South edges North in Game 3 of IHSBCA All-Star Series; Eastside’s Willard named MVP

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

The South took an early 4-0 lead and held on for a 4-3 win Sunday, June 26 in Game 3 of the 2022 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series.
By going 2-1 during the weekend at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, the South cut the North’s all-time series lead to 69-68.
Eastside’s Owen Willard was selected as 2022 BSN Sports Don Jennings MVP Award. The Purdue Fort Wayne recruit struck out all six batters he faced in Game 1 Saturday and went 4-of-7 with two runs batted in and two runs scored across three games.
“I definitely had the curveball working. I threw that a lot,” said right-hander Willard of his mound outing. “The hitters struggled with (the curve) and I tried to sneak a fastball on the outer corner.
“I got a lot of swing-and-misses with my curveball. I worked ahead (in the count). That’s how I got those outs.”
Willard described his offensive philosophy — with a metal or wood bat.
“I try to see ball, hit ball almost,” said righty-swinging Willard. “I just wait on a fastball and get one I can hit. That’s my mentality.
“Before this weekend I was leaning toward going to (college) is a (pitcher-only). After this weekend I feel like I can with some of the big dogs and give it a shot.”
Willard said he would remember his performance, but that’s not all.
“Meeting all these people that I can call my friends now,” said Willard. “I hadn’t met most of these people. I can have a conversation with them anytime now.”
Owen got to share the all-star experience closely with his father.
Aaron Willard retired as Eastside head coach after the 2022 season and was selected as part of the North coaching staff.
“This was the last high school baseball game he’ll ever coach,” said Owen. “This is pretty cool.”
Two runs in the seventh pulled the North to within 4-3.
Willard lashed a lead-off triple and scored on a wild pitch.
Indiana State University-bound Jacob Pruitt (Yorktown) singled and trotted home on a two-out double by Earlham College recruit Nick Turner (Seeger).
The North cut the gap to 4-1 with one run in the fifth.
Joey Spin (Caston) singled and scored on a double by Huntington University-bound Jordan Malott (Fort Wayne Carroll).
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee recruit Luke Smock (Delphi) followed with a single. South right fielder and Rockhurst University-bound Landon Carr (Northview) threw to catcher and Lincoln Trail College recruit Oscar Pegg (Shakamak) to cut down Malott out at the plate.
A two-run third gave the South a 4-0 advantage.
The first two hitters — Pegg and Quincy University-bound Joe Huffman (Avon) walked. Both scored on the same play — a sacrifice fly by Anderson University recruit Jake Winzenread (Lawrence North) and a North throwing error.
The South tallied two runs in the top of the first inning for a 2-0 lead.
Bellarmine University-bound Charlie Rife (Shelbyville) smacked a lead-off double and Pegg was hit by a pitch. Both scored on a one-out single by Winzenread.
The South used three pitchers for three innings each — left-hander Ethan Lyke (Evansville Central) and right-handers Drew Howard (Forest Park) Tate Warner (Fishers). Lyke is headed to Murray State University, Howard to the University of Evansville and Warner to Indiana Wesleyan.
North’s pitching was shared by six players — Indiana University recruit Brayden Risedorph (East Noble) for 1 1/3 innings, Ball State University-bound Cole Wise (Northwestern) for 1 2/3, Indiana Wesleyan recruit Will Eldridge (Carroll of Flora) for two, Belmont University-bound Dalton Wasson (Heritage) for two, Ohio State University recruit Keaton Mahan (Westfield) for one and University of Saint Francis-bound Luke Siren (Fort Wayne Northrop) for one. Mahan is a lefty. The rest are right-handers.
The game featured five double plays — three for the South (second, fourth and sixth) and two for the North (seventh and ninth).
According to IHSBCA Executive Director Brian Abbott, the 2023 North/South All-Star Series and Futures Game is to be held in Lafayette the week following the IHSAA State Finals.

