Former player, assistant Ulery now guiding Peru baseball

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

Building team chemistry is among the priorities for Josh Ulery as he takes over as head baseball coach at his alma mater — Peru (Ind.) High School.
Hired in the fall to lead the Tigers program, the 1999 Peru graduate graduate has also been stressing fundamentals, conditioning and offensive approach while assessing his team’s strengths and weaknesses during IHSAA Limited Contact Period activities.
“We want to hit the fastball and be aggressive in the (batter’s) box,” says Ulery of his hitters. “We want to swing hard but have a controllable swing.”
This week, players were in the gym for Tuesday hitting. Fielding practice is slated for Saturday.
Ulery wants his team — which has most varsity players back from 2022 — to be “tip-top defensively.”
Thanks to moving to a new shift and role for the Peru Police Department (he went into police work at 25 and is now a detective) Ulrey is able to coach baseball in an expanded capacity. In the past he’s been a paid assistant and last year was a volunteer for Chuck Brimbury, who was his head coach when he was a standout right-handed pitcher/first baseman for the Tigers and offered a baseball scholarship to Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne (which he did not pursue).
“A lot of my coaching comes through Chuck Brimbury,” says Ulrey.
A four-year varsity performer, Ulrey was with Dick Keller for the first two years and Brimbury the next two. Peru went 22-5 in 1999. With many of that team returning in 2000, the Tigers won their only IHSAA Class 3A regional title.
With an enrollment around 660, Peru is the largest school Three Rivers Conference (which also includes Maconaquah, Manchester, Northfield, North Miami, Rochester, Southwood, Tipppecanoe Valley, Wabash and Whitko).
TRC teams see each other once during conference play.
Peru is slated to begin the regular season April 7 against Bluffton in the Howard County Invitational. The slate also features at April 29 home doubleheader against South Bend Saint Joseph, a May 6 round robin at Western at May 13 Miami County Classic.
The Tigers are part of an IHSAA Class 3A sectional grouping in 2023 with Bellmont, Maconaquah, Mississinewa, Norwell and Oak Hill. Peru has won five sectional titles — the last in 2018.
Lief Astrup graduated in 2022. Returnees include several players who Ulery says have college baseball aspirations — Class of 2023’s Logan Gatliff and Fox Huppenthal, 2024’s Ian Potts, Matthew Roettger and Jackson Rogers and 2025’s Gavin Eldridge.
“We have an amazing freshman class,” says Ulery, who could see as many as 17 representing the Class of 2026. “Those guys are really competitive. I can image a few pushing for varsity positions.
“It should be an exciting and motivated year.”
There have been 36 players at various open fields and conditioning. Ulery says he expects to keep up to 28 in the spring.
His varsity assistants are Rob Hileman, Chris Beauchamp, Ron Potts, Adam Butt and Gary Loe with the varsity. Hillman works with hitters and fielders and coaches third base. Beauchamp is assistant hitting/outfielders coach. Potts is in charge of drill work. Butt and Loe do scorebook work for varsity and junior varsity.
Jacob Loftus is head JV/catching coach. Jody Beauchamp (brother of Chris) is program pitching/first baseman coach and JV assistant. Ron Whitney is a JV assistant and also works with outfielders.
Peru fields a junior high team of seventh and eighth graders that plays about a dozen contests in the spring. Jeff Dicken is the head coach. His assistant is Cody Hiles. Volunteers are Andre Ambrose and Joe Bockover.
Former head coach Mike Stewart is the public address announcer for Peru baseball. Bob DeWire coordinates field maintenance at Tiger Field.
Ulery says there is talk about a new field being put in — with turf and new lights — in 2024. But those details have not been set.
Josh and wife Becky (formerly Mannies) have been married for 17 years. The couple has three children (a girl and two boys) — junior Jordyn, eighth graders Lukas and kindergartener Blake. Jordyn Ulery is a varsity cheerleader. Her mother is Peru’s varsity cheer coach.

