Tag Archives: Jeff/GRC Little League

Watson putting premium on running as new Providence head coach

January 4, 2023 stvkrh905 2 Comments

Tre’ Watson played for one state championship baseball team at Our Lady of Providence High School in Clarksville, Ind., and was an assistant coach for another.
Now he’s the interim head coach for the Pioneers. His promotion was announced in late October 2022.
Watson, who turned 25 in September, helped guide players through the fall IHSAA Limited Contact Period and is doing so again this winter. There has been individual skills work, including hitting and defense.
“We’re pushing baserunning,” says Watson. “That’s going to be pretty big for us.
“We have a lot of speed and a lot of smart baserunners.”
The idea is to force the opposing defense into mistakes and capitalize on them.
“That was not our M.O. when I was playing,” says Watson, noting that Providence went 27-3 his final prep season with all three losses being by one run. “We had really good pitching and offensively were good at situational hitting.”
Watson was a key member of the 2016 IHSAA Class 2A state championship squad as a senior. He drew two walks and made two putouts while playing first base and third base in the state championship game and was presented with the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award.
After an injury-plagued stint at Vincennes (Ind.) University, Watson (who has had four knee operations and one hip surgery) moved closer to home, enrolled at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany and joined Scott Hornung’s Providence baseball staff for the 2018 season.
Watson worked toward the Business Administration degree he earned in 2021.
Longtime assistant Scott Hutchins took over the Providence program after the 2019 season. The Pioneers won another 2A state crown in 2021.
Eli Watson — younger brother of Tre’ — was a senior in 2021 and also was named to the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series. Eli is now a redshirt freshman outfielder at Western Kentucky University.
Providence (enrollment around 350) went 18-11 in 2022 and is an athletic independent.
The Pioneers are part of an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping in 2023 with Clarksville, Crawford County, Eastern (Pekin) and Paoli. Providence has won 20 sectional titles — the last two in 2021 and 2022.
Home games are contested on Pioneer Field with its turf infield and Bermuda grass outfield. The synthetic surface makes rainouts a rarity.
Among the eight seniors on the 2023 team are three college commits — middle infielder Grant Borden (Mercer University), right-handed pitcher/third baseman Cody Jackson (Anderson University) and right-hander Grant Seebold (Oakland City University). Sophomore outfielder Cole Huett, who swings and throws lefty, is verbally committed to the University of Virginia. Grant Borden is the brother of Houston Astros minor leaguer Tim Borden II.
Other impact players include seniors Nathan Julius (outfielder), Casey Kaelin (middle infielder) and Brantley Whitlock (first baseman/third baseman) and juniors Jack Beyl (outfielder/right-hander), Luke Kruer (outfielder/right-hander) and Brian Wall (second baseman).
Watson, who expects to have 25 or 26 players for varsity and junior varsity squads, counts Jay Lorenz, Jared Clemons, Brian Jackson, Scott Hornung and Reece Davis among his assistant coaches.
Lorenz squeezed home the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning in the 2016 state title game.
Hornung is Watson’s father-in-law. Tre’ married Jacquie Hornung (Providence Class of 2016 and a former volleyball player at Bellarmine University in Louisville) in 2021. The couple resides in New Albany.
Tre’ Watson was born in Louisville to Charles II (aka Chuck) and Denna Watson and was raised in Jeffersonville, Ind. He was part of successful all-star teams at Jeff/GRC Little League.
Outside of coaching, Watson is business manager of St. Mary of the Annunciation Parish in New Albany.

Brothers Eli Watson (left) and Tre’ Watson celebrate Providence’s IHSAA Class 2A baseball state championship in 2021.

Jacquie Hornung (left) and Tre’ Watson celebrate Providence’s IHSAA Class 2A baseball state championship in 2021. The two were married shortly after this game. Tre’ and Jacquie Watson reside in New Albany, Ind.

