Championship weekend for Indiana Wesleyan, IU Southeast

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

It was a title-taking kind of weekend for two of Indiana’s NAIA baseball programs.

Indiana Wesleyan (39-12, 28-4) earned its first Crossroads League regular-season championship since 2018 while going 3-1 at Wildcat Field against Grace.

With a three-game sweep of Midway at Koetter Sports Complex, Indiana University Southeast (36-13, 23-1) won its third straight River States Conference regular-season title.

The longest current win streaks among the state’s 38 college baseball programs belong to IU Southeast (8), Ball State (5), Rose-Hulman (5), Saint Francis (5), Indiana (4) and  Manchester (4).

With an 11-inning win in Game 2 Saturday, Saint Francis (32-16, 22-10) capped a four-game Crossroads League sweep at Taylor. Junior right-hander Michael Vochelli worked the last five shutout innings as the winning pitcher.

In NCAA Division I, Niko Kavadas took his home run bat on the road as Notre Dame (20-8, 18-8) went 2-1 in an Atlantic Coast Conference series at Boston College.

The senior lefty slugger and Penn High School graduate pounded homer Nos. 14 and 15 in helping the Irish come back to win 13-9 in Game 3. He is among the national leaders.

Ball State (25-11, 16-4) enjoyed a four-game home sweep against Mid-American Conference foe Northern Illinois that included John Baker becoming the Cardinals’ all-time strikeout leader. 

The senior right-hander fanned eight Huskies to raise his career total to 359 — No. 1 among active NCAA D-I pitchers and passed Bryan Bullington on Ball State’s K list.

Bats did some loud talking and pitchers were stingy as Indiana (18-8, 18-8) took all three Big Ten contest against visiting Minnesota. The Hoosiers outscored the Golden Gophers 39-5. 

Drew Ashley (3) and Grant Richardson (2) led the way as IU collected nine hits in Game 1 to support winner Tommy Sommer (11 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings).

Morgan Colopy (3), Collin Hopkins (3) and Ashley (2 with a homer) led the way as Indiana rapped 10 hits in Game 2 and Braden Scott (who faced one batter in relief) notched the victory.

Colopy (3 with a homer), Hopkins (3), Cole Barr (3), Richardson (2 with a homer) and Paul Toetz (2) guided a 17-hit outburst in a 23-1 Game 3 rout and Gabe Bierman (11 K’s in six innings) picked up the win.

Butler (9-16, 4-7) went 2-1 in Big East Conference home series against Villanova.

After 25 road games to the start the season, Valparaiso (8-21, 3-9) came home to Emery G. Bauer Field and won three of four Missouri Valley Conference games against Southern Illinois. Games 1 and 2 on the new turf came on walk-off wins.

NCAA Division II Indianapolis (17-15, 15-9) outscored McKendree 26-4 to win the three last three games of a Great Lakes Valley Conference series at Greyhound Park. Junior lead-off man Trey Smith went 3-for-4 with a homer, four RBIs and three runs scored in the 13-2 finale.

NCAA D-III Rose-Hulman (16-10, 16-10) swept two Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheaders — Friday against Bluffton and Sunday at Earlham. In Game 2 against the Quakers, the Fightin’ Engineers scored the decisive run in the eight inning.

Manchester (15-16, 15-16) went 3-0 in an HCAC series at Defiance.

The National Junior College Athletic Association postseason is fast-approaching.

Division II sub-regionals begin May 7.

Ancilla and Ivy Tech Northeast are in Region 12 and Vincennes in Region 24.

INDIANA COLLEGE BASEBALL

Records Through April 25

NCAA Division I

Ball State 25-11 (16-4 MAC) 

Indiana State 21-11 (8-4 MVC) 

Notre Dame 20-8 (18-8 ACC) 

Evansville 20-18 (5-10 MVC) 

Indiana 18-8 (18-8 Big Ten) 

Purdue 10-18 (10-18 Big Ten) 

Butler 9-16 (4-7 Big East) 

Purdue Fort Wayne 9-21 (6-14 HL) 

Valparaiso 8-21 (3-9 MVC) 

NCAA Division II

Southern Indiana 20-16 (16-12 GLVC) 

