Here’s a look back at 2018 IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series in South Bend

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

The 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association All-Star Series is in the books.

Despite wet weather in South Bend, Ind., many of the best players from around the state got a chance to show what they can do on the diamond —  first with the annual Junior Showcase Friday, July 21 and then the recent graduates took to Four Winds Field for three games following a Friday night banquet featuring keynote speaker Greg Kloosterman and the announcement of Roncalli’s Nick Schnell as IHSBCA Player of the Year.

A scheduled doubleheader Saturday became a rain-shortened game. That led to a 9 a.m. Sunday doubleheader.

Three IHSBCA founders were remembered during the weekend. There was a pregame ceremony Saturday to posthumously honor Jim Reinebold and Ken Schreiber.

Declaring, “This ones for you Grandpa!!” on Twitter, Fort Wayne Carroll’s Hayden Jones went out and took MVP honors for the North/South Series in memory of a Bill Jones.

The North coaching staff was head coach Steve Stutsman (Elkhart Central) plus assistants Steve Asbury (Elkhart Central), Shane Edwards (Oak Hill), John Huemmer (Mishawaka) and Lonnie Weatherholt (Elkhart Central).

Coaching the South was head coach Shawn Lyons (New Palestine), Jason Combs (Decatur Central), Zach Payne (Lanesville) and Curt Welch (Castle).

Ryan Fagan and Anna Roberts served as trainers.

Umpires were Tony Gaugler, Bob Lichtenberger, Jay Miller and Corey Stewart in Game 1, Mike Alberts, Terry Baker, Kevin Kirsch and Eric Erb in Game 2 and Laird Salmon, Zach Sliwa, Bob Schellinger and Steve Kajzer in Game 2.

The 45th North/South Series is planned for one week after the IHSAA State Finals in Madison, Ind.

2018 IHSBCA NORTH/SOUTH

ALL-STAR SERIES

(At Fort Winds Field, South Bend)

Saturday, July 21

North 8, South 4 (rain-shortened in 5th inning)

S 201 1 — 4 4 5

N 602 x — 8 6 4

Sunday, July 22

South 8, North 4

(Wood Bat Game)

N 000 040 0 — 4 5 2

S 130 040 — 8 12 0

North 8, South 0

S 000 000 0 — 0 4 0

N 214 010 x — 8 8 1

MVP: Hayden Jones (Fort Wayne Carroll).

Offensive Stats (AB R H RBI)

Pitching Stats (IP H R ER BB SO)

North

Kollyn All (McCutcheon HS/Butler) — G1 — DNP; G2 — C 2 0 0 0; G3 — C 1 0 0 0.

Chandler Banic (LaPorte HS/Ball State) — G1 — DNP; G2 — SS 0 0 0 0, P 1 0 0 0 0 2; G3 — P 1 0 0 0 0 0 3

Robbie Berger (John Glenn HS/Lincoln Trail CC) — Participated, but did not play.

Ryan Bolda (Crown Point HS/Indiana) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 1 0 0 0 2; G3 — P 1 0 0 0 1 0

Ty Bothwell (Boone Grove HS/Indiana) — G1 — DNP; G2 — DNP; G3 — PR 0 0 0 0

Alec Brunson (DeKalb HS/Purdue Fort Wayne) — G1 — DH 2 0 0 0; G2 — C 1 0 0 0; G 3 — C 0 1 0 0

Eric Doyle (Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger HS/Ivy Tech Northeast) — G1 — DNP; G2 — SS 2 1 1 1; G3 — SS 1 0 0 0

Justin Graves (Lake Central HS/Purdue Northwest) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 2B 3 0 0 0; G3 — 2B 2 0 1 0

Ashton Guyer (Western HS/Purdue) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 1 0 0 0 2 1; G3 — PR 0 1 0 0, P 1 1 0 0 2 3

Jay Hammel (South Newton HS/Quincy) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 1B 1 0 0 1; G3 — 1B 1 0 0 0

Riley Hershberger (Logansport HS/Danville Area CC) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 3B 1 1 0 0; G3 — 3B 1 0 1 0

Hayden Jones (Fort Wayne Carroll HS/Mississippi State) — G1 — C 3 1 3 2; G2 — DH 3 0 1 2; G3 — C 1 0 1 1 (double)

Payton Kerr (Penn HS/IUPUI) — G1 — SS 3 1 1 2; G2 — SS 1 0 0 0; G3 — SS 0 2 0 0

Ethan Larason (Maconaquah HS/Indiana) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 1 4 4 4 2 0; G3 — P 1 1 0 0 0 0