Josh Ulery.

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Fundamentals come first for Heim and his Anderson Indians

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

In Adrian Heim’s vocabulary monotonous is not a negative word.

It’s doing the basic things over and over again that has helped him be successful as a high school baseball coach.

Heim led Anderson (Ind.) High School to a 19 wins in 2018. During the campaign, he picked up his 200th career victory and goes into 2019 with 205 earned in eight seasons at Elwood (Ind.) High School and three at Anderson.

It is something that was instilled in Heim when he played at Elwood for head coach Joe Williams and it’s something he’s carried on in his coaching life.

Williams was devoted to the fundamentals of the game.

“We did a lot of monotonous stuff,” says Heim. “Fundamentals is the most important thing. We do tons of fundamental work before we do any of the fun stuff so to speak.

“We hit off the tee first. We look at batting in the cage as a privilege. You’ve got to earn that.”

A 1995 Elwood graduate, Heim played four seasons for head coach Don Brandon at Anderson University.

Heim has nothing but kind words for Brandon, a member of the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association, National Association of Interscholastic Athletics and Anderson U. halls of fame.

“The most important thing in coaching is your relationship with your players,” says Heim. “(Brandon’s) relationship with us was awesome. He was there with you, helping you through the tough times.

“I wouldn’t be where I’m at now without Don Brandon.”

Heim says Brandon made the game fun, but also expected much from his Anderson Ravens and the same is true with Heim and his Anderson Indians.

“We demand a lot,” says Heim.

And if he has to get on a player, he is also their to build them up.

Heim is now leading fall workouts. Rather than having a coach working with two athletes at a time, a new IHSAA rule allows coaches to work with players for two hours a day two days a week during certain windows of opportunity.  The Indians are lifting weights on Mondays and Wednesdays and practicing baseball on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“It’s extremely hard to come out on a baseball diamond and only work with two kids at a time. This is much better.”

The window closes at the end of next week and opens again the first week of December. Teams are allowed to lift weights and condition year-round.

“The reason for (the new rule) in my eyes is that there was a set of coaches who felt that they could do whatever they wanted,” says Heim. “Now there’s no gray area about what’s an open gym or an open facility.

“It’s much better for us. We go up to Oct. 12 then we have to shut it down.”

After that, Heim’s baseball players will lift weights on Mondays and Wednesdays and attend Baseball 101 classroom sessions on Thursdays.

“A lot of these kids don’t know the game the way they should,” says Heim, who wants players to pay attention to the Major League Baseball postseason. “You learn from watching.”

Last spring, Anderson carried 30 players for varsity and junior varsity schedules. Heim expects the number to go up a little next spring. However, the two teams still need to share storied Memorial Field until two new fields are built. Those are expected to be ready for the 2020 season.

Heim’s coaching staff includes Garrett Jones, Chris Waymire and Jeff Johnson and he’s looking to hire one more.

Among seniors expected to return are Andrew Bliss, Jordan Harris, Cameron McGlothlin, Cameron Pratt, Mike Stewart, Brayden Waymire and Braden Zirkle.

Anderson belongs to the North Central Conference (along with Arsenal Tech, Harrison, Kokomo, Lafayette Jefferson, Logansport, Marion, McCutcheon, Muncie Central and Richmond).

The NCC is broken into two divisions — Anderson, Arsenal Tech, Marion, Muncie Central and Richmond in the East with Harrison, Lafayette Jeff, Kokomo, Logansport and McCutcheon in the West.

Teams play each divisional opponent twice and then there is a seeded cross-divisional tournament. Anderson was the No. 1 seed in the East and wound up placing fourth in the 2018 tourney.

Anderson is in an IHSAA Class 4A grouping with Connersville, Greenfield-Central, Mt. Vernon (Fortville), Muncie Central, Pendleton Heights and Richmond.

The Tribe has won seven sectionals in program history — the last in 2012.