Eastside’s Owen Willard (left) accepts the 2022 BSN Sports Don Jennings MVP Award from Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association council member Jeff McKeon Sunday, June 26 at the conclusion of the IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series at Indiana Wesleyan University. (Steve Krah Photo)

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Indiana Tech second baseman Snyder returns for extra college season

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

Mike Snyder has been given the chance to extend his college baseball experience and he’s taking it.
A 2016 graduate of Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School, where he played football, basketball and baseball, Snyder, who turned 24 on Aug. 4, logged two seasons at what is now Purdue Fort Wayne then moved a few miles south to Indiana Tech, where he redshirted in 2019 and competed for the Warriors in 2020 and 2021 and is coming back for one last collegiate go-round in 2022.
“I want to keep playing as long as I can and see where it takes me,” says Snyder, who was granted an extra year of college eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Snyder appeared on 59 games and started 56 for Indiana Tech in 2021, hitting .308 (64-of-208), 11 home runs, two triples, 13 doubles, 58 runs batted in, 44 runs scored and a .916 OPS (.368 on-base percentage plus .548 slugging average) from the right side of the plate.
The second baseman posted a .923 fielding percentage with 76 putouts, 103 assists and 16 double plays.
During the COVID-19-shortened 2020 slate, Snyder played in 15 games (14 starts) and hit .400 (20-of-50) with 10 homers, two doubles, 26 RBIs, 16 runs and a 1.523 OBP (.483/1.040). He fielded at a .943 clip with 25 putouts and 25 assists.
Snyder says barrel control is his best offensive quality.
“When I’m on and really doing it I can stay on the same plane and stay consistent,” says Snyder. “I’m in no way a contact hitter. I have my strikeouts. I’m more of a power hitter, especially being my size.”
Snyder stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 215 pounds and credits weightlifting for much of his power.
“The gym is a big part of my game,” says Snyder. “I try to lift as heavy as a I can. During season I can’t stay on a consistent week-to-week plan, but I lift whenever I have time.”
The average second baseman is rarely as tall as Snyder, but he knows of one ever lankier. Tech played in the 2021 NAIA Opening Round against Oklahoma Wesleyan University. The Eagles’ regular second sacker was 6-8, 236-pound Ryan Kouba.
“(Being tall) only adds range,” says Snyder.
Tech went 11-5 in 2020 and 35-27 in 2021 — the 13th and 14th campaigns with Kip McWilliams as head coach.
“He’s a winner,” says Snyder of McWilliams. He’ll do anything to win. He works us hard. He keeps us accountable throughout the day.
“He makes sure we stay on our studies so we’re eligible to play.”
Snyder is on pace to earn a Sport Management next spring.
In two seasons at Purdue Fort Wayne, Snyder got into 80 games (56 starts) and hit .252 (56-of-222) with two homers, 14 doubles, 18 RBIs and 31 runs for then-Mastodons head coach Bobby Pierce.
“He was just a really nice guy,” says Snyder of Pierce. “He was really laid-back and relaxed.”
At Northrop, Snyder was on football varsity for three seasons, first for head coach Tim Martone then Jason Doerffler. He was a safety and quarterback prior to switching to wide receiver as a senior. He was a shooting guard in basketball as a freshman and sophomore for Barak Coolman. Football-related injuries took away his junior and senior seasons on the hardwood.
Snyder dressed with the baseball varsity as a freshman then played with the Bruins’ top team for three more springs. His head coach was Matt Brumbaugh.
“He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” says Snyder of Brumbaugh. “I like the way he went about the game.
“He went about everything with passion.”
Born in Fort Wayne, Snyder moved with his family to South Carolina then back to the Summit City about the time he was starting school. He played T-ball and travel ball out of what is now Wallen Baseball Softball before traveling with the Midwest Gloves and Royville. During his high school years, he was with the AWP Cubs organized by Cisco Morales and coached by Alex McKinstry (father of Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Zach McKinstry), Fort Wayne Rams and Team Indiana coached by Phil Wade and Blake Hibler.
Snyder played for the Fuquay-Varina (N.C.) Twins for three straight college summers — 2018-20 — and earned Carolina-Virgnina Collegiate League all-star selections each and CVCL MVP honors in 2020. That summer he hit .427 (35-of-82) with nine homers, 27 RBIs, 26 runs and a 1.327 OPS (.510/.817). On defense, he had 25 putouts, 21 assists and eight double plays. He was CVCL Player of the Year in 2018, hitting .404 with eight homers, 41 RBIs, 37 runs and a .702 slugging average.
He played briefly in the summer of the 2021 with the Prospect League’s Lafayette Aviators. In five games, he hit .250 (5-of-20) with one double, one RBI and one run.
Industrial cable salesman Jerry and marketing manager Betsy Snyder have three children — Garrett, Mike and Mackenzie. Factory worker Garrett Snyder (26) played football, basketball and baseball at Northrop and one season of basketball at the the University of Northwestern Ohio. Mackenzie Snyder (21) played volleyball and basketball at Northrop and is now on the women’s basketball team at Wittenberg (Ohio) University.