High School

Jeffersonville hires veteran baseball man Stock to run Red Devils

September 28, 2022 stvkrh905 1 Comment

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

The reputation of the school and the draw of the game have come together for Shayne Stock.
He was recently approved as head baseball coach at Jeffersonville (Ind.) School.
“It’s one of the most-storied programs in this part of the state if not the whole state,” says Shock, who welcomed 32 players to IHSAA Limited Contact Period Activities. It is hoped that the Red Devils can field three teams — varsity and sub-varsity — this spring.
Jeffersonville (enrollment around 2,130) is a member of the Hoosier Hills Conference (with Bedford North Lawrence, Columbus East, Floyd Central, Jennings County, New Albany and Seymour).
The Red Devils were are part of an IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping in 2022 with Bedford North Lawrence, Floyd Central, Jennings County, New Albany and Seymour. Jeffersonville has won 26 sectional titles — the last in 2019.
Three alums — Drew Ellis, Gabe Bierman and Drew Campbell — played pro ball in 2022. Ellis, son of previous Jeffersonville head coach and 1984 JHS graduate Derek Ellis, made his Major League Baseball debut in 2021.
The Red Devils regularly produce college players.
Max McEwen (Class of 2022) went to Indiana State University. Shortstop/pitcher Brett Denby is verbally-committed to the University of Georgia.
Jeffersonville plays home games on Don Poole Field at John Schnatter Stadium. The facility got a turf infield a few years back.
In assembling his coaching staff, Stock has gotten commitments so far from Jeff Crawford, Alec Dunn and Josh Biven. Crawford has been in the program for two decades. Dunn, a teacher, played for four years Stock at Hanover. Biven coached New Albany Little League deep into the tournament and is the father of University of Louisville freshman Tucker Biven.
Jeff/GRC Little League also has a shining profile and feeds the high school program. With two middle schools — Parkview and River Valley — Stock hopes to have full seventh and eighth grade teams in the spring.
Stock concluded a 13-year run as head coach at Hanover (Ind.) College in 2018.
“I enjoyed working with the guys on a day-to-day basis, the competition level and the travel,” says Stock.
Before leading the NCAA Division III Hanover Panthers, Stock served as head coach for four years at NCAA DIII Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky. (2002 to 2005), pitching coach at DIII DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. (1998 and 1999) and was an assistant at Clarksville (Ind.) High School (1997) and an assistant at Hanover (2000 and 2001) under Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association and American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Dr. Dick Naylor.
A 1992 Clarksville graduate, Shayne played for and later coached with his father Wayne Stock, who went into the IHSBCA Hall of Fame in 1994.
Everything I know about being professional and communicating with kids I learned in my first 22 years,” says Shayne Stock of his father. “He is the foundation of any opportunity I’ve ever had.
“I would assume there are lots of similarities (in our coaching styles). (My teams are) going to be well-prepared and well-disciplined. We’ll play hard until the 21st out is recorded.”
Stock is a 1996 graduate of the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville. Gary Redman led the NCAA Division II Screaming Eagles his freshman year and Mike Goedde the last three seasons.
“(Redman) is the the most meticulous detail-oriented human,” says Stock. “He’s the best baseball coach I’ve been around.
“Pretty much all I do pitching philosophy-wise comes from Coach Goedde.”
Stock earned a Masters in Education from Indiana University Southeast in New Albany in 2004. He has taught at area high schools, including Jeffersonville and Charletown, and is married with children.

Don Poole Field at Jeffersonville (Ind.) High School.

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Jeffersonville, Louisville grad Campbell makes most of year away from baseball games

