Greyhounds head coach Al Ready and pitching coach Adam Cornwell have decided to hand the ball to junior right-hander Diego Cardenas to start today (May 2). First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. Central Time.
Cardenas, a 21-year-old South Bend, Ind., native and Environmental Sustainability major, brings up the same word when describing Ready and Cornwell.
“It’s amazing,” says Cardenas of playing for Ready. “It’s a great experience. It’s a unique way of coaching and a lot of the players get along with it. He’s very brave and confident in his guys.
“He trusts all of his players and that’s pretty sweet.”
Cardenas says Ready, who played at UIndy and is in his 17th season coaching in the program (sixth as head coach), does not go by the book.
“He’s very unorthodox,” says Cardenas of the man who has the Greyhounds at 32-14 overall and 27-5 at the top of the GLVC standings. The team has won 11 straight.
Says Cardenas, “(Cornwell) gives me a lot of confidence by giving me my own space and making corrections when they’re due.
“He lets us be our own person which is great.”
Cardenas has gone from a reliever going into the season to a mid-week starter and then a weekend arm for conference games.
In eight mound appearances (all starts) in 2024, Cardenas is 5-0 with a 2.70 earned run average, 37 strikeouts and 25 walks in 46 2/3 innings. Opponents are hitting .195 against him.
The 5-foot-11, 200-pounder throws from a three-quarter arm angle and uses a two-seam fastball, change-up and slider to get hitters out.
“I get a ton of arm-side run,” says Cardenas of his two seamer which has hit 91 mph and sets at 86 to 89. “Not a lot of vertical (movement), more horizontal.”
A combination of splitter and change-up, he calls that pitch a “splange” and it goes 80 to 83 mph.
“I choke the daylights out of it,” says Cardenas of the grip.
Wedging the ball deep in his hands in a traditional slider grip, the righty makes deliveries at 77 to 80 mph.
Born and raised in South Bend with Larry and Kelly Cardenas as parents and former John Adams High School ballplayers Esai Cardenas and Benicio Cardenas (who also on the team at Marian University’s Ancilla College) as older brothers, Diego played at South Bend East Side Little League as a youngster and travel ball as a teen with the Indiana Nitro.
At Adams, 2021 graduate Diego Cardenas was a middle infielder when not on the mound.
Cardenas underwent Ulnar Collateral Ligament reconstruction (Tommy John surgery) and redshirted for the 2022 UIndy season. That summer he played in the College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., for the Turf Monsters.
In his debut season with Indianapolis in 2023, Cardenas got into nine games (all in relief) and went 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA, eight strikeouts and 11 walks in eight innings.
But before that there’s business to attend at UIndy. The eight-team GLVC tournament is May 8-11 in Marion, Ill. After that comes an NCAA D-II Midwest Regional May 16-19 at a campus site and a chance to advance to a Midwest Super Regional May 24-25 at a campus site and then the D-II World Series June 1-8 in Cary, N.C.
“We’re playing loose and confident,” says Cardenas. “We’re playing in a very fun way.”
While he has no real allegiance to an MLB team, Cardenas does have a favorite player.
“I’ve always been a big fan of Marcus Stroman,” says Cardenas of the New York Yankees right-hander. “I love his confidence and his flash.”
Cardenas has two years of remaining eligibility. He expects to take one in 2025 while finishing his undergraduate degree then a graduate year. He says if he had to decide on his concentration now it would be in Management Sciences.
After baseball, he foresees a career in renewable energies, performing research and analytics and hands-in field work.
“I love the outdoors,” says Cardenas. “It’s pretty awesome.”
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Image)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)
Nick Floyd looked into his future while he was still a baseball player and saw himself teaching the game and helping others get better at it.
“Coaching was something in the back of my head that I would pursue,” says Floyd. “It worked out that I did.”
Floyd, 26, is doing it during the fall and winter months by giving lessons to ages 10 through college in his hometown of Elkhart, Ind.
A 2015 graduate of Jimtown High School, Floyd is conducting sessions though January at D-Bat Elkhart or at a young client’s home and has been asked by Jimtown head coach Cory Stoner to address JHS players before resuming duties on the professional player development side with the Baltimore Orioles organization.
On a typical day during a Tuesday-through-Sunday homestand, Floyd would arrive at the park around 11:30 a.m. and leave around 11:30 p.m., with tasks to perform before, during and after games.
Floyd will again do things like throw batting practice, swing a fungo bat and work with technology but will also work closely with pitchers.
A year ago, Floyd became close with major league offensive strategy coach Cody Asche and also assisted co-hitting coaches Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller and Anthony Villa in his role as minor league hitting coordinator. Villa is now director of player development.
The Orioles have exposed Floyd to high level players and their skills and practice habits — as hitters or pitchers.
“All those things I’ve learned from the Orioles have just been an incredible experience that can make me a more well-rounded coach in the future,” says Floyd.
Unlike some systems, the O’s like to have a challenging practice environment that coaches put on the players.
“Instead of normal tee work, flips or something that’s a little bit easier and ‘feel-good’ hitting we do a lot of things that challenge players on a daily basis.”
There’s competitive BP, curveball machine or other drill that’s not easy.
“They’re designed to almost fail,” says Floyd. “It’s not showing up at the park, hitting off a tee and then playing a game. It’s about getting better.”
In competitive BP, Floyd throws to a medicine ball behind the plate which represents the strike zone and throws a mix of pitches. It becomes a competition between pitcher and hitter.
“We’re trying to simulate a game atmosphere in practice more often,” says Floyd. “A lot of professional organizations don’t quite do that.”
The Orioles want their batters to have plate discipline.
“The most important aspect of hitting is making good swing decisions or not chasing balls out of the (strike) zone.
“It’s about knowing your strengths and weaknesses and what the pitcher is trying to do to get you out.
“We practice situational hitting in BP as well. There’s a man on third with less than two outs or bases are loaded with no outs and we try to do damage.”
Floyd was at big league spring training camp in 2023.
“There was a lot of on-field stuff getting the guys prepped,” says Floyd. “Once you go off to your season that’s when a lot the technology comes in.”
Minor league spring training in Sarasota, Fla., begins in February.
Floyd pitched four seasons at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. (2016-19) and earned a Finance degree. His head coach was Rich Maloney and his pitching coach was Dustin Glant.
An opportunity to go into coaching came at the end of Floyd’s playing days and with encouragement from Glant he went after the pitching coach at Indiana University-Kokomo and served on the staff of Drew Brantley for the 2022 season.
Chase Sebby, who was a catcher for Floyd at Ball State who was now an Orioles minor league coach, made his friend aware of a need for staff assistants — a newly-created position.
In the last few years, Floyd has gone from viewing baseball through the lens of a player to that of a coach.
On the mound, he had one job to do — get outs with his assortment of pitches.
“As a coach I try to pay attention to everything in the game,” says Floyd. “When I was pitching I was focused on my job. Everything else was not my job so I let my teammates do the rest of it.”
As a coach, he is aware you can’t have a cookie-cutter approach with all athletes.
“Players respond to criticism or encouragement in different ways,” says Floyd. “In professional baseball it becomes really individualized. No two players are getting coached up the same way. Some players need to work on the same things but it’s not for the same reason.”
