Alum Harpring has led Rushville Lions baseball program since 2013 season

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Baseball is important at Rushville (Ind.) Consolidated High School and the the place where the Lions roam is getting a facelift.

The school took over the diamond once run by the Rush County Council of Clubs and facility is going through some major renovation.

New fences and dugouts are expected for the 2019 season. The field already has lights.

“The kids are really excited about it and that’s what it’s about,” says Kyle Harpring, a 1998 Rushville graduate who is heading into his seventh season as Lions head coach. “We’re hoping with the upgrades we’ll get a chance to host a sectional.”

Rushville is in an IHSAA Class 3A sectional grouping with Batesville, Franklin County, Greensburg, Lawrenceburg, Madison Consolidated and South Dearborn. The Lions last won a sectional title in 1999.

A member of the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference (with Batesville, Connersville, East Central, Franklin County, Greensburg, Lawrenceburg and South Dearborn) since 2013 after years in the Hoosier Heritage Conference, Rushville is coming off a 2018 season where it went 15-10 overall and 7-7 in the conference, which was won by Franklin County.

The EIAC determines its champion with home-and-home series on Mondays and Thursdays.

Among Rushville’s non-conference opponents are 3A’s New Castle, 2A’s Centerville, Hagerstown, Shenandoah and Triton Central and 1A’s Edinburgh and North Decatur.

Mason Springman (.487), Aaron Duncan (.360) and Cameron Craig (.348) were among the top hitters and three-year ace Tyler Wilson (3-4 in 11 appearances), Tyce Carroll (6-0) and Duncan (3-3) the top pitchers in 2018 and are expected to be part of the 10-member senior class in 2019.

Harpring says he expects to have about 25 players for varsity and junior varsity squads with about the same number in the middle school program.

Former Rushville left-hander Brad Busald pitched at Lincoln Trail College in Robinson Ill., in 2017 then transferred to Indiana University.

Harpring’s coaching staff features Eric Harpring, Jason Pavey and Jordan Hoeing at the high school level with Mark Mathews and Billy Martin tending to the middle schoolers.

Eric Harpring, who was a pitcher and outfielder at Huntington University, is Kyle’s brother.

“Eric brings a lot of knowledge to the table,” says Kyle Harpring. “I enjoy being able to share experiences with him.”

The Lions have produced five Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series players and there are related — Brian Harpring (1989), Eric Harpring (2006) and Caleb Fenimore (2010). Brian is an uncle and Caleb a second cousin to Kyle and Eric.

Jeremy Vale (1993) and Jarod Springman (1999) are the Lions’ other former All-Stars.

Pavey and Hoeing are also Rushville graduate. Hoeing played with Fenimore and Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne.

Billy Martin is the son of former Rushville Consolidated and Robert L. Jenkins American Legion coach Eric Martin and the brother of Wabash College head coach Jake Martin.

Kyle Harpring played for head coach Jim Bush in high school, Keith Perin in high school and Legion baseball and Eric Martin in Legion ball.

“I was really lucky,” says Kyle Harpring. “I got to play for some really invested baseball guys.

“They were good about instilling the importance of being fundamentally sound, playing hard all the time and knowing the focus you have to have as your progress up the levels. You can’t take plays off.”

Harpring grew up in what he calls a baseball family.

Kyle is the oldest of Mark and Karen Harpring’s three sons. Second son Scott is two years younger than Kyle. Eric was eight grades behind Kyle in school.

After graduating from Franklin College (2003), where he did not play baseball, Kyle Harpring went into teaching. His first job was at Lawrenceburg, where he was an assistant to Tigers head coach Joe Vogelesang and on the same staff with current Lawrenceburg head coach Nick Tremain.

“Joe was phenomenal to coach with,” says Harpring of Vogelgesang. “I was a middle infielder. Joe pitched professionally (in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays systems). I learned an awful lot about pitching from Joe.

“He’s very intense and cares a lot about the kids and the game and playing it the right way.”

Harpring taught middle school for 10 years and now instructs fourth graders at Rushville Elementary East.

A basketball coach while still in college, Harpring has coached that sport from seventh grade through varsity assistant with roles at Rushville, Lawrenceburg, Shelbyville and Triton Central.

Kyle and Ashley Harpring have been married for 10 years. The couple has three children — sons Hudson (7) and Micah (5) and daughter Ella (2). Micah was the “sectional baby” born the night of a first-round game against South Dearborn.

Kyle Harpring, a 1998 Rushville (Ind.) Consolidated High School graduate, is heading into his seventh season as the Lions head baseball coach in 2019.