Mike Snyder (Indiana Tech Photo)

Mike Snyder (Lafayette Aviators Photo)

Mike Snyder (Indiana Tech Photo)

Mike Snyder (Lafayette Aviators Photo)

Former Fort Wayne Carroll catcher Jones decides time is right to turn pro

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

Three years after graduating from Carroll High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., Hayden Jones is bigger and stronger and more mature.
Jones, who signed last week as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds out of Illinois State University, says his biggest growth since his prep days has come on the mental side. That’s why he wanted to go to college first instead of pursuing his pro career right away.
“I put the dollar amount so high no one was going to sign me (out of high school),” says Jones, who turned 21 on April 27. “I’ve learned to accept failure when it comes, knowing its not going to be the end of the world.”
Hayden, whose father Ken Jones was drafted as a catcher by the San Diego Padres in the 33rd round of the 1995 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft and is now a Purdue Fort Wayne assistant coach and grandfather Bill Jones (who died in November 2015) was a founding member and longtime executive director of the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association and selected as an IHSBCA Hall of Famer in 1982, played for Dave Ginder at Carroll. The lefty swinger and earned four letters while garnering IHSBCA all-state honors three times and being selected as MVP of the 2018 IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series.
Hayden’s uncle, Brad Jones, lettered in baseball at Ball State University. His son, Tyler Jones, played at the University of Dayton in 2021. Cousin Chris Menzie was a baseball letterwinner at Huntington (Ind.) University. Jennifer Jones is Hayden’s mother.
Hayden Jones spent his freshmen season at Mississippi State University in 2019, appearing in 27 games (14 starts) and hitting .224 (11-of-49) with one home run, four doubles, five runs batted in, five runs scored and a .636 OPS (.269 on-base percentage plus .367 slugging average). His fielding percentage with the Chris Lemonis-coached Bulldogs was .971 with 64 putouts, three assists and two errors.
Because of NCAA Division I transfer rules, he had to sit out the 2020 season.
In 2021 at Illinois State, he played in 38 games (31 starts) and hit .230 (28-of-122) with five homers, two triples, six doubles, 28 RBIs and 15 runs. His OPS was .730 (.296/.434). He also fielded at a .990 clip with 182 putouts, 21 assists and two errors.
“I loved Mississippi State,” says Jones. “My girlfriend (Savannah Shinn) still lives down there. It just wasn’t a fit (baseball-wise).”
At ISU, Jones worked with Redbirds head coach and former big league catcher Steve Holm.
Jones’ mechanics were changed back to where he had been while working with his father in high school.
“It all clicked from there,” says Jones. “I was growing and maturing and understanding the game at a faster pace.”
To Jones, blocking, receiving and controlling the opponents’ running game are important. But overall baseball knowledge is a major key to catching.
“My dad and grandpa gave me that big piece,” says Jones. “You need that support staff. Now they can let go and let the Reds do the magic. I text my dad every single night. He’s learning from me now.”
Playing 18 games this summer in the new MLB Draft League with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Niles, Ohio), Jones hit .237 (9-of-38) with one homer, one double, seven RBIs, six runs and .725 OPS (.383/.342). He learned from manager Coco Crisp and coach Ron Mahay — both former big leaguers.
While he still has years of eligibility left, Jones decided now was the time to move forward as a baseball player.
“I was ready,” says Jones, who was draft eligible three years out of high school. “I wanted to get my career going and get my foot in the door.”
Jones’ name was not called during the 20-round 2021 MLB Draft. The phone did ring five minutes after its conclusion with his agent telling him that Reds senior director of player personnel Jeff Graupe wanted the catcher.
In short order, he was traveling to Goodyear, Ariz., to take a physical and sign his contract with scouting supervisor Andy Stack.
“It was not the money I was expecting, but you don’t make your money until you get to the big leagues,” says Jones, who has began training. He and other free agents and draftees will see if the Reds assign them to the Arizona League, send them out to an affiliate (Low Class-A Daytona, Fla., Tortugas, High Class-A Dayton, Ohio, Dragons, Double-A Chattanooga, Tenn., Lookouts, Triple-A Louisville, Ky., Bats) or just keep working at camp.
“Nobody knows what to expect,” says Jones. “It’s where they need help in the organization.”
Jones spent the summer of 2020 with the Brent McNeil-coached Turf Monsters in the College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind. Among those running the CSL were Phil Wade and Blake Hibler, who coached Jones on Team Indiana in the Fall of 2016 and 2017.
Outside the all-star series, Jones was at Mississippi State in the summer of 2018. He was the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s Newport (R.I.) Gulls in 2019.
Jones was pursuing a Recreation and Park Administration at Illinois State. He says he could complete it in another year.