At Ball State, Maloney brought in guest speakers to talk about the mental side of baseball including visualization.
“You close your eyes and see a play happen in your head,” says Floyd. “Visualizing is harder than what some people think. Your mind can go a bunch of different ways if you’re distracted.
“You can never take a play off, especially in pro ball. The margin of error is so small. One mistake can cost a game or season.”
With the Orioles, mental skills coaches are ex-Navy Seals that go over topics like handling pressure, proper rest, performance and preparation.
In college, Maloney, Glant and other coaches taught Floyd about competing and confidence.
“We carried ourselves like we were the best pitching staff in the country,” says Floyd.
Since leaving Ball State, Floyd has crossed paths with many former teammates and coaches.
“Both are incredible competitors,” says Floyd of Plesac and Jameson. “Drey has that attitude. He’s got that swagger about him.”
Alex Call (outfielder in the Washington Nationals organization), Kyle Nicolas (pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization) and Ty Weatherly (pitcher in the Orioles system) are among the others.
“One of the coolest things has been all the connections in baseball,” says Floyd.
“Let’s go on a cowhide joyride!” It’s become the home run call for young baseball broadcaster Andrew Mild. Bringing his love of the game and excitement to his job, the northwest Indiana native is in his first season as the play-by-play voice of the Atlantic League’s Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (Waldorf, Md.). “Every game is a big game — it’s a baseball game,” says Mild. “I’ve listened to too many boring broadcasters.” Mild, who was born in Hammond, Ind. the son of Mark and Becky Mild and the older brother of Breeann, grew up in nearby Crown Point as a Chicago Cubs fan. Mom’s favorite from the 1980’s was Rick Sutcliffe. Breeann Mild (Crown Point, Ind., High School Class of 2020) is now a pre-med student at Purdue University. Andrew bonded with his father with Len Kasper as Cubs TV play-by-play man. Pat Hughes and Ron Santo formed the radio tandem. Hall of Famer Harry Caray died before Andrew was born, but he appreciates his passion. “He brought the excitement and was kind of like the No. 1 fan,” says Mild. “I grew up a baseball fan. My baby pictures were taken in a giant glove. “I just want to bring that excitement and for people to be interested, laugh and have a great time. I want to build a connection. I don’t want to be the next Harry Caray. I want to be the first Andrew Mild.” The young broadcaster has noticed that Hughes talks slow and gets excited when necessary. “You listen to these guys over 100 times a year and you start to develop your own relationship with them,” says Mild. “Ron Santo was so invested.” As an eighth grader at Col. John Wheeler Middle School, Mild went as Hall of Fame slugger Ted Williams for “Wax Museum” day. “I love hitting,” says Mild. “It’s the hardest thing to do in sports. You can fail 7 out of 10 times and still be the best hitter in the league. Ted had a passion for it and I have a passion for it.” Andrew grew up playing baseball and Wiffle@Ball with cousin Riley Clark. “He supposedly taught me how to hit left-handed,” says Mild. “I do everything righty except for golf and bat.” Mild, who turns 24 in July, learned about the gig with the Blue Crabs through TeamworkOnline.com. He sent in an application and his reel developed during his seasons with the Frontier League’s Windy City ThunderBolts and Northern League’s Lake County CornDogs and went through a few interviews. He was offered the job and moved to Maryland in mid-February. Mild does not have a broadcast partner at Southern Maryland. There is a producer in the booth at home, but he’s on his own for road games. “You just have to be prepared,” says Mild. “The good news is that we have so many great guys on the team that I can talk to before the game. A lot of them are willing to tell good stories and I relay that. “Fans just love the stories.” Field staff for the Blue Crabs is manager Stan Cliburn, pitching coach Daryl Thompson, bench coach Ray Ortega and hitting coach Brandon Lee. Aside from play-by-play, Mild prepares game notes, distributes lineups (at home), interviews players after a win and feeds social media and the online scoreboard. FloSports.tv is the live streaming partner of the Atlantic League. The Blue Crabs use streamlabs.com software to produce their scoreboard and other video elements. Mild typically has a team and a personal lap top open with his scorebook next to the mixer. “It keeps me on my toes,” says Mild. “But I don’t know if I’d want to do anything else.” A 2018 honors diploma graduate of Crown Point High, where he played baseball through his junior year, Mild got to broadcast for a league champion in his hometown in 2022. “The CornDogs’ first season was so instrumental to the rest of the league,” says Mild. “The other cities can see just how well it did in Crown Point. I give all credit (CornDogs majority owner) Ralph (Flores). He built a really strong team in a really strong place. “The nice thing about Legacy Fields in Crown Point is that it’s right on the border of Crown Point and Merrillville and Schererville is right there. We got a mixture of guys on that team. We had a packed house every night. I had a great time being the first voice of the team and getting my feet wet being the No. 1 (broadcaster) for a collegiate team. Winning the whole thing, that was great.” Mild was an intern at Windy City in 2021 while making a transition from being a Sport Management/Communications double major at Manchester University in North Manchester, Ind., — where he was an outfielder on the baseball team — to a Sports Media major with a Marketing minor at Butler University in Indianapolis. He partnered in the ThunderBolts booth with No. 1 broadcaster Connor Onion. “I always came in ready,” says Mild. “I was always asking Connor and my boss — Terry Bonadonna — what I could do better. “They were always willing to talk to me about broadcasting. That’s why I was there — to learn and get better. “They understood my passion. They knew whatever they told me wasn’t just going to be wasted air. What can I keep? What do I get rid of? Trying to slow down my talking was a big thing. “Now I tell myself if you feel like you’re talking too slow you’ve got the right pace. I’m a natural introvert and I became a broadcaster. Good for me.” Mild also got many practice reps on his friend’s MLB: The Show video game or by muting a contest on TV or online. Lecturer/head of Butler+ Media Nick White presented many on-air opportunities while Mild finished up his degree in December 2022 — about two months before landing his current position. “Life comes at you fast as Ferris Bueller once said,” says Mild. “I try to look around every once in awhile.” Another way Mild sharpened his skills was to call games for Crown Point Babe Ruth. Andrew’s grandfather — John Pearson — is president of the league and was an umpire in the first Cal Ripken World Series. Grandmother Gale Pearson is always around the park. His parents are also board members. “It was great, especially during COVID when fans couldn’t really attend the games,” says Mild of broadcasting games on Facebook Live. “They could see and hear everything. “Helping them out during a time of crisis was my way of giving back to the game and the people who love the sport.” His first partner was Alex Coil, who is a graduate of Valparaiso (Ind.) High School and Arizona State University and now a play-by-play announcer for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds. Onion introduced Mild to Bob Carpenter’s Baseball Scorebook. “I like it because it gives you lots of space to write down notes,” says Mild. “It allows you to put the defense on top of the opposing lineup. If I forget the guys’ name I can look down and look back up and I know I have time to put together a sentence and call the play. “The good part is that you spend so much time with your guys that you can just look at them and know immediately who it is. It might take you the first game of a series to learn the other guys. But after a few games you get into a rhythm and know who that is.” Mild does not have a