By STEVE KRAH
Eloy Melero — head baseball coach at Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond, Ind. — tells his players to “run into the storm.”
Alum Melero (BNI Class of 2014) sees the game as a way to teach life lessons.
“As an adult we can’t afford to dwell on things and procrastinate,” says Melero. “I teach them to face their problems head-on.”
It’s the kind of things Melero heard from his high school baseball coach — Paul Wirtz.
“Look a man in the eye when he’s talking to you,” says Melero, who recalls that Wirtz insisted that his athletes used “yes sir” and “no sir” and they were required to shake the coach’s hand and say thanks after every practice.
“I’ve continued that with my guys as well,” says Melero.
Melero was born in and still resides in Calumet City, Ill., which is just on the other side of the state line from Hammond.
After his time at Bishop Noll, where he also played basketball as a freshman and sophomore, right-handed pitcher Melero played two years at South Suburban College in South Holland, Ill., where he was a National Junior College Athletic Association Academic All-American as a sophomore, and two years at University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Melero graduated from USF in December of 2018 and began teaching at BNI in the math department in January of 2019. He was a JV baseball coach for the Warriors that spring.
Bishop Noll (enrollment around 625) is a member of the Greater South Shore Athletic Conference (with Calumet New Tech, Griffith, Illiana Christian, Lake Station Edison, River Forest, Wheeler and Whiting).
The Warriors are part of an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping in 2024 with 21st Century-Gary, Illiana Christian, Lake Station Edison, North Newton and Whiting. Noll has won 27 sectional titles — the last in 2018.
Illiana Christian is the two-time defending 2A state champions. The Vikings do not move up in 2024 because 2023 was the first year of determining the new success factor cycle.
Bishop Noll is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary. The three most prevalent feeders are Saint Casmir in Hammond, Saint Stanislaus in East Chicago and Saint John The Baptist in Whiting.
Bishop Noll has only known one home baseball diamond in its history. That’s Irving Park at the corner of Chicago Street and Columbia Avenue and just across the Indiana Toll Road (U.S. 90) from campus.
Two 2023 Bishop Noll graduates moved on to college baseball — Jackson Montgomery at Coppin State University in Baltimore and Marcus Taylor at Olive-Harvey College in Chicago.
Melero says No. 1 pitcher/third baseman Mathieu Jadrych (Class of 2024) has also shown interest in continuing his baseball career in college.
From January into March, Bishop Noll players took part in conditioning.
“We have not picked up a baseball yet,” says Melero, who has many students busy this winter with other sports and extracurriculars.
Tryouts are Monday, March 11. Practice begins Tuesday, March 12.
Melero’s coaching staff includes two BNI alums — Larry Crisler (Class of 2014) and Alec Rodriduez (Class of 2011) — plus school counselor Mike Roggenkamp (2014 graduate of St. Francis de Sales High School in Chicago and a former player at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa).
Crisler is in charge of Warrior outfielders and hitters, Rodriguez catchers, Roggenkamp infielders and Melero pitchers.
A pitching coach for previous Warriors head coach Ryan Julian before taking over the program, Melero has expectations for those who take the mound.
“Throw strikes and let the defense work for you,” says Melero. “Be as effective as you can with whatever you’ve got.”
In looking at the IHSAA pitch count rule (1 to 35 pitches requires 0 days rest; 36 to 60 requires 1 day; 61 to 80 requires 2 days; 81 to 100 requires 3 days; and 101 to 120 requires 4 days), Melero says he typically does not let his pitchers reach 90 tosses in an outing.
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