and went on to play a little at Marian University in Indianapolis and receive various degrees from Indiana State.

Every Peru game and a weekly coach’s show has been on the radio (thanks to 101.9 FM and broadcasters Bob Stambazze and Doug Muzzillo) and many contests are shown on student-run Tiger TV.

Several players saw significant varsity action last spring, meaning Brimbury welcomes back 17 lettermen.

Among the senior returnees are catcher Nathan Brimbury (Chuck and Michelle’s son and a 2017 IHSBCA Junior Showcase invitee), right-hander Lucas McConahay (the top returning pitcher), outfielders Austin Caldwell and Robert Cunningham, second baseman Kasey Comp, first baseman Christian Gatliff and designated hitter Nathan Ramirez.

Juniors include third baseman Blake Edwards, outfielder D.J. Fuller, catcher Payton Honn and left-handers Chance Ogle and Zach Purcell.

Sophomores in the mix are right-hander/third baseman/shorstop Michael Chandler, outfielder Jonah Hoopenthal, outfielder/shortstop Daunte Majors, middle infielder Dmitry Reese and right-handers Jackson Green and Chase Tyler.

Hitting coach Rob Hileman has been with Brimbury in every season in both of his tenures except one. Jody Beauchamp is the Tigers pitching coach. Shawn Dwyer, Josh Ulrey, Brad Townsend, Gary Loe and strength coach complete the high school staff.

Sixth grader Madison Brimbury (Chuck and Michelle’s daughter) is a baseball student manager.

Michelle Brimbury, who is a special education teacher at PHS, is also team mom.

Feeders for the high school program include a Peru Junior High School team, which is expected to play 12 to 15 games in April and May.

There is also the Peru Cal Ripken League and many players wind up with various travel baseball organizations.

Besides Nolan Brimbury, recent Peru graduates on college baseball rosters include left-handed pitcher Cameron Beauchamp (Indiana University) and right-handers Dexter Shuler (Franklin College) and Sean Smith (Wabash College).

Beauchamp (2016) and Smith (2017) were both IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series participants.

“It’s fulfilling to see our kids playing at some level above high school and we try to keep (former players) a part of our program,” says Brimbury, who regularly welcomes baseball alums from his first Peru head coaching stint into his dugout and is now coaching the sons of some former players. “It’s a long history of former Tiger baseball players.

“We are totally vested in the success of our kids here.”

The Brimbury family celebrates Peru High School’s 2015 sectional baseball championship (from left): Michelle, Nathan, Nolan, Chuck and Madison. In 2018, Chuck is in the fourth season of his second tenure as head coach. Nathan is a senior catcher. Michelle is team mom. Madison is student manager. Nolan is now a redshirt sophomore at Indiana State University.