broadcast partner at Southern Maryland. There is a producer in the booth at home, but he’s on his own at the road. “You just have to be prepared,” says Mild “The good news is that we have so many great guys on the team that I can talk to before the game. A lot of them are willing to tell good stories and I relay that. “Fans just love the stories.” Aside from play-by-play, Mild prepares game notes, distributes lineups (at home), interviews players after a win and feeds social media and the online scoreboard. He typically has a team and a personal lap top open with his scoreboard next to the mixer. “It keeps me on my toes,” says Mild. “But I don’t know if I’d want to do anything else.” Rule experiments in the Atlantic League in 2023 include the designated pinch-runner, single disengagement limit and “Double Hook” designated hitter. Each club will list a player who is not otherwise in the starting lineup as a designated pinch-runner. That player may then be substituted at any point into the game as a baserunner. The player who is substituted for, as well as the pinch-runner, may then return to the game without penalty. South Maryland’s designated runner is switch-hitting outfielder and former collegiate track and field champion sprinter J.T. Reed. The disengagement rule relates to the pitch clock and keeps pitchers from abusing the system while also leading runners to take more daring leads. If the starting pitcher fails to make it through fifth inning, the club loses the DH for the remainder of the game and must either have its pitcher hit or use pinch-hitters when that spot comes up in the batting order. Like Major League Baseball, the Atlantic League has a pitch clock, 3-batter minimum, wider bases, banned the shift and “ghost runner” or extra-inning free runner. The broadcaster disagrees with a scoring decision that sometimes comes with the latter rule. He also understands why things like this have been implemented. “If the ghost runner scores it should not be a blown save,” says Mild. “We’re getting to the point where there are so many things you can turn to that are streaming and at your finger tips, you need something that is going to interest them and keep their attention. That is scoring more runs at a higher volume even if it means changing the rules of the game. “This pitch clock, I love it. We had a 14-2 game last night and it only went 2 1/2 hours. You could add a few seconds, but otherwise it’s a great rule. “After awhile hitters and pitchers get used to it. Hitters are not stepping out of the box and pitchers are working a little faster.” Mild is living his dream. “I’d like to thank the game of baseball and my friends for supporting me throughout the whole process,” says Mild. “They challenged me to be better.”
Andrew Mild.
Andrew Mild (left) and Alex Coil.
Andrew Mild. (Lake County CornDogs Photo)
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs baseball broadcaster Andrew Mild.
Brady Gumpf and Ryan Lynch were youngsters when they were first baseball teammates. The two buddies played in the summers for the Granger (Ind.) Cubs with Chris Hickey as head coach and Greg Lynch (Ryan’s father and former University of Wisconsin baseball player) as an assistant. Then came the Jay Hundley-coadhed Indiana Outlaws. That travel organization became the Evoshield Canes (now Canes Midwest). Both have earned All-American and all-tournament honors from Perfect Game. “We car-pooled down to Indianapolis every weekend,” says Lynch of the trips to meet up with the Outlaws or Canes. “It was always fun playing against him at school.” Lynch and C.J. Kavadas tried to coax Gumpf to play with them at Penn High School. But Gumpf stayed at South Bend (Ind.) Saint Joseph where his father – John Gumpf — was Indians head coach. When it came time for college ball, 2020 high school graduates Gumpf and Lynch both landed close to home at the University of Notre Dame. Because of depth and talent for head coach Link Jarrett’s Irish, Gumpf did not get into a game and Lynch pitched 2/3 of an inning in the spring of 2021. ND went 34-13, won the South Bend Regional and lost to eventual national champion Mississippi State in the Starkville Super Regional. This summer, righty-swinging outfielder Gumpf and left-handed pitcher Lynch were again teammates with the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League-champion Bethesda (Md.) Big Train, where Sal Colangelo was manager, Sam Bender hitting coach and Craig Lopez pitching coach. They were placed there along with Irish mates Matt Bedford and Danny Neri by Notre Dame assistant Rich Wallace. In 28 regular-season games, Gumpf hit .290 (20-of-69) with three home runs, one triple, one double, 13 runs batted in and 18 runs scored. “At the beginning of summer I was struggling a little bit at the plate, but I turned it around pretty easily,” says Gumpf, whose last game action came in the fall of 2019 for Team Indiana, coached by Prep Baseball Report Indiana’s Phil Wade and Blake Hibler. “It was the first time playing in awhile. I was still able to grow as a player and improve. It was mostly just getting the reps.” Gumpf, a 6-foot-1, 195-pounder, split his defensive time for Bethesda between right and left field and did make an appearance at third base. A catcher/outfielder in high school, Gumpf has been mostly an outfielder at Notre Dame. “With my overall athleticism, I made the transition to that pretty easily,” says Gumpf. “I can still catch.” Brady played at what is now South Bend East Side Baseball Softball Association before joining the Granger Cubs. At Saint Joe, he was on the roster as a freshman as the Indians won the IHSAA Class 3A state championship in 2017. There was another sectional title in 2018. The 2019 season ended in the final game of the Griffith Regional with a loss to eventual 3A state champion Andrean. Gumpf was honorable mention all-state as a sophomore and junior and all-conference second team in 2018 and first team in 2019. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic there was no 2020 prep season. Gumpf was invited to play in the College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., but was advised by Notre Dame coaches to take the summer off and train on his own. Gumpf has declared himself to be a Management Consulting major. Brady’s mother, Deanna Gumpf, is head softball coach at Notre Dame. Deanna and John also have a daughter — Tatum. Lynch, a 6-foot-2, 200-pounder, made regular-season mound appearances (seven in relief) for the 2021 Big Train and went 2-1 with a 5.54 earned run average. In 13 innings, the southpaw produced 22 strikeouts and eight walks. “It was a good experience for me to get some innings in and to develop,” says Lynch, who pitched in mid-week scrimmages with ND substitutes last spring. “I want to try to become a starter,” says Lynch. “I think I have the skill. “We do have a lot of guys who started coming back and there are transfers that we picked up. I want to compete this fall and earn some kind of spot.” Chuck Ristano is the Notre Dame pitching coach. Lynch employs both a four-seam and two-seam fastball as well as a change-up, curveball and slider. The lefty gets plenty of arm-side run on his fastballs. The four-seamer sat at 88 to 91 mph in the spring. He tosses a “circle” change and gets his “12-to-6” curve to run in on lefties and drop a little bit. The slider is harder than the curve — mid 80’s vs. about 75. “One of my strengths is that all of my pitches look the same when they come out (of my hand),” says Lynch. “That’s good. That’s what I want — to keep the hitters off-balance.” Lynch has decided on Finance as a major as he enters his sophomore year at Notre Dame. He moves back to campus this weekend and classes begin Monday, Aug. 23. Baseball activities are expected to begin shortly after that. At Penn, Lynch was the 2020 Gatorade Indiana Baseball Player of the Year. Penn topped Saint Joe for the Northern Indiana Conference title in 2019. The Greg Dikos-coached Kingsmen were Class 4A state runners-up in 2017 with freshman Lynch in center field. He pitched a no-hitter that same season. Greg and Diana Lynch have three children — Kristina, Ryan and Brandon. Kristina Lynch plays soccer at Florida State University, where the Seminoles won a national title in 2018.