September 30, 2021 stvkrh905 2 Comments

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

Drew Campbell took a negative and turned it into a positive.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine of 2020 took away the ability to play baseball.
The Jeffersonville (Ind.) High School graduate and former Olney (Ill.) Central and University of Louisville outfielder was heading into his second season in the Atlanta Braves organization when things came to a standstill. Major League Baseball eventually started up. Minor League Baseball did not.
“It was the longest time without baseball since I was born,” says Campbell, who turns 24 on Oct. 10. “It was definitely hard on me. But I did not lose my passion for the game.”
Eventually, Campbell was able to give lessons at Ellis Baseball Academy in Jeffersonville and that put things into perspective.
“Young kids just wanted to play baseball,” says Campbell. “They’re not worried about contracts or who they’re going to play for.
“So (the time away) was a good re-set for everybody. It’s definitely a kids’ game and sometimes we get away from that.”
Another benefit from teaching hitting is that it helped him with his own offensive game by figuring out a way to explain the concepts.
“It’s easy to stay sharp when I’m teaching someone to hit,” says Campbell. “The mental side means a lot more now that I’m older.”
To Campbell, that means taking care of himself — mentally and physically. He’s doing more reading and journaling and getting a handle on his nutrition and workout routine.
“I’m staying positive,” says Campbell, who doesn’t want to take negative thoughts onto the field.
At 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, he has put 10 to 15 pounds on his frame in the last year and plans to add about 15 more in the off-season whether working out in Jeffersonville or Louisville. He eats six meals a day, lifts weights thee times a week and gets in hitting when he can.
“My nutrition is where I’ve really got to step up my game,” says Campbell. “I’m on the path to being the guy (the Braves) want me to be.
“That’s someone who hits for more power with more doubles and triples.”
While he missed two months while dealing with a pulled hamstring, Campbell played at three levels in 2021 — rookie-level (Florida Complex League Braves), Low Class-A (Augusta, Ga., GreenJackets) and High Class-A (Rome, Ga., Braves) — and hit .308 (32-of-104) with five home runs, three triples, seven doubles, 20 runs batted in and 32 runs scored in 27 games.
“I finished strong for the year,” says Campbell, who concluded the year with Rome. “I put myself in a good position for next year.”
Campbell, a lefty batter and thrower, played mostly in right field.
“That’s where I feel the most comfortable,” says Campbell. “But I’m an outfielder.
“I can go get the ball no matter where I’m at.”
Selected in the 23rd round of the 2019 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Atlanta Braves, Campbell hit .224 (24-of-107) with one homer, one triple, four doubles, seven RBIs and eight runs in 28 games that summer for Rome — then a Low Class-A club.
After that first pro season, he completed his course work at Louisville as a Sport Administration major and Criminal Justice minor.
Campbell logged three collegiate seasons — one at National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Olney Central (2017) and two at NCAA Division I Louisville (2018 and 2019).
He batted .294 (53-of-180) with seven homers, three triples, six doubles, 31 RBIs and 35 runs in 50 games at Olney Central for Blue Knights head coach Dennis Conley.
“It was an awesome experience,” says Campbell. “(Conley) is an all-time great coach. That’s Dennis Conley’s town. Everybody knows Dennis Conley. He parks where he wants.
“He really pushed me. Helped me through everything. He definitely cares about his players.”
At U of L, playing for Cardinals head coach Dan McDonnell, Campbell hit .310 (108-of-348) with four homers, three triples, 23 doubles, 70 RBIs and 52 runs in 121 games (97 as a starter).
“To have the chance to play for (McDonnell) was awesome,” says Campbell. “I’m excited to see what he does with the Cardinals (in 2022).”
Louisville went 51-18 and played in 2019 College World Series. Campbell became the first U of L player to be named to the all-CWS team, hitting .462 (6-for-13) with three RBIs. Batting seventh and playing right field, he went 3-for-4 including a walk-off base hit in an elimination game against Mississippi State.
At Jim Patterson Stadium, there is a locker room dedicated to professionals that have played at Louisville. There Campbell is likely to run into people like Jeffersonville’s Drew Ellis (Arizona Diamondbacks), New Albany’s Josh Rogers (Washington Nationals), 2021 No. 1 overall draft pick Henry Davis (Pittsburgh Pirates system) and San Francisco Giants minor leaguers Tyler Fitzgerald and Logan Wyatt.
Born in Jeffersonville, Campbell played T-ball at the YMCA in Clarksville and attended grade school and middle school there. He was at Jeff/GRC Little League, where he first played for Derek Ellis (who was later his head coach at Jeffersonville High and runs Ellis Baseball Academy) and then with the Louisville Longhorns and Ironmen travel teams as well as the Ricky Romans-managed Floyds Knobs American Legion Post 42 team.
Drew is the second of Tony and Keri Campbell’s four children. Nick Campbell was a senior at Our Lady of Providence High School in Clarksville when Drew was a freshman.
“It was only time I got to play with my older brother,” says Drew of Nick, who is now 27. Kyle Campbell (16) is a sophomore and Andrea Campbell (15) a freshman — both at Jeffersonville.
Drew played his last three prep seasons at Jeffersonville and graduated in 2016. With the Red Devils, he was reunited with Derek Ellis.
“He teaches baseball the right way,” says Campbell, who counts Derek’s son, Drew Ellis, as one of his buddies.
Campbell was an all-state selection at Jeffersonville. In 2016, he slugged eight home runs, drove in 27 and scored 30 in 25 games and was named Southern Indiana Player of the Year in by the Louisville Courier-Journal.

