Dorshorst takes the reins for Kouts Mustangs

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Jason Dorshorst has been involved in baseball in the Kouts, Ind., community for close to a decade.

The man hired as head baseball coach at Kouts Middle/High School in July has helped out in the Kouts Youth Baseball League for years. 

“There’s a lot of families who have put a ton of time and effort into Kouts Youth Baseball and we’re starting to see the rewards of that,” says Dorshorst.

This past summer Dorshorst coached the Kouts Mustangs 11U travel team with oldest son Grayson (now a Kouts sixth grader and nearing 12) on the team.

Dorshorst has lived in Kouts and is now located about 10 minutes away in Valparaiso. He was head baseball coach at Morgan Township Middle/High School 2009-16 and left the school as a teacher after the 2016-17 year and is now a realtor for Listing Leaders.

He has a few more weeks to work with middle school baseball players at Kouts with some high schoolers mixed in. An IHSAA Limited Contact Period goes Aug. 28-Oct. 14.

What does Dorshorst emphasize?

“I’m a pitching-first guy,” says Dorshorst. “That’s always been my thing. We’re going to pitch and we’re going throw strikes.”

On offense, it’s all about applying pressure to the other team. That means putting the ball in-play.

The personnel dictates what the Mustangs will do.

“I’m very adaptable,” says Dorshorst. “It’s not one-size-fits-all for every team. Each team has its own identity.”

Kouts (enrollment around 250) is a member of the Porter County Conference (with Boone Grove, Hebron, Morgan Township, South Central of Union Mills, Tri-Township, Washington Township and Westville).

The Mustangs are part of an IHSAA Class 1A sectional grouping in 2024 with Bowman Academy, DeMotte Christian, Hammond Science & Technology, Morgan Township and Washington Township. Kouts has won five sectional crowns — the last in 2011.

Dorshorst says he expects Ian Garavalia (Class of 2019) to return as a volunteer coach and is working to find other assistants for 2024.

With community assistance, Dorshorst has been working on maintenance at Keith Nuest Field. The mound has been re-worked and an ideas meeting to discuss the master plan is to happen in the next few weeks.

“We’ve got ideas,” says Dorshorst. “It’s a work-in-progress.”

A recent Kouts graduate to move on to college baseball is Owen Winters (Class of 2022) at Purdue Northwest in Hammond, Ind.

The Mustangs have a large sophomore class and Dorshorst sees many of those players that are probably on the college baseball track. The majority of the starting lineup in the 2023 Hammond S&T Sectional were freshmen. Kouts is coming off a 13-12 season.

With the exception of the 2020 which was taken away by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mustangs have won 13 or more games in each campaign since 2019.

While at Morgan Township, Dorshorst coached a player now in his sixth year of professional baseball in 2023. Right-handed pitcher Joe Dougherty is with the Atlantic League’s Lexington (Ky.) Counter Clocks.

A 2022 graduate of Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., Dorshorst received his degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Before injuries curtailed his career, he played for the UWO Titans.

Jason’s wife Katie Dorshorst is a first grade teacher at Kouts Elementary School. Youngest son Maddox is a third grader and almost 9.

Jason Dorshorst.

Kouts Middle/High School.

Kouts still prioritizes ‘culture’ with Yager at helm

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

Randy Yager is now in charge of the baseball program at Kouts (Ind.) Middle/High School.
The new head coach says the Mustangs will continue to emphasize “culture” — something they did with Jim Tucker as head coach and Yager an assistant the past five years.
“We want to doing the right thing on and off the field,” says Yager, who was promoted at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year. “Growing baseball players into young men, husbands and fathers and employees is more important than the current statistics.
“Their lives mean more to me than winning baseball games.”
Tucker and his wife have moved west. He is coaching junior varsity baseball at Douglas High School in Minden, Nev., and is on the phone multiple times a week with Yager.
The owner of Yager Construction in Kouts and Ace Hardware stores in Kouts and Hebron and the chairman of deacons at First Baptist Church of Kouts, Yager was born in Valparaiso, Ind., spent most of the first 20 years of his life in Florida then moved back to northwest Indiana.
He is a 1986 graduate of Ambassador Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale, where he played baseball for four years.
At Kouts, Yager has also served as an assistant boys basketball coach for five years. His baseball assistants are Doug Murray, who was on Tucker’s staff for thee years, and son Hunter Yager (21). The latter holds the school record for baseball games played.
Randy and wife Traci have three children. Oldest Lauren (Yager) Kemp is 23 and the head softball coach at Kouts, her alma mater. Eric Yager (17) is a Kouts junior.
The Mustangs play on Keith Nuest Field, an on-campus facility named for the alum and longtime scorekeeper.
Randy Yager was a middle school coach this fall and there was no IHSAA Limited Contact Period baseball activity with so many fall athletes at Kouts (high school enrollment around 270).
The Mustangs are members of the Porter County Conference (with
Boone Grove, Hebron, LaCrosse, Morgan Township, South Central of Union Mills, Washington Township and Westville).
In 2021, Kouts was part of an IHSAA Class 1A sectional grouping with 21st Century Charter, Covenant Christian (DeMotte), Hammond Academy of Science & Technology, Marquette Catholic, Morgan Township, Washington Township and Westville. The Mustangs have won five sectional titles — the last in 2011.