Brady Gumpf (University of Notre Dame Photo)
Ryan Lynch (University of Notre Dame Photo)
Brady Gumpf (University of Notre Dame Photo)
Ryan Lynch (University of Notre Dame Photo)
Brady Gumpf (Bethesda Big Train Photo)
Ryan Lynch (Bethesda Big Train Photo)
Brady Gumpf (Bethesda Big Train Photo)
Ryan Lynch (Bethesda Big Train Photo)
Brady Gumpf crosses the plate (Bethesda Big Train Photo)
Garrett Burhenn likes to get the plate umpire throwing up his right hand on a regular basis.
If arbiter is that means the Ohio State University junior is accomplishing his goal of pitching for strikes.
“I want to fill up the zone,” says Burhenn, a right-hander at the top of the Buckeyes starting rotation. “Walks kind of bug me a little bit.”
The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder with the low three-quarter arm slot wants to establish command with his fastball.
“All my other pitches play off of it,” says Burhenn, who sports a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, change-up, slider and curve. “I pitch to contact and trust my stuff to get those outs.”
Burhenn, an Indianapolis native, is 2-1 with a 4.15 earned run average as Ohio State (13-9) heads into a Big Ten Conference series April 16-18 at Maryland.
In six appearances (all starts), he has 36 strikeouts and 13 walks in 34 2/3 innings. The opposition is hitting .258 against him.
Ohio State head coach Greg Beals has given Burhenn the baseball 25 times — all as a starter— since the hurler began his college career in 2019.
“Coach Beals tells me to go out there and compete and to trust the process and the work I’ve put in since freshman year,” says Burhenn, who is 10-7 with a 4.59 ERA with 134 K’s and 48 base-on-balls in 147 career innings with close to two-thirds of his more than 2,300 pitches going for strikes. “He puts trust in me.
“I take my work very seriously and I think he sees that.”
Burhenn credits OSU pitching coach Dan DeLucia and director of pitching development Brad Goldberg for their roles in making him a better moundsman.
“They’ve helped me to understand and have a purpose in each pitch I throw,” says Burhenn. “I don’t go out there (to the mound) with no game plan.
“I mix pitches and pound the zone.”
While many summer college leagues shut down in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Burhenn spent eight weeks learning about pitch design and developing his craft at FullReps Training Center in Camp Hill, Pa., near Harrisburg. His Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft advisor Sam Samardzija Jr. (brother of big league pitcher Jeff Samardzija) is good friends with FullReps owner Scott Swanson.
Burhenn, 21, hopes to be selected in the 2021 MLB Draft, but if that doesn’t happen he expects to pitch somewhere this summer though he does not yet know where.
He says he was thinking about going to the Cape Cod League, but did not play in the summer after his OSU freshman season because he logged 91 innings — nearly twice what he pitched as a senior at Lawrence North High School in the spring of 2018.
“I started seriously pitching with him,” says Burhenn of the veteran coach. “I started getting pitching tips as a freshman. He’s developed me and helped me understand things.
“I’m very grateful for everything he’s taught me.”
Seeing some varsity mound action as a sophomore, Burhenn also played center field his last two high school seasons. The two-time all-Marion County honoree posted a 1.76 ERA and 88 strikeouts as a junior and went 6-1 with an 0.76 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 55 1/3 innings as a senior while earning Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association first-team all-state distinction. He’s been a pitcher-only at Ohio State.
“I kind of miss swinging the bat,” says Burhenn. “I know it’s extremely hard at this level.”
Growing up in Lawrence Township, Burhenn’s first organized baseball came at Skiles Test Little League. He played travel ball for the Indiana Bandits and Indiana Mustangs.
“My presence on the mound, I learned that from him,” says Burhenn. “He taught me to be a better player and better teammate. He’s very blunt and straight to the point, which I liked about him.
“He’s very honest. I really appreciate Mike.”
In a 2021 regular season with only Big Ten games and no conference tournament, Burhenn has started against Illinois, Nebraska, Rutgers, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan. He racked up a season-high nine strikeouts and seven innings pitched March 26 against Iowa.
Attendance at Big Ten games has been restricted to family members and those on the guest list.
“It’s enjoyable when your family and loved ones are there at least,” says Burhenn.
He’s also relished the opportunity to compete against players he knows from high school or travel ball.
“It’s fun playing against familiar faces in an elite conference,” says Burhenn, who saw many of those in the Indiana lineup and counts Kokomo (Ind.) High School graduate and junior right-hander Bayden Root as an OSU teammate.
Matt Tyner still carries a fervor around the diamond.
It just shows itself in a different way.
Tyner, who began his college baseball coaching career at Butler University in Indianapolis in the early 1990’s and also guided early Indiana Bulls travel teams during the summer, is heading into his fourth season at Towson (Md.) University.
At 62 and in a year where he lost his wife, Tyner has a different perspective.
“I’m pretty intense as a competitor,” says Tyner. “As you age you don’t lose your intensity, it becomes a different kind of focus. I’m a little more cerebral. Yelling and screaming might have worked in the ‘90s. That doesn’t work now. You have to think about who you’re talking to.
“Hopefully I’ve calmed down. As you mature, you go from thinking it’s your team to how can I serve the kid? Or how can I share the information I’ve learned in my 40 years in the game?”
It’s a horizontal relationship. Tyner lets his assistants take their strengths and run with them.
“I’m not ego-driven anymore,” says Tyner. “We can all learn something from each other and coaches and kids benefit.”
Coaching friends — like Tony Vittorio — are quick to point out when Tyner might lose sight of what his job is.
“I’m a father first and a coach second,” says Tyner. “I don’t have just one son, I have 38 his year. I’m older than all my coaches, so I have more even more sons.”
Tyner was a standout in Decatur, Ill., playing for Ray DeMoulin (a bird dog scout for the Cincinnati Reds who allowed Tyner to try out at 15) at MacAthur High School and Lee Handley (who played in the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers systems) as American Legion manager.
After Tyner went undrafted by Major League Baseball, a coin flip was used to decide where he would venture to play college ball. Heads meant he’d try to walk on at the University of Miami (Fla.). Tails would send him to Arizona State University.
The coin came up heads. Tyner went to Florida, made the Hurricanes roster and played on College World Series teams in 1978, 1979 and 1980, earning Baskin Robbins Player of the Year honors in that final season.
At Miami, Tyner was around coaching legends Ron Fraser and Skip Bertman. The young outfielder marveled at how the two baseball minds could anticipate what was going to happen in a game.
“How did they do that?” says Tyner. who refers to Bertman as a walking baseball encyclopedia. “I hovered closed to him. His sixth sense was incredible.”
Fraser called them the “Miami Greyhounds.”
“I felt I was on a track team,” says Tyner. “That’s how much we ran. We were in shape.”
Before the current 56-game spring limit in NCAA Division I, Miami typically played more than 100 games counting fall and spring.
In 1981, he enjoyed his best offensive and worst defensive season. The parent Orioles had decided to move Cal Ripken Jr. from third base to shortstop and decided to make Tyner into a third sacker. But the hot corner proved pretty hot for him and he made 20 errors in 51 games at third for the Hagerstown Suns.