Jacob Marin (Lafayette Central Catholic HS/Marian) — G1 — P 1 1 1 1 2 1; G2 — DNP; G3 — DH 1 0 0 0

Ian McCutcheon (Huntington North HS/Huntington) — G1 — RF 2 1 0 1; G2 — PR 1 1 0 0;  G3 — RF 1 1 0 1

Matthew Meyer (Westfield HS/Sinclair CC) — G1 — 3B 2 2 2 2; G2 — 3B 0 0 0 0; G3 — 3B 2 0 0 0

Pat Mills (Western HS/Olney Central) — G1 — 1B 3 0 0 0; G2 — 1B 1 0 1 0 (triple); G3 — 1B 2 0 1 1

Benji Nixon (Plymouth HS/Indiana) — G1 — 2B 0 1 0 0; G2 — 2B 0 0 0 0; G3 — 2B 2 1 1 1

Tyler Owens (Noblesville HS/Northwood) — G1 — LF 3 1 0 0; G2 — DNP; G3 — LF 0 0 0 0

Riley Perlich (Fort Wayne Carroll HS/Wright State) — G1 — P 3 3 3 1 1 1; G2 — DNP; G3 — DH 1 0 0 0

Austin Peterson (Chesterton HS/Purdue) — Participated, but did not play.

Hayden Schott (Culver Military Academy/Cypress College) — G1 — DNP; G2 — RF 2 1 0 0; G3 — LF 2 1 1 1

Sullivan Swingley (Yorktown HS/Bethel) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 1 2 0 0 0 1; G3 — P 1 1 0 0 1 0

Clay Thompson (Andrean HS/Oakland U.) — G1 — CF 2 0 0 1; G2 — LF 2 0 0 0; G3 — CF 3 1 0 0

Wes Transier (Oak Hill HS/Ivy Tech Northeast) — G1 — PR 0 0 0 0; G2 — CF 3 0 2 0; G3 — LF 2 0 1 0

Alex Voss (South Bend St. Joseph HS/Butler) — G1 —DNP; G2 — DNP; G3 — P 2 1 0 0 2 1

Landon Weins (Frankton HS/Morehead State) — G1 — PR 0 1 0 0; G2 — P 2 6 4 4 1 2; G3 — DH 1 0 0 0

South

Luke Albright (Fishers HS/Kent State) — G1 — P 2.1 5 8 2 3 3; G2 — DNP; G3 — DNP

Jake Andriole (Guerin Catholic HS/Purdue) — Participated, but did not play.

Zyon Avery (Ben Davis HS/Ohio U.) — G1 — C 1 1 0 0; G2 — DH 2 0 1 0; G3 — DH 1 0 0 0

Aaron Beard (Tecumseh HS/Danville Area CC) — G1 — PH 1 0 0 0; G2 — 2B 2 0 0 0; G3 — 2B 2 0 2 0

Riley Bertram (Zionsville HS/Michigan) —  G1 — 3B 2 1 2 1 (triple); 2 1 1 1 (double); 3B 2 0 0 0 0, P 1 0 0 0 0 0

Case Eisenhut (Northeast Dubois HS/Undecided) — G1 — 2B 1 0 0 0; G2 — PH 1 0 0 0; G3 — 2B 1 0 0 0

Ethan English (Jeffersonville HS/Indiana Wesleyan) — G1 — 1B 1 0 0 1; G2 — RF 1 0 0 0; G3 — 1B 2 0 0 0

Tyler Finke (Columbus North HS/Snead State) — G1 — PR 0 0 0 0; G2 — PR 0 1 0 0; G3 — PR 0 0 0 0

Drew Hasson (Columbus East HS/Northern Illinois) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 1 2 2 2 2 0; G3 — PH 1 0 0 0

Eli Helton (Lawrenceburg HS/IU Southeast) — G1 — RF 2 0 0 0; G2 — RF 3 0 1 0; G3 — PH 2 0 1 0 (double)

Cameron Holycross (Lapel HS/Indiana State) — G1 — P 1 1 0 0 2 5; G2 — DNP; G3 — P 1 1 2 2 2 2

Chase Hug (Pike HS/Olney Central) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 1B 3 0 1 0; G3 — DH 2 0 0 0, P 1 2 1 1 2 1