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Indiana University righty Bierman signs with Miami Marlins

July 20, 2021 stvkrh905 2 Comments

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

Gabe Bierman has faced adversity and personal crisis on his way to professional baseball.
The Jeffersonville, Ind., lost his father during his freshman year at Indiana University.
Douglas Bierman Jr., passed at 49 on May 16, 2019.
“I fought through my dad’s death and ended on a good note,” says Bierman, who signed July 18 with the Miami Marlins after being selected in the seventh round of the 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
A right-handed pitcher who committed to IU as a Jeffersonville High School freshman, Gabe was on the mound two days after Dougie Bierman died and hurled three shutout innings with four strikeouts against Rutgers and fanned two and allowed just two hits in 3 2/3 innings in an NCAA Tournament game against Illinois Chicago. He wrapped his freshman year as a Hoosier at 4-0. In 20 games (15 as a reliever), he posted a 3.56 earned run average and struck out 46 while walking 18 in 48 innings.
Bierman’s time management skills — something needed by all college students but especially an athlete — were lacking during his early days in Bloomington. He persevered.
As Bierman developed on the diamond, he got tougher. Jeffersonville pitching coach P.J. Thomas and he had talked about being a warrior and that’s the mentality he takes each time he steps on the mound.
“I’m someone who will get the job done and battle,” says Bierman, 21. “I’m a person who fights and fights and fights.”
Add to that pitchability, game management and the stuff that goes along with it.
In three seasons (2019-21) at IU playing for head coach Jeff Mercer and pitching coach Justin Parker, Bierman made 36 appearances (21 starts) and went 11-5
with one save and a 4.00 ERA. He had 150 K’s and 57 walks in 144 innings.
In 2021, Bierman had 12 starts and 5-4 record to go with a 3.16 ERA. He produced 80 strikeouts and 30 walks in 74 innings. On May 9 against Nebraska, the righty whiffed 11 batters and walked one in nine frames.
The COVID-19 pandemic kept Indiana strictly Big Ten Conference games and limited the home crowd at Bart Kaufman Field. That had no adverse effect on Bierman.
“My game and what I do on the mound is focused no matter what,” says Bierman. “There are no external factors.”
When Bierman pledged to play at Indiana, Chris Lemonis was head coach and Kyle Bunn pitching coach. Their successors got a thumbs-up from the pitcher who won four baseball letters and set career and single-game strikeout marks at Jeffersonville.
“I was pretty confident and Mercer and Parker and their good reputation,” says Bierman. “I needed that for my career moving forward.
“What I’m doing now reflects how they treated me and my journey through IU.”
A 6-foot-2, 200-pounder, Bierman throws a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, slider, change-up and curveball from a three-quarter overhand arm slot.
His fastest pitch is sinking two-seamer that sits at 89 to 93 mph and hit 95 in the summer of 2020 while Bierman was playing for the Prospect League’s Normal (Ill.) Cornbelters.
A sinking change-up came during his freshman year and he added the slider as a sophomore. Rapsodo data has helped him refine these pitches.
“I shortened up arm path in my sophomore year to get better movement on the slider,” says Bierman. “Eventually everything came along with more bite and more movement.”
Bierman signed with the Marlins in Jupiter, Fla., and its there that he is beginning to prepare as a pro.
Miami’s four affiliate clubs are the Low Class-A Jupiter (Fla.) Hammerheads, High Class-A Beloit (Wis.) Snappers, Double-A Pensecola (Fla.) Blue Wahoos and Jacksonville (Fla.) Jumbo Shrimp.
Where does Bierman go and when?
“It depends on how hard I work,” says Bierman. “I’ll put anything on the table for any organization.
“I’ll do anything I have to get to the top.”
Bierman’s first organized baseball came at Jeff/GRC Little League, where he played from age 5 to 12. Then came travel ball with the Louisville-based Ironman Baseball Club 13U to 17U.
Derek Ellis was his head coach with the Jeffersonville Red Devils.
“Derek was great,” says Bierman of Ellis. “We had several meetings together to see what my career could look like. “He pushed me and motivated me to the best version of myself.”
Following his freshmen year at IU, Bierman played for the Northwoods League’s 2019 Kenosha (Wis.) Kingfish.
Since the end of the 2021 season and being selected by and reporting to the Marlins, Bierman spent time in Bloomington keeping physically sharp and spending time with family. His mother is Andrea Bierman. His stepmother is Molly Bierman. He has five siblings — sister Mekenzi (an Indiana University Southeast student) and brothers Elijah, Nick, Ashton and Myles.

Contact Steve Krah at stvkrh905@gmail.com