Randy Yager with Hunter Yager and Lauren (Yager) Kemp.

Nuest statistical attachment to Kouts baseball spans half century

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Andy Pafko and Hank Sauer were stars in the Chicago Cubs outfield, South Bend’s Bob Rush was the top pitcher, Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch was the manager and Bert Wilson was the radio play-by-play voice for the North Siders when Keith Nuest started keeping score for baseball games in 1950.

Nuest was 7 and living in Kouts, Ind., which is 12 miles south of Valparaiso in Porter County.

More than seven decades later, the 78-year-old Nuest has scored and tabulated numerous sporting events for the Kouts Middle/High School Mustangs.

This winter was his 53rd season of keeping the book for boys basketball (he has not missed a game in that span and tracked the digits for the IHSAA Class 1A state runners-up in 2020-21) and the 43rd for girls basketball. He compiles stats for basketball, baseball, softball and track and field.

Much of what Earl Mishler has on his high school baseball website — ETPearl.com — came from Nuest.

His interest in the sport and numbers once had Nuest scoring Chicago Bulls and Indiana University games on the radio. 

The 2020 season would have marked his 50th as statistician for Kouts baseball. But he doesn’t count that one since the COVID-19 pandemic took the season, making 2021 the half-century mark for that job.

But it’s not really a job. Nuest has never taken any pay for scoring or coaching baseball and minimal for basketball over the years.

It’s about helping the community and being close to things he enjoys.

“I’ve always had a love of numbers,” says Nuest, a 1961 Kouts graduate who went on to work 39 years in the financial department at Midwest Steel in Portage, retiring at 60. “Math always came easy to me.”

About five years ago, Nuest completed a 40-year run of coaching Kouts in high school summer ball. He ran the area league — which at various times included teams from Culver, Kankakee Valley, Knox, Renselaer Central, Wheeler, Valparaiso and beyond —  for about 25 years, scheduling all the games.

“I always tried to make it fun for the kids,” says Nuest. “Just being around the kids was enjoyable for me. I watched them grow and improve as individuals.”

In the spring, he has worked under 11 head coaches. Don Spoerner was the first. Jim Tucker is now in charge of the Kouts baseball program.

“I really love the game of baseball,” says Nuest. “I love the strategy that goes into it. Anything can happen on any given pitch. 

“People think bas ball is boring and slow. But you never know what’s around the corner.”

As a scorekeeper, Nuest came up with a way of doing it and stayed with it.

What makes it unique?

“I don’t know that there’s any specific thing, but you should be able to read it like a book,” says Nuest. “You should be able to tell  batting average and earned run averages of your team and your opponents.

“It all flows together. It you leave something out it’s like you left out a page.”

This spring, Kouts named its baseball diamond in honor of their longtime contributor.

“It’s a wonderful community,” says Nuest. “I was never a teacher at the school and never an official coach.

“It was kind of an overwhelming honor at the time. I’ve donated hours and hours of work. But I certainly never expected anything like this.”

Nuest was born in Valparaiso and except for a few years in Lake Village when he was in school and two years in Valparaiso when he married second wife Lana, he has resided in Kouts.

Keith and Lana were married 46 years and had a blended family of five. Lana Jeanne (Lawrence) Nuest died Aug. 6, 2020 at 77.

The 2021 Kouts Mustangs head into play today (May 10) at Keith Nuest Field against Covenant Christian (DeMotte) at 11-7. Kouts is in the 1A Washington Township Sectional.

The Kouts (Ind.) Mustangs baseball team plays at Keith Nuest Field. (Steve Krah Photo)

Keith Nuest in a familiar place — the baseball dugout for Kouts (Ind.) Middle/High School. He counts the 2021 season as his 50th as scorekeeper for the Mustangs. The 1961 Kouts graduate coached summer teams for 25 years. (Steve Krah Photo)