Lucas McNew (Borden HS/Southern Indiana) — G1 — DH 1 0 0 0; G2 — C 1 1 0 0; G3 — C 0 0 0 0

Sam Meek (Hauser HS/Bluffton) — G1 — DNP; G2 — DNP; G3 — P 0.1 2 0 0 2 1

Caleb Meeks (Evansville Memorial HS/Evansville) — G1 — CF 2 1 1 0; G2 — CF 4 1 1 0 (double); G3 — CF 0 0 0 0

Zach Messinger (Castle HS/Virginia) — DNP; DNP; G2 — PH 1 0 0 0; G3 — DNP

Dillon Olejnik (Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter HS/Marian) — G1 — DNP; G2 — C 2 1 2 0; G3 — C 1 0 0 0

Matthew Panagouleas (South Vermillion HS/Indiana State) — G1 — DNP; G2 — PH 1 0 0 0; G3 — P 1.1 1 1 1 2 1

Alan Perry (Seymour HS/Cedarville) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 2 1 0 0 0 1; G3 — DNP

Ryan Robison (New Albany HS/Vincennes) — G1 — LF 1 0 0 0; G2 — 1B 1 0 1 0;  G3 — RF 2 0 0 0

Chase Springmeyer (Greensburg HS/Cedarville) — G1 — DNP; G2 — LF 3 1 2 1; G3 — LF 2 0 0 0

Sam Steimel (Sullivan HS/Evansville) — G1 — DNP; G2 — SS 2 0 0 0; G3 — PR 1 0 0 0

Joey Weller (Union County HS/Thomas More) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 2 0 0 0 0 2; G3 — DNP

Jackson Wynn (Danville HS/Parkland) — G1 — DNP; G2 — PH 0 0 0 0, P 1 1 0 0 0 0; G3 — PH 0 0 0 0, P 1.1 2 0 0 1 3

Craig Yoho (Fishers HS/Houston) — G1 — SS 2 1 1 0 (double); G2 — SS 1 1 1 1 (double); G3 — SS 2 0 1 0

Trever Zink (Forest Park HS/Olney Central) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 3B 2 1 1 1; G3 — 3B 2 0 0 0

Scorekeepers: Bill & Sue Forgey of Huntington, Ind.

Commemorative plague for founder Jim Reinebold at 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series in South Bend. (Steve Krah Photo)

Commemorative plague for founder Ken Schreiber at 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series in South Bend. (Steve Krah Photo)

Elkhart Central and North head coach Steve Stutsman makes his parting remarks at 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series in South Bend. (Steve Krah Photo)

Making out the Game 3 lineup for Game 3 of the 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series in South Bend are (from left): New Palestine’s Shawn Lyons, Decatur Central’s Jacob Combs, Castle’s Curt Welch and Lanesville’s Zach Payne. (Steve Krah Photo)

A T-shirt to commemorate the 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series in South Bend. (Steve Krah Photo)

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On the occasion of his 300th win, Elkhart Central’s Stutsman reflects on his career

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Steve Stutsman had a sweet moment Saturday, May 6.

Elkhart Central beat visiting Angola 5-0 in the second game of a high school baseball doubleheader, giving Stutsman the 300th victory of his coaching career.

Stutsman and his team enjoyed cake and cupcakes to mark the moment then the man reflected on the “program” that brought him this special day.

“I’ve had great players, great coaches and great parents,” says Stutsman. “It’s an honor to get to 300 victories and someone helped in every one of those along the way.”

That includes former assistants like Scott Rost (now head coach at Elkhart Memorial), Andrew Brabender (head coach at Northridge who picked up his 200th career win earlier this season), Jim Treadway (former head coach at Concord and the long-time Bristol American Legion Post 143 manager) plus solid baseball men like Dave Hicks, Jimmy Malcom, Mike Doherty and Pat Doherty and on and on.

“Being part of the program. That’s what it’s all about,” says Stutsman. “It’s not me. Kids come and go. Parents come and go. You’ve got to have one thing and that’s the program. That’s what I’ve tried to build here.”

After serving two years as assistant to Randy Miller as he was ending his second head coaching stint with the Blue Blazers, Stutsman took over in 1996.

“I thought I had a good 20 years in me,” says Stutsman, 64. “I got the job kind of late in life in my late 30’s, early 40’s.

“I’m in my 22nd year and I feel better than when I first started.”

Stutsman, a 1971 Concord High School graduate, leads a 2017 team full of veterans players.

