Enright emphasizes mental approach with Wheeler Bearcats

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

Jeff Enright sees baseball as more than just physical. There’s what goes on between the ears, too.
“Baseball is kind of a unique sport,” says Enright, the head coach at Wheeler (Ind.) High School since the summer of 2019. “There’s so much thought that goes into every position and every pitch.
“There’s the mental approach and how to overcome short-term adversity.”
Players will face a bad call by the umpire or have a sure hit robbed by a great catch, but they must move forward or it becomes a negative.
“That’s what I enjoy most about coaching baseball,” says Enright. “You try to put them in healthy stressful situations as much as you can during the off-season.
“You make them uncomfortable and failing and then you build them back up.”
Enright equates mental training with mental health.
“These kids are 14 to 18,” says Enright. “They are still growing emotionally. Their highs are too high and lows too low.”
The coach goes for even-keel.
“We say you’re never as bad or as good as you think you are,” says Enright. “We talk about it all the time.”
For every four practices on the baseball field, the Bearcats are in the class room going over the last few practices or games. Enright likes to do this debriefing on a rainy day.
Wheeling won the program’s sixth sectional title in 2021.
While right-handed pitcher Rex Stills (9-1, 1.37 earned run average, 100 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings) and infielder Sean Conroy have moved on — Stills to Purdue Fort Wayne and Conroy to Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, Calif.
Returnees for 2022 include senior outfielder Nehemiah Parrish, senior catcher/outfielder Dylan Passauer, senior corner infielder/right-hander Kole Hutcheson, junior shortstop Kris Kingery, junior right-hander/outifleder Mason Leckrone, sophomore utility man Mark Johnson, sophomore right-hander Lucas McNamara and sophomore third baseman/designated hitter Jackson Smith.
Parrish, who plans to enter the U.S. Marines after graduation, hit .414 with 30 runs batted in and 17 stolen bases in 2021.
Passauer has committed to the University of Northwestern Ohio.
Kingery is expected to be the Bearcats’ lead-off hitter.
Leckrone and Hutcheson are likely the team’s top two starting pitchers.
Johnson (.317, 13 RBI) and Smith (.355, 19 RBI) are coming off solid offensive seasons.
Of the 21 players in the program, most are juniors and sophomores.
“For a (Class) 2A school we’re pretty deep this year,” says Enright.
Wheeler (enrollment around 450) is a member of the Greater South Shore Conference (with baseball members Calumet New Tech, Griffith, Hammond Bishop Noll, Hanover Central, Illiana Christian, Lake Station Edison, River Forest and Whiting).
With the addition of Illiana Christian, the conference is broken into divisions with teams playing two games with their division and one against squads in the other division. Wheeler is paired with Calumet New Tech, Lake Station Edision, River Forest and Whiting.
The Bearcats do not have a conference JV schedule but has scheduled JV games on days when the varsity does not play.
“I want to get the young guys some reps,” says Enright.
Wheeler is part of an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping with Bowman Academy, Hammond Bishop Noll, Illiana Christian, Lake Station Edison and Whiting (host).
Enright’s varsity assistant is Joe Kennedy, who was a player for Enright at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago. Enright was an assistant for the 2013 Class 4A Illinois state champions.
JV coaches are Union Township Middle School teacher Sean Cunningham and Alex Hutman (Wheeler Class of 2021).
Wheeler is due to get new baseball and softball fields with turf. First up is the turfing of the football field. The diamonds will be located on the other end of the property from their current locations.
“It may not be pure baseball in the traditional sense, but as soon as it stops raining you can play,” says Enright of playing on turf. “In our area of the country it’s tough to get a baseball season in in the spring.”
Wheeler is small incorporated Valparaiso community. The feeder system for the baseball program include Union Township Little League (T-ball through Senior League for middle schoolers).
Enright estimates that around 75 percent of players are with travel organizations, including Triple Crown Valparaiso, 5 Star Great Lakes Chiefs and Cangelosi Sparks (Lockport, Ill.). Some also play American Legion ball for Post 502 Blaze coached by Bob Wineland.
An alum of Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Ill. (1995), Enright with a double major in History and Political Science from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1999. He went to Chicago-Kent College of Law and practiced product liability law at Schiff Hardin LLC in Chicago.
It was while clerking for a judge during law school that he got the idea that he might one day want to go into education. He teaches History and U.S. Government at Wheeler.
Before landing with the Bearcats, Enright was head coach at Calumet Tech. The 11 years prior to that was spent at Mount Carmel. He moved up from freshmen coach to sophomore coach and varsity assistant while working with Caravan head coach Brian Hurry.
“I learned most about coaching from him,” says Enright of Hurry. “The biggest thing was how to have a personal relationship with each kid to try to maximize their potential.”
A member of the Chicago Catholic League, Mount Carmel players are recruited while in middle school.
“We get to know them in sixth and seventh grade as you’re trying to entice them to come to your school,” says Enright. “You hope you know how they tick.”
During his time at Mount Carmel, the baseball community rallied over a series of tragedies. Complications of a heart defect took Steven “Stevie” M. Bajenski in 2009 (the first Steven M. Bajenski Memorial Baseball Tournament was played in 2012). The Caravan also lost a coach to ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and another player passed on July 4.
“It brought everybody closer together,” says Enright. “Everybody was reeling.”
Jeff and wife Kerry have three children in the Union Township School Corporation — junior Emily (16), eighth grader Sarah (14) and sixth grader Jack (11).

