Danner brings aggressive style as Monroe Central baseball coach

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

It’s an assertive brand of baseball that will be promoted by Tyler Danner, the new head coach at Monroe Central Junior/Senior High School in Parker City, Ind.
“I am very much an aggressive coach,” says Danner, who took over the Golden Bears program in mid-September and looks forward to a few IHSAA Limited Contact Period practices this month. “Our goal in 2023 is 100 stolen bases (at a success rate of 85 percent or higher). Anything that’s a 50-50 ball in the outfield, we’re going for it. Outfielders are expected to play aggressively and lay out for the baseball.”
Danner was the pitching coach at Indianapolis Lutheran the past three years and has coached travel ball for a decade — five years with the Delaware County-based Indiana Magic and the past five with Baseball Academics Midwest (BAM). He was with 12U through 16U teams with the Indiana Magic and 14U through 17U squads with BAM, including 15U this past summer.
The 2022 Lutheran Saints swiped 183 bases, won 22 games and advanced to a regional championship game.
As it was at his previous stop, “Attack the zone” will be Danner’s mantra with his MC pitchers. He insisted that his Lutheran hurlers were aggressive in the strike zone and this helped lower the team ERA and walk rate.
“Guys went deeper (into games) because the pitch count was not driven up by full counts,” says Danner. “You get to trust the gloves behind you.”
As for hitting approach, Danner will have each batter focus on their strengths and weaknesses. If they hit the inside pitch best, they may lay off the outside one before two strikes.
Danner wants his team to collect more free bases (errors, walks, overthrows etc.) than its gives up. The goal is to hold the opponent under 10 and to gather more than 12.
“You have a 75 percent win percentage when you do that,” says Danner.
Monroe Central (enrollment around 300) is a member of the Mid-Eastern Conference (with Blue River Valley, Cowan, Daleville, Eastern Hancock, Randolph Southern, Shenandoah, Union of Modoc, Wapahani and Wes-Del).
The Golden Bears were part of an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping in 2022 with Alexandria Monroe, Elwood, Frankton, Lapel, Muncie Burris, Wapahani and Winchester. Monroe Central has won seven sectional titles — the last in 2014.
After meeting players during a call-out and at home football games, Danner came away impressed.
“They were respectful,” says Danner. “They were all eye contact, all engaged and asking questions.
“These are guys who have played at a high level and expect to play well.”
It was as a toddler that Tyler first learned to think and talk the game with his father. Chuck Danner devoured baseball knowledge from books and the Internet and coached youth teams and as a hitting coach for Ed Jones at Muncie Burris.
Chuck Danner died in 2015 at 69.
At Yorktown (Ind.) High School, where he graduated in 2009, Tyler Danner was a pitcher, catcher and outfielder for Tigers head coach Mike Larrabee.
“He showed us the way to stay even-keeled,” says Danner of Larrabee. “It’s very easy in the heat of the moment to get too high or too low. That was not Coach.
“You need a guy that steers into the storm and never seems to panic.”
Yorktown won sectional titles in 2007 and 2008 and a regional crown in 2008.
The approach at BAM is for players to work through the approaches to the game and breaking it down on the field and in the classroom.
“They understand why they’re doing it at such a high level,” says Danner.
His Monroe Central assistants include Daleville graduates Ethan Pittsford (Class of 2019) and Drew Watson (Class of 2021). Daleville won state titles in 2016 and 2018. Watson was a volunteer assistant at Daleville in 2022.
There were 16 players in the Monroe Central program last spring. A similar number would mean a varsity-only schedule in 2023. Danner’s goal in the future is to have enough numbers for varsity and junior varsity.
The Golden Bears play on-campus.
“We have beautiful dugouts and a nice press box,” says Danner. “The field is in good condition. It was maintained by the previous coaching staff very, very well.
“Monroe Central truly believes in its sports program and makes sure everything is taken care of really, really nice.”
Monroe Central Athletic League has baseball teams from T-ball through 12U. Junior high baseball is conducted in June on the high school diamond.
Danner plans to be active with both feeder systems, volunteering with the MCAL (and asking his high school players to do that same) and overseeing the junior high.
Aidyn Coffey (Monroe Central Class of 2022) committed to Coastal Carolina University after the Golden Bears’ 20-win season.
Among players expected back are Blake Bogue (Class of 2023), Cole Luedike (Class of 2024) and Lane Wilson (Class of 2025).
Outside of coaching Danner, who attended Purdue University for three years, is single and works as a major account representative for a lending company.