“They’re just a great group of kids,” says Stutsman. “They are young men who really play well together. They listen to you. They try to correct the things we ask them to correct.”

Stutsman sees a collection of young athletes that genuinely like each other and play loose.

“I said to them a couple of weeks ago that I’d rather have a team that has great team chemistry than two or three superstars on the team,” says Stutsman. “I really believe that.”

In 2013, Stutsman was part of an IHSAA Class 4A state championship celebration with a squad that beat Indianapolis Cathedral 1-0.

Those Blazers featured Indiana Mr. Baseball Tanner Tully (the left-hander homered and fanned 13 batters to the title game and is now at Low Class-A in the Cleveland Indians organization) plus L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award winner Matt Eppers (now a senior center fielder at Ball State), Cory Malcom (a successful senior right-handed starting pitcher at Arkansas-Little Rock) and Riley Futterknecht (who is wrapping up a strong college career as a left-handed hurler at DePauw).

“That was a great group, too,” says Stutsman. “They liked each other and played well together.

“Championships are awesome and people ask me, ‘why didn’t you retire after you won (in 2013)?’ and I said, “Because I’m still having fun. I still enjoy what I’m doing. I still enjoy watching them go on after high school to college or into a profession and be successful citizens. That — for me — is what coaching is all about.”

Since 1996, Central has won four sectionals (2001, 2011, 2012, 2013) with the one regionals semistate and one state title in 2013.

Stutsman’s “associate head coach” is Steve Asbury, who is in his 14th season on the Blazers staff.

“It’s scary because he knows what I’m thinking and I know what he’s thinking,” says Stutsman. “He has his responsibilities and he does them really well. It’s like I don’t have to tell him what to do.”

Lonnie Weatherholt and Chad O’Brien been with Stutsman for a decade. Brandon Squibb joined the cohesive varsity staff a few seasons ago. The junior varsity is led by Bodie Bender and longtime assistant Paul Bates (son Devin Prater played for the ’13 state champions).

“It’s nice to have your friends for your assistant coaches,” says Stutsman. “We really work well together.

“I feel like I’m just the head of the whole program and I let my assistants go and do their own thing.”

Stutsman has accomplished much of what he has without the feeder program that many Indiana schools enjoy. There is no junior high baseball in Elkhart and the local Little League parks send players on to various high schools.

Travel baseball is firmly established in the area and Stutsman knows it and accepts it — with a caveat.

“As long as they’re playing baseball and as long as I can trust the travel ball coach to make sure their arms are taken care of, I have no problem,” says Stutsman. “I think it’s good they play under different coaching philosophies.

“But when they hit high school, they know from January until the end of May they are Central ballplayers. I take great pride in making sure that the boys know that.”

Going back to the split of Elkhart High School into Central and Memorial, beginning in 1972-73, there have only been three head baseball coaches at Central — Miller (twice), Mike Lutz and Stutsman.

“I’m really proud of that,” Stutsman said. “If I could, if there’s a merger (and one is planned in 2020-21), I want to hang on until the merger and be the last Central baseball coach.”

Talk about the split has been on the lips of many Elkhartans for the past 44 years. Stutsman is no different.

“Selfishly, I’d like to see what we could do with one school,” says Stutsman. “There have been numerous years that had Central and Memorial been combined we could have went down to State. I don’t know if we could have won it all, but we could have been down there quite often.

“But that’s not why I coach. I coach for the kids and seeing them improve and making them into young adults.”

Stutsman also takes took him up on his invitation in the ‘90s to resurrect the Bristol American Legion Post 143 baseball program that was dormant for a short time after being originally started by Lutz.

“(Treadway) has done a great job and he’s taken a lot of our Central boys with the Bristol Legion,” says Stutsman.

Post 143 played its home game at Rice Field (the former varsity and current Central JV field) before moving around to various facilities and returns to that diamond in 2017.

A former Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association president, Stutsman sees two highlights of his time in a leadership role.

“There’s better communication with coaches throughout the state (mostly via email and newsletters),” says Stutsman. “The pitch count (rule) that we’re doing now was needed. I know it’s a struggle with the smaller schools to find pitchers, but its good to limit the pitches.

“(The IHSBCA) does a great job. I only joined one union and that’s it.”

Steve Stutsman celebrates his 300th career coaching victory with his 2017 Elkhart Central High School baseball team after the Blue Blazers beat visiting Angola 5-0 in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday, May 6. Stutsman’s first season as ECHS head coach was 1996. (Steve Krah Photo)