Jeff Enright

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Baseball structure a living memorial to a coaching legend

By DEAN JACKSON

For IndianaRBI.com

There’s a brick, over there by the third base dugout.

A memory of when Northrop baseball coach Matt Brumbaugh and his high school teammates built the press box at what is now Chris Stavreti Field.

The players built the structure — it lasted about 40 years. What they didn’t know at the time the veteran coach was crafting them into adults and leaders.

That brick, and a few others like it are all that remains of the humble structure that once stood behind home plate.

Sometime, this spring or summer, when the COVID-19 virus precautions are lifted they’ll officially dedicate the Chris Stavreti Press Box and Clubhouse.

Stavreti died in November 2012 from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. At Northrop, his Bruins were common visitors to the later rounds of the IHSAA baseball tournament.

They were his calling cards, dating back to a short stint tenure at East Noble High School in Kendallville. When it was all done, the Indiana Baseball Hall of Famer recorded 559 wins, 255 losses and collected state title in 1983, three semi states, eight regionals and 13 sectional titles.

The structure that came to life this fall fits “Stav’s” style. Practical and real. It’s packed with purpose. Intentionally designed just like the coach would lead. It grew from need.

A simple one.

“My whole goal was just to have two bathrooms at the field,” Brumbaugh explained. “That’s all I wanted. We’ve had a portajohn the whole time I’ve been here.

“Now we have a coaches office, a locker room, concession stand and two bathrooms, one on each side. It wouldn’t be possible without him. The lessons I’ve learned through the years playing for him and coaching for him. Everyone here, he’s touched in some way.”

It’s not a stone or giant work of art. It’s engaged.

“It’s here. It’s reality. It’s beautiful,” Brumbaugh said. “Everything is at the field now so we don’t have to run back and forth to the football field.

“It’s about Coach Stavreti. He’s got the No. 1 locker. His wife Dottie has a locker. The clubhouse is named after him. The field is named after him. “I’d say he’s pretty happy with what we have here.”

Brumbaugh admits he almost gave up on the dream of a new press box.

Then a few years ago, momentum picked up, the project gained steam with donors and FWCS approval. Brumbaugh says the privately funded facility appraises at six-figures through the labor of love by former players, friends and people touched by Stav.

Once the concept came into focus it picked up steam quickly. It took about a week to sell nearly 40 locker sponsors.

“Being a Northrop baseball player — once you are in, you are in for life,” Brumbaugh said. “Everybody who plays in this program cares about the program. It’s evidenced by guys who have bought lockers.”

Support that spans decades of Bruins baseball history, including former major leaguer Eric Wedge, all-state players Colin Brockhouse and Barry Ault as well as Bruin basketball star Walter Jordan.

“It runs the gamut from the ’70’s to the present,” Brumbaugh said.

A former bat girl, Aimee Myers of the William J. & Bonnie L. Hefner Foundation and Scott Gidley who leads the Stavreti Scholarship Fund was instrumental from the start.

As it grew and received approval from Fort Wayne Community Schools others jumped in including electricians and other skilled trades. Specifically, Bercot Construction under the leadership of Chris’ brother-in-law Steve Bercot. Steve Baumgarte of Zumbrun Construction and Jack Laurie Flooring, where former player Brian Bunner’s brother was instrumental in the flooring install.

Brumbaugh says the structure shows the value of a coaches impact.

“I try to do this myself – coaches make a difference,” Brumbaugh said. He made a huge impact on people who’ve given. It’s the love of the program, the love of Coach Stavreti.”

Follow Dean Jackson on Twitter — @DeanofJacksons

Follow Dean Jackson’s blog — https://deanjacksonnet1.wordpress.com/

The exterior of the new Stavreti Press Box and Clubhouse at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School’s baseball field — Chris Stavreti Field. (Dean Jackson Photo)

The lockers in the new Stravreti Press Box and Clubhouse at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School’s Chris Stavreti Field. (Dean Jackson Photo)

Matt Brumbaugh has been a part of baseball at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School for decades. He is now Bruins head coach. He stands in the locker room at the new Stavreti Press Box and Clubhouse at Chris Stavreti Field. (Dean Jackson Photo)