Hayden Jones on Fox 55.

Hayden Jones (Illinois State University Photo)

Hayden Jones (Illinois State University Photo)

Hayden Jones (Illinois University Photo)

Hayden Jones (Mahoning Valley Scrappers Photo)

Hayden Jones (24) (Illinois State University Photo)

Savannah Shinn and Hayden Jones.

Hayden Jones (Cincinnati Reds Photo)

Evansville Central’s Hermann named MVP; South sweeps IHSBCA all-star series

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

Evansville Central outfielder Blake Hermann was chosen as MVP and the South beat the North 7-5 in Game 3 of the 2021 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series Sunday, June 27 at historic Bosse Field.
The win gave the South a 3-0 sweep of ’21 games. The North now leads 68-66 in the all-time series.
The righty-swinging Hermann smacked a two-run triple in the bottom of the sixth inning and also singled in the eighth Sunday.
The sixth is when the South scored three runs and turned a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 lead.
The University of Evansville commit went 2-of-2 with a pair of doubles and an RBI in Game 1 Saturday and collected a single, walk and scored a runs in Game 2.
Saturday’s contests were held at the UE with the South prevailing 5-3 and 7-6.
“I came out here and I just had some fun,” said Hermann. “I was playing with the best players in Indiana and got to know them a little.”
Hitters in Sunday’s game wore their high school uniforms and wielded wood bats.
“I’m used to it,” said Hermann. “It’s one of my favorite bats to swing.”
While Hermann will the turf at the University of Evansville home, he was plenty familiar with the confidences of Bosse Field.
“I played here all throughout high school so it feels like home,” said Hermann, who will be playing travel ball this summer with the Jeremy Johnson-coached Evansville Razorbacks.
Columbus East’s Parker Harrison belted a two-run home run to left in the South third inning.
Crown Point’s Cal Curiel lashed a two-run single for the North in the second inning.
Zionsville’s Nate Dohm pitched three hitless innings — fourth, fifth and sixth — with seven strikeouts as the winning pitcher.
Indianapolis Cathedral sidearmer Chris Gallagher pitched the last three innings and earned the save.
Westfield’s Logan Nickel took the loss.
Evansville was the all-star series host for the first time since 2009.
The 2022 IHSBCA Futures Game and North/South All-Star Series is to be played at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion.