Fans down both baselines let him know about it with a group of ladies on the third base side pointing out the places where the ball struck the “human dartboard.” Hagerstown spectators donned hard hats on the first base side in case of errant Tyner throws.
His roommate on the road was pitcher Julian Gonzalez. During a game in Salem, Va., after Tyner committed his third error, Hagerstown manager Grady Little came to the mound. Gonzalez told the skipper that his roomie had to go.
There was a bus accident the first weekend of season. The vehicle landed on its side.
“I felt something pop in my back way down low,” says Tyner. “24 hours later I couldn’t move. I missed over 30 games that summer.
At the plate, Tyner was locked in, hitting .301 with 31 home runs and 113 runs batted for the Suns in 1981.
After that, Tyner went back to the outfield where he vied with Drungo Hazewood for the unofficial title of best arm in the Orioles organization.
He would go on to belt 79 home runs in 365 games, playing for Hagerstown in 1981 and 1983 and the Charlotte O’s in 1982 and 1983. Multiple surgeries for bone chips in his right elbow put and end to Tyner’s pro career.
“I put my arm through a little bit of abuse,” says Tyner. “I was a quarterback and pitched in high school. Who knows what I did? It didn’t fail me for five more years. At Miami, I had a really good arm.”
Little later managed the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. Hart became a successful front office man for the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves and as a TV analyst.
Tyner calls Hart the quintessential manager-type manager.
“He was a true professional guy,” says Tyner of Hart. “He’s let you do what you needed to do. Grady Little was more hands-on. They were both pretty successful in their own way.
“I got lucky. I played so some great managers and coaches.”
In spring training games with the Orioles, Tyner shared the dugout with current manager Earl Weaver and future managers Joe Altobelli and Ray Miller.
“I’m not sure it gets much better than that,” says Tyner.
It was while coming to Indianapolis to finish his degree at Concordia University that Tyner connected with Butler head coach Steve Farley and began coaching for the Bulldogs. The first go-round, he was on Farley’s staff from 1993-97.
A relationship with the Bulls led to the press box and stands that are there to this day.
At the time, Dave Taylor was president of the organization and Craig Moore was head coach of the 17U team. Tyner started out with the 15U squad.
After coaching four years at Butler making $325 per semester, Tyner decided it was time to make money for his family — wife Laura, daughter Lindsay and son Matthew and got into communication sales and real estate.
Lindsay Dempsey, who is worked as a Registered Nurse, is now 36, married with two children and living Switzerland. Matthew Tyner, 33, is married and a finance and operations manager in Indianapolis.
When Matthew became a teenager, the Bulls approached his father about coaching a new 13U team with Jeremy Guler. The next year, Matt Tyner and Jeff Jamerson coached their sons Matthew and Jason on the 14U Bulls.
“We had top-shelf athletes way ahead of their time,” says Tyner of a team that featured future pros Lance Lynn (Brownsburg), Tommy Hunter (Cathedral) and J.B. Paxson (Center Grove). “It was fun to watch them play.”
Since Matthew was not at that elite level, he switched after that at played for the Indiana Mustangs based out of RoundTripper Sports Academy in Westfield, a facility run by Chris Estep. Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Dave Alexander was there to help. He covered the costs for many Mustangs activities.
“He imparted so much baseball knowledge on these kids,” says Tyner of Alexander, who was integral current baseball fields at Purdue University as well as Indianapolis Bishop Chatard High School, where Matthew Tyner played for Trojans head coach Mike Harmon and graduated in 2005. “What a treat that was.”
A few years later, Matt Tyner got the itch to coach baseball again. This time Farley could pay him a living wage and he went back to work at Butler in August 2007. Pendleton Heights graduate Jason Jamerson was a Bulldog senior in 2009.
Farley took Tyner to his first American Baseball Coaches Association convention in 1994. There he got to meet up again with Fraser and Bertman and soaked up the baseball know-how.
“They made me feel like a king and there was one great speaker after the next for 2 1/2 days,” says Tyner. “As a coach you can’t be everything to everybody. But I’m going to use this nugget and I’m going to use that nugget.
“That’s money well-spent.”
In the summer of 2010, Tyner was offered the head coaching position at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky. Knights athletic director Scott Wiegandt had been a Triple-A Louisville teammate of Tracy Woodson, a former big league third baseman, Fort Wayne Wizards manager who was then Valparaiso University head coach.
Farley, Woodson and University of Indianapolis head coach Gary Vaught gave Tyner their endorsement.
“We made some serious strides in that program,” says Tyner, who coached then-NCAA Division II Bellarmine to 26-26 and 27-23 marks in 2011 and 2012 with a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and an appearance in the regional tournament championship game against the Grand Valley State University the second year.
Brandon Tormoehlen, now head coach at Brownstown (Ind.) Central High School, was on Tyner’s coaching staff.
Woodson became head coach at the University of Richmond (Va.) and called Tyner to be his recruiting coordinator and hitting coach. It was a post he held for four seasons.
“We had some pretty strong offensive teams,” says Tyner of his time with the Spiders.
Then Towson reached out and hit Tyner was an offer to be the Tigers head coach.
“The first two years at Towson was a challenge for all of us,” says Tyner, who saw his teams go 13-42 in 2018 and 14-39 in 2019. “We are process-driven and not results-driven. Took awhile for those entrenched in a different system to get it.
“Last year was their chance to shine.”
Indianapolis native Laura Anne Tyner passed away Feb. 10 in her hometown and Matt took a leave of absence at Towson. Matt and Laura were wed in 1983. She taught children with special needs and spent 20 years in real estate management.
With former Butler and Purdue University assistant Miller running the team, the 2020 Towson Tigers went 7-8 before the COVID-19 shutdown.
Tyner went down to see the team play in the opener of a weekend series in Miami. It turned out to be a pitchers’ dual. The Hurricanes held on for a 2-1 Feb. 28 victory. Freshman catcher Burke Camper just barely missed a home run in the top of the ninth inning.
“It was a game for the ages,” says Tyner. “It was unbelievable for me to watch and be a part of.”
A few days later, it was decided between Tyner and Towson athletic director Tim Leonard that the coach would come back to the program in mid-March.
“I needed baseball more than baseball needed me,” says Tyner, who got back in time to see the season prematurely halted with the campus being closed and all classes going online. He came back to Indianapolis.
When things opened back up, players were placed in summer leagues. This fall, the Tigers worked out with social distancing and other COVID precautions.
“It was the most competitive for all of us since I’ve been here,” says Tyner. “We have a chance to be pretty good (2021).”
Towson is a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. The Tigers are not fully-funded. There are 6.2 scholarships available and the NCAA Division I limit is 11.7.
“God love the AD and president of this university (Tim Leonard and Dr. Kim Schaztel),” says Tyner. “They’ve done a phenomenal job of keeping us afloat.
“They don’t come any better.”
Matt Tyner was introduced as head baseball coach at Towson (Md.) University prior to the 2018 season. (Towson University Video)Matt Tyner, a former Butler University assistant and coach with the Indiana Bulls, is heading into his fourth season as head baseball coach at Towson (Md.) University in 2021. (Towson University Photo)
He grew up going to Notre Dame camps when Paul Mainieri led the Fighting Irish. Father Mark Chase (Class of 1978) and sister Jacqueline (2009) Notre Dame graduates.