Anderson’s program is fed by the Highland Middle School combined seventh/eighth grade team, Brooklyn Little League and various travel organizations.

Besides his baseball duties, 2001 Anderson U. graduate Heim, is detention school supervisor for the Anderson High School Area Career Center.

Heim has a daughter named Kennedy (12).

Anderson (Ind.) High School head baseball coach Adrian Heim (right) shares a moment with former Anderson (Ind.) University coach Don Brandon. Heim, who played for the Hall of Famer, has 205 career victories, amassed at his high school alma mater — Elwood — and Anderson High.

Second baseball coaching stint at Peru rewarding for Brimbury

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Chuck Brimbury has enjoyed each stage of his professional life — from teacher and coach to assistant principal to principal to superintendent and then to athletic director along with a return to coach.

Brimbury is really basking in his second go-round as head baseball coach at Peru High School.

“I’ve loved every single job I’ve had in education,” says Brimbury, who also served 15 years as a football coach at Peru, including one as interim head coach. “The more you move up, the farther you seem to be from the kids and the daily guidance of them. I missed coaching. It was huge part of my life.

“I’ve been blessed to get back into it.”

After serving four years as superintendent of Peru Community Schools and helping to earn the district four-star status as one of the best-performing systems in Indiana, he opted in June 2014 to become AD and once again lead the Tigers on the diamond.

Beginning in 1998, Brimbury previously held the job for a decade.

“We had a really good run,” says Brimbury, whose teams were state-ranked in most seasons and had his 2000 squad reach the IHSAA Class 3A Final Four.

Brimbury borrowed methods he learned while serving as an assistant to Don Sherman at Huntington North High School.

The Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer taught him all the intricacies of running a successful baseball operation.

“We believe in holding people to high standards,” says Brimbury. “We get off the bus all looking the same and we stay together. Our top players carry the water cooler. There’s no job too small.”

Peru baseballers wears “Program” on their shirts to remind themselves and everyone else that “the program is more important than any player or any coach.”

Brimbury also uses drills and teaching methods gleaned from Hall of Famers Bill Jones of DeKalb, Bill Nixon of Plymouth and Chris Stavreti of Fort Wayne Northrop as well as the man who won 1,010 games and seven state championships — Ken Schreiber of LaPorte.

It doesn’t have to be a Thursday for the Tigers to throwing it back.

“We’re throwbacks,” says Brimbury. “It’s an old-school approach and our kids thrive off it.

“If you resemble a lot of guys with blue rings you’ll get one for your community one day. If their kids can do it, we can do it. We believe that here. We use a lot of what works.”

In his first season back in charge (2015), Brimbury enjoyed Peru’s first sectional championship since 2000.

When the Mid-Indiana Conference dissolved at the end on the 2014-15 academic school year, the Tigers joined the Three Rivers Conference and have reigned in baseball in their first two seasons in the new league (2016 and 2017).

“It’s a really good small-school conference,” says Brimbury of a conference which also includes Maconaquah, Manchester, Northfield, North Miami, Rochester, Southwood, Tippecanoe Valley, Wabash and Whitko. “I really enjoy the competition.”

Brimbury has also savored the ability to build a non-conference which has pitted the Tigers against the best competition from around the state and to a variety of venues.

Peru played Lafayette Central Catholic at Purdue University and both Providence and Rossville at Alexandria-Monroe in 2017 and this year will feature a program first — a southern spring break trip with stops at League Stadium in Huntingburg (where much of the movie “A League of Their Own” was filmed) to play Southridge and games at Muhlenberg County and Christian County in Kentucky.

“I want to make sure these kids have a tremendous experience in their four years at Peru,” says Brimbury. “I like exposing these kids to beautiful places and really good programs.

“Each year our schedule is a little different. We want to get our kids used to playing on the road.”