IHSBCA NORTH/SOUTH ALL-STAR SERIES
(At Evansville)
Game 3
(Wood Bat)
SOUTH 7, NORTH 5
North 031 000 100 — 5 8 0
South 002 103 10x — 7 7 0
WP — Dohm. LP — Nickel. Save — Gallagher.
Pitchers: North — Bryce Schaum (Munster; 3 innings, 4 strikeouts, 2 walks, 1 hits, 2 runs), Logan Nickel (Westfield; 3 innings, 0 strikeouts, 0 walks, 4 hits, 4 runs), Kyle Tupper (South Bend St. Joseph; 2 innings, 0 strikeouts, 1 walk, 3 hits, 1 run). South — Kyler McIntosh (Columbus North; 3 innings, 3 strikeouts, 1 walk, 5 hits, 4 runs), Nate Dohm (Zionsville; 3 innings, 7 strikeouts, 0 walks, 0 hits, 0 runs), Chris Gallagher (Cathedral; 3 innings, 4 strikeouts, 1 walk, 3 hits, 1 run).
North: Hits — Rocco Hanes (Norwell), Sergio Lira Ayala (NorthWood), Jacob Loftus (Peru), Cal Curiel (Crown Point), Carter Mathison (Homestead), Kameron Salazar (Wawasee), A.J., Bordenet (Lafayette Central Catholic), Garrett Harker (Lebanon). 3B — Mathison. RBI — Curiel 2. Runs — Lira Ayala, Loftus, Mathison, Salazar, Matthew Dobuck (Plymouth). LOB — 3.
South: Hits — Blake Hermann (Evansville Central) 2, Parker Harrison (Columbus East), Ty Rumsey (Evansville North), Nick Sutherlin (Greencastle), Pierson Barnes (Riverton Parke), Eli Watson (Providence). HR — Harrison. 3B — Watson. 2B — Sutherlin, Rumsey. RBI — Harrison 2, Hermann 2, Sutherlin, Andrew Oesterling (Oldenburg Academy). Runs — Oesterling, Harrison, Sutherlin, Watson, Herman, Evan Goforth (Floyd Central), Henry Brown (Evansville Central). SB — Barnes. LOB — 6. T — 2:20.
MVP: Blake Hermann (Evansville Central).

Blake Hermann (Steve Krah Photo)

Crews roams center field, leads off for Evansville Purple Aces

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Like the buffalo that used to roam his family’s farm, Kenton Crews is drawn to the open expanses of the baseball field.

A center fielder since his days at Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City, Ind., Crews uses the handle @superbuffaloman on Twitter and rambles in the middle of the outfield as a University of Evansville redshirt junior.

“I love playing center field,” says Crews, a 6-foot-1, 187-pounder. “It’s the most fun thing of everything about baseball.”

Crews, 23, tends to play shallow for the Purple Aces and chases balls over his head.

“I feel more comfortable running back and catching balls over my shoulder,” says Crews, who used to do a similar thing as Heritage Hills football wide receiver. 

When Crews reached UE, his favorite number — 5 — was not available. It was the number worn by his father Michael, who was a center fielder and a football player at Ball State University.

Kenton decided to go with 15 in purple, orange and white because that’s the digit donned by fly-chasing center fielder Jim Edmonds with the St. Louis Cardinals. Kenton grew up rooting for the Redbirds and stars like Edmonds, Jasper, Ind., native Scott Rolen and slugger Albert Pujols.

Speed put Crews in the outfield and made him effective in the lead-off slot with the Aces at-bat.