Chase started his Irish career with Dave Schrage as head coach, finished with Mik Aoki and served as a team co-captain with Will Hudgins as senior and was on the academic all-district team in 2012.
He is now back in northern Indiana to start a new job at Lippert Components in Goshen, Ind., where he will work with former Elkhart Memorial High School and Purdue University catcher and baseball coach at Knightstown, Mount Vernon (Fortville) and Concord high schools Eric Nielsen, and will put his baseball knowledge to use with the South Bend Cubs Foundation travel board and 1st Source Bank Performance Center at Four Winds Field.
In that role, Chase will be working closely with foundation executive director and Performance Center general manager Mark Haley.
“Hales and I connected and, honestly, I just want to help in whatever way that I can,” says Chase. “I’ve had some experiences — both in my playing career and coaching career.
“(On the) player development side, I think I can add some value. On the recruiting side, I can help some of the older guys — 15- 16-, 17-year-old guys looking to play in college and get them to understand what the recruiting process is like. It can seem very confusing a lot of times, especially to families who haven’t gone through it. I would just love to provide some clarity with that.”
Chase also has many connections in college baseball and knows where the opportunities lie.
“I really like working with young kids,” says Chase. “Baseball is such a great game from the relationships that you have to the friends that you meet and learning lessons from the game itself.”
Throughout all his coaching stops, Chase has worked with hitters, infielders and outfielders. He was an infielder at Notre Dame. He will help with instruction at the Performance Center, as an advisor in the recruiting process and be a second set of eyes for Haley when it comes to talent evaluation and other matters.
At Dayton, Chase was recruiting coordinator for Flyers head coach Jayson King, who is also a Massachusetts native.
“We went into a program that we both thought had a lot of promise,” says Chase. “There were a lot of positive things. It was a high academic school. The campus was beautiful. A lot of things you can sell to high school kids.
“We really worked hard at it and were able to get Dayton to where we felt it should be — a competitive school in the Athletic 10 (Conference) and getting good players from that area.”
Chase and King had been together as assistants on the Army staff. It was King who brought Chase to West Point, N.Y., having known about him while at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, N.H. Chase and coordinator King shared recruiting duties. The Black Knights head coach was — and still is — Jim Foster.
“Coach Foster is a baseball savant. He played many years in the minor leagues as a catcher and he has that kind of brain. He really understands the game. He’s very good at teaching the game to the players.”
Chase says he knew intricacies of the game, but Foster “took it to a whole different level.”
Jacob Hurtubise, a Zionsville High School graduate now in the Cincinnati Reds organization, played at Army when Chase was there.
Scott Loiseau is head coach of the Southern New Hampshire Pennmen.
“Scott’s one of the best coaches I’ve been around in terms of working with his players and getting them to play at their highest level,” says Chase. “His ability to develop relationships with guys is to the point where the team wants to run through a wall with that guy.
“He really, really cares about his players and his coaches. He allows coaches to develop. He gave me a lot of responsibility when I stepped on-campus as a young kid. He was a great mentor for me.
“Most guys are coaching college baseball out of the passion that they have either for the game or the people that they’re around and — a lot of time — it’s both. There are a lot of things you have to sacrifice to be a college baseball coach.”
As a volunteer assistant at Navy, Chase first learned about what it means to coach baseball at a military school by Midshipmen head coach a baseball lifer Paul Kostacopoulos, who was assistant and head coach at Providence (R.I.) College and head coach at the University of Maine before landing at Navy in Annapolis, Md.
“He’s been very successful for a very long time,” says Chase for Kostacopoulos. “He took over at Navy and really turned a program around that had been relatively mediocre in the past, but had a great history. He brought it to being consistently competitive and at the top of the Patriot League every single year and winning 30-plus games.
“That’s a hard job. There’s a lot of things at a military academy you need to uphold. It’s not just winning on the field. It goes beyond that. It goes to understanding what the cadet life is being able to foster both commitments to baseball, academics and their military requirements. He does a great job to do all those things.”
Chase says that players at military academies may not have the time to devote to baseball that other schools do. But they bring a resilient, hard-nosed mentality to the field because they compete in everything they do.
UC-Santa Barbara head coach Andrew Checketts gave Chase his first college baseball job as the Gauchos video coordinator.
“I learned what a College World Series program looks like in the inside from the time commitment to the culture to the player development,” says Chase. “As a kid just coming out of college you don’t see what the coaches do off the field.”
Chase still maintains relationships with former Notre Dame bosses Schrage and Aoki.
Chase played three seasons for the Irish. He appeared in six games (all at second base) as a freshman in 2009 and missed the 2010 season following knee surgery with Schrage as head coach.
“Coach Schrage gave me a chance to live my dream of going to Notre Dame and playing baseball there,” says Chase. “He was a very personable guy and really cared about the well-being of his players.
“He was always a positive person. He was not a cutthroat-type coach. There’s a lot to be said for that.”
Aoki took over for 2011 and Chase got into 11 games (one as a starter).
“He’s a New England guy through and through,” says Chase of Aoki. “He allowed me to work my way to a chance to compete on the field and contribute to the team.”
At the end of 2011 season, his teammates thought enough of him to choose him as one of the captains for 2012 as he played in 17 games (four starts).
“It was a great honor,” says Chase of being chosen as a captain. “I enjoyed having a voice to lead the other guys and help them. When you’re a coach, you’re implementing your culture and you’re talking about the things that are important. A lot of times, the thing that’s most important is the leaders on the team saying the same message.
“A lot of times it’s not what the coaches say, it’s what the leaders among the players say to each other. The players have so much influence over the where the team’s headed and the culture of the team.”
Leaders can handle issues like players coming late to the weight room before it ever becomes big and has to be addressed by the coaching staff.
Chase grew up in Cohasset a few years ahead of Mike Monaco, who went on to Notre Dame and served as a broadcaster for the South Bend Cubs and now counts and has called games for the Triple-A Pawtucket (R.I.) Red Sox and the big-league Boston Red Sox.
Tommy and Teresa Chase have three sons — David (2 1/2), Peter (1) and Patrick (5 weeks). They are in the process of buying a home in Granger, Ind. Many friends from Tommy’s Notre Dame days still live in the South Bend area.
Tommy Chase was a Notre Dame baseball co-captain in his senior season of 2012. (Notre Dame Video)
Tommy Chase has joined the South Bend Cubs Foundation travel board and will be an instructor at the 1st Source Bank Performance Center. He is a former baseball co-captain at the University of Notre Dame and has extensive experience as a college coach.
Lowery, who was the West Virginia high school player of the year in 1988 and four-year right-handed pitcher at the University of Minnesota, was in his third season of coaching collegians when Maloney was hired at BSU in the summer of 1995.
After finishing his playing career, Lowery was on Joe Carbone’s staff at Ohio University heading into the 1995 season when Mike Gibbons left the Ball State staff to pursue a scouting job and Pat Quinn, a good friend of Carbone, was looking for a pitching coach for what turned out to be Quinn’s final coaching season. Lowery was hired in January.