 

Advertisement

Tremain, Lawrenceburg Tigers baseball embraces grind

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Rise and grind.

That’s what the Lawrenceburg (Ind.) High School Tigers do in the off-season and it’s paid off during the spring.

During baseball workouts, head coach Nick Tremain has his team at the gym at 6 a.m.

“In Indiana high school baseball, we only get to play about eight weeks,” says Tremain, a 1998 Lawrenceburg graduate who led his alma mater to a 21-9 overall mark and 10-4 ledger in the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference in 2018 (The 2017 Tigers went 31-2 and won the program’s 20th sectional title). “The work comes the rest of the year.”

Some schools have a big fieldhouse.

Not so for the Tigers.

“You make due with what you have,” says Tremain, who enters his seventh season as Lawrenceburg head coach in 2019. “We have an auxiliary gym with two drop-down cages. We think of it as a baseball facility. We get in as many swings as we possibly can.”

The ’18 team led the EIAC with 226 runs scored — 7.5 per game.

Why the 6 a.m. workouts?

“Nobody else is fighting for that time slot,” says Tremain. “The kids have embraced that.”

At a school of about 600 students near the boot heel in the southeast corner of the state in Dearborn County, Tremain has athletes looking to improve and compete.

“We focus on the process and grind of everyday,” says Tremain. “We’re creating a culture of doing all the little things correct.”

Since Tremain has been head coach, the Tigers have had as many as 28 players in the program for varsity and junior varsity squads.

“We keep pretty large JV teams,” says Tremain. “We make sure we play a full JV schedule to get as much work for the guys as we can and develop them.”

Tremain’s 2019 coaching staff features Guy Buddenberg as pitching coach, Mark Fette as head JV coach and Mark Turner as first base coach

Volunteers with the varsity and JV are Ryan Howard, Mark McCool and Jim Kittle.

Lawrenceburg is now an IHSAA Class 3A school, but spent many years in 2A. Tremain’s first season was the Tigers’ first in the larger class. They are in a sectional grouping with Batesville, Franklin County, Greensburg, Madison Consolidated, Rushville and South Dearborn.

Located 25 minutes from downtown Cincinnati, the Tigers can schedule Ohio and Kentucky schools.

“There’s a lot of good baseball in the tri-state area,” says Tremain. “There are good programs that are close. It helps prepare us for the postseason.”

Lawrenceburg plays varsity games on-campus at Pat O’Neill Memorial Field. The junior varsity uses nearby Lawrenceburg Conservancy District Community Athletic Park (The CAP).

Lawrenceburg Babe Ruth, Lawrenceburg Little League and travel teams play a role in developing Lawrence ballplayers. Some travel teams play in the Southwest Ohio League.

“We want to allow opportunities for a lot of kids to play,” says Tremain.

Recent Lawrenceburg graduates to move on the college diamonds include first baseman Kyle Kittle (Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati) and right-handed pitcher Jordan Houze at Thomas More University in Crestview Hills, Ky. Shortstop Clay Woeste, right-hander Grant Bradley and outfielder/right-hander Eli Helton all went to Indiana University-Southeast in New Albany.

Tremain played for Mark Knigga at Lawrenceburg High School and Lawrenceburg American Legion Post 239.

The Tigers made it the championship game of the 2A Richmond Semistate in 1998.

Assistants included Joe Vogelgesang (who followed Knigga as LHS head coach) and Jerry Schoen (who was head coach at Hauser).

After one season as JV coach under Terry Turner at Anderson High School, 2003 Indiana University graduate Tremain spent seven seasons as head coach at South Central (Elizabeth).

Vogelgesang pitched in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays systems. Turner has won two state title at Daleville (Ind.) High School.

“I’ve been fortunate,” says Tremain. “I had some pretty good mentors.

“I’ve tried to be a sponge with those guys and pick up as much as I can.”

The multi-sport athlete is the rule rather than the exception at Lawrenceburg.

“We encourage kids to compete in as many ways as they can,” says Tremain, who teaches physical education at both the high school and middle school. “Most of them play at least two sports.

“To win at our level we need to have the best athletes in the school playing multiple sports. We work together as programs.”

The summer brings a school-wide weight regimen.

Nick is the oldest of Jack and Susan Tremain’s three children. His siblings are Nathan and Jessica.

Nick Tremain is entering his seventh season as head baseball coach at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) High School in 2019. He is a 1998 Lawrenceburg graduate.