“One thing that we really focus on is that when the lead-off hitter each inning gets on base your chances of scoring go up,” says Crews. “A lot of (lead-off hitters) will take pitches. But if you can get a hittable pitch you should swing at it — especially fastballs early in the count instead of swing at the pitcher’s pitch.

“I’m usually pretty aggressive when I’m hitting lead-off.”

Going into a Missouri Valley Conference series April 23-25 against Illinois State, Crews is hitting .393 (35-of-89) with three home runs, four triples, eight doubles, 22 runs batted in, 21 runs scored and 6-of-9 in stolen bases. He sports a 1.145 OPS (.471 on-baseball percentage and .674 slugging average) in 28 games (24 starts).

For his career — which includes a redshirt season due to injury in 2019 — Crews is hitting .295 (161-of-545) with 11 homers, eight triples, 32 doubles, 79 RBIs, 81 runs and 33-of-42 in stolen bases. His OPS is .793 (.349 on-baseball percentage and .444 slugging average) in 143 games.

The righty swinger has 10 multi-hit games in 2021. He hit for the cycle (homer, triple, double and single) March 21 against visiting Butler. His 4-for-5 day produced four RBIs and two runs scored.

During his cycle, Crews tripled to left center in the bottom of the first inning, doubled to center in the third, homered to left in the seventh and singled in the eighth.

“Teammates were talking about it at a whisper,” says Crews about the Evansville dugout. “People didn’t know how to act.

“I was nervous about it. I didn’t want to let everybody down.”

The first two cycles of Crews’ baseball life came as a grade schooler with a Dale (Ind.) Buffaloes. 

Born in Evansville, Kenton lived with father Michael, mother Kathleen and sister Sienna in a house in Lincoln State Park.

Kenton grew up catching snakes, frogs and turtles for the nature center where his father was — and still is — an interpretive naturalist. He was a football coach at Heritage Hills Middle School was a long stretch.

When Kenton was 7, the family moved to a 100-acre farm, where the Crews raised big, wooly mammals and ran a restaurant — Buffalo Run Farm, Grill & Gifts — for two decades.

Michael coached Sienna’s T-ball team (she is a year older than her brother). After the Buffaloes, Kenton played travel ball with the Southern Indiana Spikes from 8-13. He was with the HHMS and was on a Pony team in Tell City, Ind.

As a high schooler, Crews was an all-stater and Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series MVP as a senior in 2016 and also a all-state and all-conference baseball and football players. 

Greg Gogel was then head baseball coach at Heritage Hills.

“I love Coach Gogel with all my heart,” says Crews of a longtime family friend and former teammate of cousin Cole Seifrig (who took a lateral from future pro quarterback Jay Cutler and threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Cutler in overtime to lead Heritage Hills to a 27-24 victory against Zionville in the 2000 IHSAA Class 3A state championship game). “He taught me more lessons in life than anyone other than my dad.”

Gogel’s wife, Jenna, is Kenton’s chiropractor.

Crews played for the Louisville-based Ironmen Baseball Club then — the summer following his senior year at Heritage Hills — the Evansville Razorbacks.

After missing his 16U summer with a hamstring injury, Kenton decided to attend college where his sister Sienna ran cross country and track.

He also liked the sincerity displayed by Aces head coach Wes Carroll and his staff during the recruiting process.

“They came to me instead of me chasing after somebody else,” says Crews. “I appreciated that effort and that honesty.

“Coach Carroll knows what he’s talking about. He told me he can make me into a better baseball player. I hope we can be friends and have a relationship the rest of my life.”

Kenton is the fourth NCAA Division I competitor in the family.

“She’s the real athlete in our family,” says Kenton of his mother.

As Kathleen Beumel, she was a 10-time state champion in cross country and track at Apollo High School in Owensboro, Ky. After attending Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, she transferred to the University of Hawaii at Manoa where she was cheer captain. At 20, she experienced a crippling injury.