When Maloney, who had been an assistant at Western Michigan University, was named Cardinals head coach he inherited Lowery.
“He gets his first head coaching job at 30 years old and he has to keep an assistant for a year,” says Lowery, who was in attendance at the 2020 American Baseball Coaches Association convention in Nashville. “He was open-minded about it but he told me you need to be able to recruit and evaluate players and you’ve got to be loyal.
“We did have some good players over the years.”
While Lowery was on the BSU staff, the Cardinals produced four players that went on to be drafted in the first round — right-handed pitcher Bryan Bullington (No. 1 overall byPittsburgh in 2002), outfielder Larry Bigbie (No. 21 overall by Baltimore in 1999) and left-handers Luke Hagerty (No. 32 overall by the Chicago Cubs in 2002) and Jeff Urban (No. 41 overall by the San Francisco Giants in 1998).
Hagerty hails from Defiance, Ohio. The rest are Indiana high school products — Bullington from Madison Consolidated, Bigbie from Hobart and Urban from Alexandria-Monroe.
There was also catcher Jonathan Kessick (third round to Baltimore in 1999), right-handers Justin Wechsler (fourth round to Arizona in 2001) and Paul Henry (seventh round to Baltimore in 2002) and left-hander Jason Hickman (eighth round to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2000). Wechsler prepped at Pendelton Heights.
In addition, MLB came calling in the first 20 rounds for left-hander Sam McConnell (11th round Pittsburgh in 1997), catcher Doug Boone (15th round to the Florida Marlins in 2001 and 36th round to the New York Yankees in 2002), left-hander Adam Sheefel (17th round to Cincinnati in 2000), right-hander Bruce Stanley (18th round to Kansas City in 1997) and shortstop Shayne Ridley (19th round to Baltimore in 2000).
Tapping into Indiana high school resources, Boone went to Providence and Stanley Shenandoah.
“He was definitely energetic,” says Lowery of a young Maloney. He was about getting after it. That’s for sure.
“He was aggressive. He could recruit. He understood projectability of players. That’s why he had so many first-rounders. He could look at guys who were sort of under-valued. We can do this, this and this with this kid and he has a chance to be pretty good.”
Lowery says Bullington was undervalued because he was such a good basketball player. He just hadn’t played a lot of baseball.
“For whatever reason he chose to play baseball instead of basketball in college even though his father (Larry Bullington) is one of the best basketball players ever to play at Ball State,” says Lowery. “(Bryan Bullington) really got good at the end of his senior year (of high school in 1999) to the point that he was offered to sign (by Kansas City) and did not.
In three seasons at BSU, Bullington went 29-11 with 357 strikeouts in 296 2/3 innings was selected No. 1 overall in the 2002 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates with a $4,000,000 signing bonus.
Lowery recalls that Hagerty’s parents moved into a smaller house so he could come to Ball State. He ended up being a first-round “sandwich” pick.
Urban was a 6-8 southpaw who got better.
“He could always throw strikes but he couldn’t throw very hard,” says Lowery of Urban. “All of a sudden, he got a lot stronger, did a lot of long toss and started throwing in the lower 90s.”
Urban was also first-round “sandwich” pick.
In their seven campaigns together in Muncie, Lowery and Maloney were part of 256 wins along with three Mid-American Conference titles and four MAC West crowns.
Lowery followed Maloney to Ann Arbor and those first two Wolverines teams won 64 contests and placed in the top three in the Big Ten Conference.
Top MLB draftees during those two years were Indianapolis Cathedral product Jake Fox (third round to the Chicago Cubs in 2003, Carmel graduate Jim Brauer (ninth round to Florida in 2005), Derek Feldkamp (ninth round to Tampa Bay Rays in 2005) and Brock Koman (ninth round to Houston in 2003).
“He’s a great communicator,” says Lowery of Maloney. “He has a vision. He’s intense.
“Kids like to play for him.”
At the end of his second season at Michigan, John and Tricia Lowery had three children under 6 — Abbee, Beau and Brooks — and he decided to leave college coaching and went back to West Virginia.
Lowery has a unique distinction. He turned 50 in 2019 and his high school and college head coaches — father John Lowery Sr. (a founder of the West Virginia High School Baseball Coaches Association and WVHSBCA Hall of Famer) at Jefferson High School in Shenandoah Junction, W.Va. and John Anderson at Minnesota — are still serving in the same positions as when he played for them.
For seven seasons, Lowery was head coach at Martinsburg High School. The Bulldogs’ arch rivals are the Jefferson Cougars, coached by his father.
Martinsburg won a state title in 2009 and Jefferson bested Martinsburg on the way to a state crown in 2011. The Lowerys won a state championship together when John Jr., was a player.
The younger Lowery, who now teaches at Jefferson, coached travel ball and softball on and off the next few years then became head baseball coach for four years at Mercersburg Academy, a boarding school in south central Pennsylvania that is about 40 miles from Martinsburg.
Last spring, he traveled often to see Beau Lowery play as a walk-on left-handed pitcher at West Virginia University.
How did Lowery end up going from the Mountaineer State to Minnesota?
Rob Fornasiere, who ended up as a Golden Gophers assistant for 33 years, was a good friend of Bernie Walter, who coached Denny Neagle at Arundel High School in Gambrills, Md., and had gotten the pitcher to come to play at Minnesota.
Fornasiere was at the 1987 Olympic Festival watching Dan Wilson and John Lowery Sr., approaches him to say that his son is talented and would consider playing for the Gophers.
“To Rob’s credit, he didn’t blow my father off,” says Lowery. “Rob was always very organized. At another recruiting even later that year, John Anderson saw me play. I was good enough.”
His first recruiting visit was also his first time on an airplane. He attended Game 7 of the 1987 World Series (St. Louis Cardinals at Minnesota Twins).
In the lunch room, Lowery sat the lunch room at the table next to Reggie Jackson (who was on the ABC broadcast crew).
Lowery spent a short time in the Giants organization at Everett, Wash., and Clinton, Iowa, after signing for $1,000 as a free agent with scout Mike Toomey on a car trunk in Huntington, W.Va. His pro debut was memorable.
“I was nervous as all get out,” says Lowery. “I come in with the bases loaded. I balk all three runs in because the balk rule is different in college. You can basically change direction. In pro ball, you had to set.”
John Lowery Jr., was an assistant baseball coach at Ball State University 1995-2002 and the University Michigan 2003-2004 — all but the first year as an assistant to Rich Maloney. Lowey is a former West Virginia high school player of the year who pitched at the University of Minnesota. (Steve Krah Photo)
Matt Eppers can point to some memorable moments during his college diamond days.
The Ball State University senior baseball player is coming off a “career weekend” in which he went 10-of-13 at the plate with his third career home run plus a double, stolen base, sacrifice, four runs scored and three runs batted in.
The Cardinals stopped a nine-game losing skid with a three-game sweep at Western Michigan. BSU outscored the Broncos 46-17. Eppers went 5-for-5 in Game 2 of the series — the first five-hit game of his career.
“We had been pressing a little bit,” says Eppers, speaking for the team as a whole. “We started relaxing and having fun.”