Indianapolis 17-15 (15-9 GLVC) 

Purdue Northwest 9-16 (3-13  GLIAC) 

NCAA Division III

Wabash 18-13 (9-6 NCAC) 

Rose-Hulman 16-10 (16-10 HCAC) 

Anderson 16-12 (16-12 HCAC) 

Earlham 16-13 (16-13 HCAC) 

Hanover 16-15 (16-15 HCAC) 

Franklin 15-9 (15-9 HCAC) 

Manchester 15-16 (15-16 HCAC) 

DePauw 12-17 (5-7 NCAC) 

Trine 6-19 (6-10 MIAA) 

NAIA

Indiana Wesleyan 39-12 (28-4 CL) 

Indiana University Southeast 36-13 (23-1 RSC) 

Taylor 33-16 (22-10 CL) 

Saint Francis 32-16 (22-10 CL) 

Huntington 25-13 (18-12 CL) 

Indiana Tech 25-22 (11-5 WHAC) 

Indiana University-Kokomo 24-17 (12-9 RSC) 

Marian 21-24 (14-16 CL) 

Indiana University South Bend 17-21 (13-10 CCAC) 

Oakland City 17-24 (10-14 RSC) 

Bethel 13-33 (10-20 CL) 

Grace 12-31 (9-23 CL) 

Calumet of Saint Joseph 5-26 (5-17 CCAC) 

Goshen 3-34 (2-26 CL) 

Junior College

Ivy Tech Northeast 25-20 

Vincennes 17-23 (5-15 MWAC) 

Ancilla 6-25 (2-14 MCCAA) 

Conferences

NCAA Division I

Big Ten

Atlantic Coast (ACC)

Big East 

Horizon (HL)

Mid-American (MAC)

Missouri Valley (MVC)

NCAA Division II

Great Lakes Valley (GLVC)

Great Lakes Intercollegiate (GLIAC)

NCAA Division III

Heartland Collegiate (HCAC)

Michigan Intercollegiate (MIAA)

NAIA

Crossroads League (CL)

Chicagoland Collegiate (CCAC)

Wolverine Hoosier (WHAC)

River States Conference (RSC)

Junior College 

Mid-West Athletic (MWAC)

Michigan Community College (MCCAA)

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Mattingly grateful for chance to make impact with Asbury U.

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

The Eagles of Asbury University are on the rise in the NAIA baseball world.

The private school 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky.,  went from 18-35 in 2017 to 20-22 in 2018 to 24-22 in 2019 to 14-4 in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season with Manny Cervantes as head coach. 

In 2018, the Eagles lost many pitchers and position players to injury and still had a chance to be one of the six teams in the River States Conference tournament.

Asbury was hot and cold in the first half of 2019. After being swept in a three-game series with Cincinnati Christian University, the team re-focused and went 15-9 the rest of the way with the Eagles’ first-ever series win at Indiana University Southeast.

Before 2020 was cut short, Asbury won 11 of its last 13 games.

Cervantes brought Brandon Mattingly on board as Asbury as pitching coach in ’17 and the team earned run average has shrank each year from 6.68 to 5.78 to 4.28 to 2.47.

Mattingly, 35, has earned a reputation as a pitching instructor and top-flight recruiter.

In 1998, Mattingly played for a team — St. Matthews American — that came one game from making the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

At 18, he was in a very different place.

A 2003 graduate of Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Mattingly went to West Lafayette, Ind., to be a pitcher for Purdue University. 

An injury to the right-hander kept him from getting into a game for the Boilermakers and Mattingly moved on from the game and transferred to Ivy Tech Community College in Lafayette and received an Associate of Arts degree then moved back to Louisville.

Mattingly was studying Political Science and in the Pre-Law honors program at the University of Louisville when he shifted and started his own real estate title business. He now works as a title examiner, doing a lot of jobs with Sutton Real Estate.

He stumbled into the opportunity to coach with the Vipers Baseball Club travel organization and was with 18U and 17U teams in 2014 and 2015.

“Barry Pennybaker gave me the opportunity to work with pitchers,” says Mattingly. “I built a rapport with those young men quickly.”

Mattingly was later made the main pitching coach for 16U through 18U Vipers.