“She broke her neck and was paralyzed,” says Kenton. “She wasn’t supposed to walk again or have kids.

“It’s a miracle she was able to move again and she was able to run.”

Kathleen Crews is now a program assistant at Heritage Hills and involved in the community.

Kenton graduated from UE in December 2020 with a degree in Communication, Advertising and Public Relations and is now pursuing a Masters in Leadership. All the courses are online.

“We get to work at our own pace,” says Crews. “We’re now learning empathy and showing people better ways to do things.”

Crews spent the summers of 2017 and 2018 with the Northwoods League’s Mankato (Minn.) MoonDogs and after sitting out the summer of 2019 while recuperating he was with the NL’s Kalamazoo (Mich.) Mac Daddies, where former Mankato teammate and Indiana State player C.J. Huntley was on the coaching staff and Greg Weyrich was the manager.

“He was a super nice guy and knew a lot,” says Crews, who has another year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic that shortened the 2020 spring season. “I’m waiting to see about this summer.

“I’d like to play another season if (Carroll) would have me.”

Kenton Crews (University of Evansville Photo)

Cy Young, 1980 Phillies latest in author Freedman’s long list of books

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Prolific author Lew Freedman has had two titles released during the summer of 2020.

The common thread is baseball. The subjects and the way he researched the books are very different.

“Phillies 1980!: Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose and Philadelphia’s First World Series Championship (Sports Publishing)” came out in June and “Cy Young: The Baseball Life and Career (McFarland Books)” hit the market in August.

Freedman, a newspaperman for 50 years living in Columbus, Ind., serving as sports editor of the Seymour (Ind.) Tribune, has authored or co-authored about 110 books in the past three decades — about 60 on sports with two-thirds of them being on baseball. 

He lived the Phillies story as a Philadelphia Inquirer staffer in 1980 assigned to write the sidebar on World Series MVP and future Hall of Famer Schmidt. The journalist was able to draw from what he witnessed at the time plus research. Philadelphia topped the Kansas City Royals in six games as Schmidt hit .381 (8-of-21) with two home runs, seven runs batted in and six runs score. 

The seed that grew into the Cy Young book was decades in the making.

“I had it in my head for years and years and years — almost 30 years,” says Freedman. “I was getting more and more interested in baseball history.”

Even though he was serving as sports editor at the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News at the time, Freedman made a trip to the research library at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., and gathered information on the man with 511 career pitching victories — far more than anyone in big league annals and wrote a column about Denton True Young — first known as Cyclone for clobbering a wooden fence with his pitches and then Cy.

“Nobody will ever come close,” says Freedman of durable right-hander Young’s win total. “There have been some Cy Young books, but not a lot. 

“This is the first time in 20 years there’s been a new look at Cy Young.”

With the advantage of being a better writer and researcher since writing “Dangerous Steps: Vernon Tejas And The Solo Winter Ascent Of Mount McMcKinley (Stackpole Books)” in 1990, Freedman went head-long into more Young research.

“(Cy Young is an) old story, but he never gets old,” says Freedman. “I wanted to get Cy Young’s voice as much as possible and get into what kind of guy he was.

“He was not a controversial guy. He did not get into trouble. He didn’t keep late hours. He didn’t party.”

Except for his time on a baseball field, Young spent his time as a farmer in northeast Ohio. 

Since Young’s 22-year-old career spans from 1890 to 1911, finding the pitcher’s voice was not easy.

“When Cy Young was playing sportswriters did not go to the locker room right after the game and get quotes,” says Freedman. The scribes were focused on getting play-by-play details into their stories and then meeting deadlines and often racing for the train station for the team’s next game. “Contemporaneous reports are missing.”

Luckily for Freedman and other baseball researchers, Young lived to be 88 and shared his thoughts freely for decades after the end of his career.

“His brains were picked about his highlights,” says Freedman. “That stuff was golden material for a guy like me.”