On Tuesday, April 11, Eppers stayed hot with three more hits in an 11-2 win against visiting Valparaiso. In his last four games, he is 13-of-17, raising his average to a team-pacing .311.
Earlier in the 2017 season, Eppers was named Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week.
The 6-foot-4 outfielder strung together hits in eight consecutive plate appearances in his junior season of 2016, spanning two games against Dayton and one against Purdue.
As a sophomore in 2015, Eppers scored three runs against Akron and helped the Cardinals to the MAC tournament championship game.
But as outstanding as those achievements are, it’s the relationships that Eppers has made in his four BSU seasons that he cherishes most.
“I came on to this team not knowing anybody,” says Eppers. “My roommate, Sean Kennedy, had a monster weekend himself (at Western Michigan). He hit a grand slam and another home run and had a whole bunch of hits (Kennedy was 7-of-9 with nine RBI in three games). He and I are best friends. I’m going to be the best man in his wedding.
“The relationships that I’ve built, that’s what’s made college baseball worth it. Through the highs and the lows, the guys you’re around and that sense of brotherhood is heightened to a new level in college.”
Eppers roomed with right-handed pitcher B.J. Butler as a freshman and later shared a place with Kennedy and Alex Call (selected in the third round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Chicago White Sox after earning MAC Player of the Year honors in 2016) before Call moved on.
“(Sean) has been very versatile. He’s played every infield position this year. He’s kind of the anchor of our defense. Anywhere we need him, he’s there. With his bat, too. In the middle of the lineup, he’s been a heavy hitter … It was a good weekend for him and I in our apartment.”
Besides Eppers, Kennedy and Butler, the other BSU seniors are right-hander David Current, third baseman Alex Maloney (son of Ball State head coach Rich Maloney), first baseman Caleb Stayton and left-handers Evan Korson (a transfer from Northern Kentucky) and Kevin Marnon (a transfer from Akron).
Rich Maloney has enjoyed watching Eppers perform for the Cards.
“He’s very athletic,” says Maloney. “He covers a lot of ground in center field. He has really good speed. He competes really, really well.
“With the other guys we’ve been able to surround him with in his class, he’s been a really nice piece of the puzzle.
“He’s been a joy to coach.”
The past three seasons, that recruiting class has aided in an overall MAC title, two West division crowns and a tournament runner-up finish while averaging 34 wins.
“They’ve all gotten a taste of winning and enjoyed it and they certainly want to pass it on,” says Maloney. “They are leaders and they’re all going to end up graduating. It’s all good and Matt is certainly a big part of it.”
How does Eppers prefer to do his leading?
“Day-to-day, I just try to lead by example,” says Eppers, who has played in 188 career games with 147 starts. “I’m not really one of the hoorah guys.
“I don’t speak just to speak. When I have to be a vocal leader, I pick my times. I feel like that’s not only benefitted me here but my whole life. When you can do that it makes your word go a little bit farther.”
Maloney coached Ball State 1996-2002 then at Michigan 2003-12 before returning to BSU for the 2013 season. A staple as he took over a program that had not been winning was “Gotta Believe” rally cry (#GottaBelieve).
“The first thing in building a program is you’ve got to get everybody to believe,” says Maloney, whose 2017 assistants are Scott French, Dustin Glant and Ray Skjold. “They’ve got to believe in the coaches. They’ve got to believe in the vision. They’ve got to believe in the system. They’ve got to believe in themselves. They’ve got to believe in their teammates. If you get that going then you have a chance to be successful.”
Facing the toughest schedule of Maloney’s BSU coaching career (win vs. Maryland, four losses to both Oregon State and Kent State and defeats to defending national champion Coastal Carolina plus setbacks against Louisville and West Virgina), Ball State got off to an 11-9 start in 2017 then hit a slide once the MAC part of the slate began.
“We came close in several or them, but couldn’t get over the top,” says Maloney. “(Against Western Michigan), we were able to break through.
Eppers has bought in to Maloney’s belief system.
“You gotta believe that you can get the job done,” says Eppers. “That’s something he’s instilled in all of us.”
“The whole reason I came to Ball State was the vision that he sold. To his credit, he did it. He promised us a new field, improved schedules and improved skills and we got it.
“No matter who we’re playing, you can see it in his eyes. He truly believes Ball State is going to win … Coach has taught us not to ever take a back seat to anybody.”
Since Eppers’ sophomore year, Ball Diamond has been covered with artificial turf. This is a growing trend in the northern U.S., where the maintenance is lower and teams are able to play more games even in cold and wet weather.
Another major difference been grass and turf is the speed of the game.
“On turf, everything is a lot faster,” says Eppers. “A single may turn into a double; a double may turn into a triple. Especially at our field, it plays very fast … It’s probably given me a few more triples, too, so I appreciate it.”
Of 33 starts for a 15-18 squad, Eppers has been in center field for 29 games and right field for four.
“Center has always been my favorite position, where I feel most comfortable,” says Eppers. “You’re the shortstop of the outfield in a way. You’re supposed to be the best all-around defensive player in the outfield. Something I’ve always taken pride in is tracking down balls and trying to make catches other people can’t make.”
Eppers, who hits from the right side, was in the No. 8 slot in the batting order during his recent hot weekend in Kalamazoo, but has appeared in every hole but Nos. 3 and 4 this spring and has led off eight times.
“Everyday I have to check, but it’s not that big of a deal,” says Eppers. “I know my job is to get on base. I’m not a guy who’s going to hit a lot of home runs. I do have a few extra base hits. That’s where I hit the gaps and I’m able to run.”
While he’s taken hundreds of fly balls in the outfield to improve his defense and bulked up to 202 pounds with work in the weight room, Eppers has also adjusted his approach at the plate. He has become more knowledgeable about situational hitting and what pitches he can connect with the best.
“Early in my career I was very vulnerable to the slider and pitcher-advantage counts,” says Eppers. “Now, I’m a tougher out. When the slider is in the dirt, I’m able to lay off that pitch.
“This year I’ve really worked at hitting pitches in the (strike) zone I know I can barrel up. I’m not chasing as many pitches.”
“It’s basically a pass-fail major,” says Eppers, who was on the MAC all-academic team in 2016 and carried 3.555 grade-point average in the fall. “For a year, you write a business plan, fine tune it and then Wednesday (April 12) we present it in a room with a panel of judges. If they like what you have to say, they pass you. If they don’t, they fail you. If you fail, you have to opportunity to come back next year and re-try or take a couple some classes and (graduate with a different major).
“It puts some stress on you.”
Eppers and his business partner will present a plan on a not-for-profit gym and counseling service for veterans, military members and first responders in the Indianapolis area.
While he is exploring his post-graduation options, Eppers says he is leaning toward staying on the diamond.
“I want to keep playing baseball as long as I can,” says Eppers. “When I’m not allowed to play anymore I’ll have to re-evaluate my professional life.
“For right now I’m just focused on playing baseball and having fun. I’m trying to play every game like it’s my last.”
Matt Eppers contributes speed to the Ball State University baseball team. The Elkhart Central High School graduate is in his senior season. (Ball State Photo)
Matt Eppers has played in 188 baseball games as a Ball State Cardinal through Tuesday, April 11. (Ball State Photo)
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