It was while coaching the Vipers in a summer tournament hosted by Asbury in 2016 that Mattingly met Cervantes.

“He let me know that his pitching coach had just moved on,” says Mattingly. “He told me his vision of building into the top team in the region.”

Cervantes encouraged Mattingly to apply for the position.

“He was very gracious in allowing me that opportunity,” says Mattingly of Cervantes. “He spoke highly of me to board members and the athletic director. He put himself on the line for me.

“I had no experience coaching college baseball.”

Mattingly does not regret his decision.

“This is a place I belong,” says Mattingly. “They have allowed me to come into their world and be involved with some of the best people I’ve ever met.

“It’s important to me that I’m able to express how grateful I am to be at Asbury.”

Mattingly started at Asbury in the fall of 2016.

“We had talented young men on the roster, but not as much depth as other schools,” says Mattingly. “We were still shifting the culture to winning while reflecting God’s grace.”

With hunger for championships, Mattingly began using his relationships built through the Vipers to bring in student-athletes that could have an immediate impact for the Eagles.

“We made it pretty clear pretty quickly that we were going to be a player in recruiting baseball talent,” says Mattingly. “The ability to develop relationships with younger players gave us a leg up.”

Not as stringent as the NCAA recruiting calendar, the NAIA allows for this.

“Developing relationships is the priority,” says Mattingly. “You get a lot of opportunities to talk with these young men and their parents.

Mattingly lets them know they are interest in them as an athlete, student and a child of God.

“We treat them with respect,” says Mattingly.

Besides Asbury, baseball-playing schools in the River States Conference are Alice Lloyd College (Pippa Passes, Ky.), Brescia University (Owensboro, Ky.), Indiana University Kokomo (Ind.), Indiana University Southeast (New Albany, Ind.), Midway (Ky.) University, Oakland City (Ind.), University, Ohio Christian University (Circleville, Ohio), Point Park University (Pittsburgh, Pa.), University of Rio Grande (Ohio) and West Virginia University Institute of Technology (Beckley, W.Va.).

Among others in the area are the University of the Cumberlands (Williamsburg, Ky.), Campbellsville (Ky.) University, Georgetown (Ky.) College, Lindsey Wilson College (Columbia, Ky.), University of Pikeville (Ky.) and Thomas More University (Crestview Hills, Ky.).

“Eyes pay attention to this part of the country,” says Mattingly. “We want to make dents in those recruiting classes.”

After the COVID lockdown, some Asbury players were able to play in the College Summer League at Grand Park (Westfield, Ind.) and the Commonwealth Collegiate Baseball League in Lexington, Ky.

Granted an extra year of eligibility, four Kentucky-bred seniors — right-hander Will McDonald, left fielder Colton Back, first baseman/designated hitter C.J. Compton and righty reliever Austin Jennings — decided to come back for a fifth year in 2021. McDonald is the ace of the pitching staff and joins back Back as a second-year team captain. 

First baseman Paul Haupt and center fielder Garrett McIntire — a pair of juniors — can track their relationship with Brandon back to the Vipers.

Mattingly has also been pitching coach for the Ohio Valley League’s Henderson (Ky.) Flash since 2017 (minus the canceled 2020 season) and has built relationships with coaches and players in the southern part of Indiana.

The Asbury roster features junior right-handed pitcher/infielder Walker Paris (Mt. Vernon), sophomore infielder Gabe Falcone (Silver Creek) and three freshmen — right-handed pitchers Wes Allen (Southridge) and Cameron Crick (Greenwood Community) and infielder Alex Stroud (Roncalli).

Payton Mattingly (no relation to Brandon) was an Asbury senior in 2020 after playing at Southridge High (for father Gene) and Olney (Ill.) Central Community College.

Former Flash left-hander Andy Samuelson (a graduaate of LaPorte, Ind., High School) was drafted in the 12th round of the 2019 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Atlanta Braves.

Brandon Mattingly has been the baseball pitching coach at Asbury University in Wilmore, Ky., since 2017. He is also the recruiting coordinator. He has been pitching coach for the summer collegiate Henderson (Ky.) Flash since 2017 and got his coaching start with the Louisville-based Vipers Baseball Club. ( Henderson Flash Photo)