Tyler Danner.

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Shenandoah grad Painter upbeat about Raiders for 2022

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

Shenandoah High School’s 2021 baseball season did not begin with the Raiders flying out of the gate.
But once they found their stride, there was plenty of success in what was alum Ryan Painter’s first on-field campaign.
The IHSAA Class 2A program in Middletown, Ind., started out 2-8 then won 16 of 20 with a 10-game win streak, a Henry County championship and a runner-up finish in the Centerville Sectional.
While seven seniors — including six starters — from that team graduated, Painter sees bright possibilities in 2022.
“We’re very optimistic,” says Painter, a 2004 Shenandoah graduate who played four years on the varsity for head coach Jack Lewis — two at second base and then two at catcher — and later was an assistant for six years on the staff of Bruce Stanley (who was a Raiders assistant when Painter was a player) before taking over the program prior to the 2020 season canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were 24 players in the program in 2021 and the Raiders played a full junior varsity schedule.
One of the newcomers for 2022 is freshman middle infielder/pitcher Collin Osenbaugh, who has already made a verbal commitment to the University of Louisville.
Shenandoah (enrollment around 420) is a member of the Mid-Eastern Conference (with Blue River Valley, Cowan, Daleville, Eastern Hancock, Monroe Central, Randolph Southern, Union of Modoc, Wapahani and Wes-Del).
Wes-Del head coach Daniel Hanson was a teammate of Painter’s at Shenandoah.
MEC games are played on Tuesdays and Thursdays with each team facing the others one time.
In 2021, the Raiders were in a sectional with Centerville, Hagerstown, Northeastern and Union County.
As a smallish school, Shenandoah has many multi-sport athletes.
This fall has been more about field maintenance and some strength training that baseball activities during the IHSAA Limited Contact Period (two days a week, two hours at a time).
“We went very heavy in the summer,” says Painter, who regularly saw 16 to 22 players at workouts. “Once football hit our numbers went down.
“I look forward to winter contact period (Dec. 6-Feb. 5 for all sports and until the start of official practice for spring sports). We’ll be flexible with morning and evening sessions. It’s important for us to build durability and make sure kids are agile and getting their arm care. We want complete full athletes. If we can find 9 to 11 true athletes we’re usually in pretty good shape.”
The Raiders’ on-campus diamond was recently aerated and seeded.
“The other coaches and I take pride in our facility,” says Painter. “We mow year-round. In the past 10 years we’ve had some nice renovations (including a brick backstop with netting and expanded dugouts). In the spring, we plan modifications to the mound and plate areas.”
Assistant coaches include Jamey White, Rusty Conner and Kris Harter. Anderson (Ind.) Highland High School White helps with hitters and infielders, Shenandoah alum Conner is the junior varsity coach and helps with outfielders, Painter’s former SHS classmate Harter serves as a mentor and fosters relationships with players.
Painter handles pitchers and catchers, but keeps his finger on the pulse of everything else.
“I don’t want to be a control freak, but I want to know where everybody stands,” says Painter.
Feeding the high school program are a junior high team (seventh and eighth graders playing in the East Central Indiana league), Shenandoah Boys Baseball (ages 4-12) in Middletown and several travel ball organizations catering to boys in grades 4-8.
Recent Shenandoah graduates on college baseball rosters include Maxwell McKee (Ball State University) and Cy Stanley (Taylor University).
Three 2021 graduates moved on for other sports — Blake Surface (Indiana State University) and Tanner Goff (Trine University) for football and Kaden McCollough (Hanover College) and Michael Howard (Hanover College) for basketball.
Painter is employed as a senior systems analyst at Fiserv in Fishers, Ind.
Ryan and wife Stephanie have a blended family with five children — Kesley Baker (20), Hunter Baker (18), Rylan Tubbs (16), Jayden Painter (12) and Nolan Painter (10). Kelsey is a junior at Indiana University in Bloomington. Senior Hunter, sophomore Rylan, seventh grader Jayden and fifth grader Nolan are all in Shenandoah schools.

Ryan Painter.

Shenandoah High School’s 2021 Henry County baseball champions.

Jayden and Ryan Painter.

Jayden, Ryan, Nolan and Stephanie Painter.

Nolan Painter (front), Jayden Painter, Rylan Tubbs, Kelsey Baker and Hunter Baker.