The idea is to prepare the Tigers for the postseason, which begins in 2018 with the Peru Sectional but another title would mean a trek to the always-tough Griffith Regional.

Getting to Griffith will be no small task. The 3A sectional grouping also features Benton Central, Maconaquah, Northwestern, West Lafayette and Western.

Peru is to play at Indiana State University May 5.

Nolan Brimbury — the oldest of Chuck and Michelle Brimbury’s three children — is a redshirt sophomore infielder for the Indiana State Sycamores.

Tiger Field will also be the site of 2018 Miami County Classic. Two of the three teams that visit Peru feature head coaches with close ties to Brimbury — former assistant Shane Edwards at Oak Hill and former player Troy Hudson at North Miami. Maconaquah rounds out the field for the May 12 all-day event.

“We have an old-time field,” says Brimbury. “It’s beautiful at night. It’s a really good atmosphere for home games.

“It’s one of the better small-school stadiums out there.”

Brimbury’s public address announcer at Tiger Field and assistant at Peru athletic events is Mike Stewart.

Now retired, Stewart was Chuck’s baseball coach at Fountain Central High School who also found his way to “Tiger Town.”

“(Stewart) was passionate about the game,” says Brimbury, who graduated from high school in 1988 and went on to play a little at Marian University in Indianapolis and receive various degrees from Indiana State.

Every Peru game and a weekly coach’s show has been on the radio (thanks to 101.9 FM and broadcasters Bob Stambazze and Doug Muzzillo) and many contests are shown on student-run Tiger TV.

Several players saw significant varsity action last spring, meaning Brimbury welcomes back 17 lettermen.

Among the senior returnees are catcher Nathan Brimbury (Chuck and Michelle’s son and a 2017 IHSBCA Junior Showcase invitee), right-hander Lucas McConahay (the top returning pitcher), outfielders Austin Caldwell and Robert Cunningham, second baseman Kasey Comp, first baseman Christian Gatliff and designated hitter Nathan Ramirez.

Juniors include third baseman Blake Edwards, outfielder D.J. Fuller, catcher Payton Honn and left-handers Chance Ogle and Zach Purcell.

Sophomores in the mix are right-hander/third baseman/shorstop Michael Chandler, outfielder Jonah Hoopenthal, outfielder/shortstop Daunte Majors, middle infielder Dmitry Reese and right-handers Jackson Green and Chase Tyler.

Hitting coach Rob Hileman has been with Brimbury in every season in both of his tenures except one. Jody Beauchamp is the Tigers pitching coach. Shawn Dwyer, Josh Ulrey, Brad Townsend, Gary Loe and strength coach complete the high school staff.

Sixth grader Madison Brimbury (Chuck and Michelle’s daughter) is a baseball student manager.

Michelle Brimbury, who is a special education teacher at PHS, is also team mom.

Feeders for the high school program include a Peru Junior High School team, which is expected to play 12 to 15 games in April and May.

There is also the Peru Cal Ripken League and many players wind up with various travel baseball organizations.

Besides Nolan Brimbury, recent Peru graduates on college baseball rosters include left-handed pitcher Cameron Beauchamp (Indiana University) and right-handers Dexter Shuler (Franklin College) and Sean Smith (Wabash College).

Beauchamp (2016) and Smith (2017) were both IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series participants.

“It’s fulfilling to see our kids playing at some level above high school and we try to keep (former players) a part of our program,” says Brimbury, who regularly welcomes baseball alums from his first Peru head coaching stint into his dugout and is now coaching the sons of some former players. “It’s a long history of former Tiger baseball players.

“We are totally vested in the success of our kids here.”

The Brimbury family celebrates Peru High School’s 2015 sectional baseball championship (from left): Michelle, Nathan, Nolan, Chuck and Madison. In 2018, Chuck is in the fourth season of his second tenure as head coach. Nathan is a senior catcher. Michelle is team mom. Madison is student manager. Nolan is now a redshirt sophomore at Indiana State University.