Young spent much of his Hall of Fame career with two primary catchers — Chief Zimmer and Lou Criger. The latter is an Elkhart, Ind., native who was with Young in Cleveland, St. Louis and Boston from 1896 to 1908.

The Cy Young Award was first presented to the top pitcher in Major League Baseball in 1956 in honor of a man who not only won 94 more games than the second man on the list (Hall of Famer Walter Johnson), but tossed an astounding 7,356 innings with 29,565 batters faced and 749 complete games. Both the American and National leagues have handed out the Cy Young Award since 1967.

“I love baseball history,” says Freedman. “I learn something all the time when I do the research.

“I was very happy when I held the Cy Young book in my hand.”

Freedman’s newspaper career started when he was in high school in the Boston suburb of Newton, Mass.

He was with the Inquirer when an Alaskan vacation turned into 17 years as a sports editor there. He later was on the staff at the Chicago Tribune and Florida Times-Union and was sports editor at The Republic in Columbus, Ind. He has won more than 250 journalism awards.

Along the way, Freedman kept researching and writing books. There are many related to Alaska, even one that ties baseball to the remote 49th state.

One of his early baseball works is “Hard-Luck Harvey Haddix and the Greatest Game Ever Lost (McFarland Books).” The book chronicles the story of the Pittsburgh Pirates 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves in 1959 only to lose the perfecto, no-hitter and the game in the 13th.

In recent years, Freedman has seen the publishing of “Red Sox Legends: Pivotal Moments, Players & Personalities (Blue River Press)” in 2019, “Warren Spahn: A Biography of the Legendary Lefty (Sports Publishing)” in 2018 and “Connie Mack’s First Dynasty: The Philadelphia Athletics, 1910-1914 (McFarland Books)” in 2017.

Freedman, who has been featured multiple times on the Baseball by the Book Podcast hosted by Jeremy McGuire, has also contributed books on the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians‘, Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees and more.

“Once I moved to Chicago, it was easier to write sports books,” says Freedman, who has created many titles on the Chicago Bears. He’s also written about basketball, hockey, auto racing, boxing, pro wrestling and even competitive lumber-jacking.

“As long as I can come up with a great topic in my mind and (a book publisher) also thinks it’s a good idea,” says Freedman.

When his books come out is not entirely up to Freedman. Done and awaiting editor’s approval is a something tentatively called “1930: When Everybody Was Babe Ruth.”

To Freedman, 1930 was the “Year of the Hitter” the way 1968 is referred to as the “Year of the Pitcher.”

“Hitting went crazy and pitching was atrocious,” says Freedman. “That year the seams were raised on the ball. Pitchers could not control it. (Hitters) had the years of their lives.

“After that, they changed the rules so it didn’t happen again.”

Lefty-swinging outfielder George “Showboat” Fisher played four major league seasons — hitting .261 in 1923, .220 in 1924 and .182 in 1931. His 1930 mark was .374 as a reserve for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Fisher lived to 95.

“He got to talk about (the 1930 season) for the rest of his life,” says Freedman, who notes that ’30 was the year of the National League’s last .400 hitter (Hall of Fame first baseman Bill Terry of the New York Giants at .401).

All eight position players in the St. Louis Cardinals regular starting lineup hit .300, including outfielder George Watkins at .373. 

It was hoped that the Phillies book would come out as part of a 40th-year anniversary and a celebration was planned during spring training in Clearwater, Fla.

Then along came the COVID-19 pandemic and that changed everything about 2020. 

On March 16, Freedman was on his way home from a western trip to cover rodeo (he once spent three months in Wyoming researching a book on rodeo). He literally had businesses shutting down behind him as he drove back toward southern Indiana. 

One day he ate in a restaurant, the next day they were putting chairs on top of tables at a truck stop.

More recently, Freedman has been able to cover high school football for his paper and has been contemplating his next baseball book project.

First baseman Johnny Mize was a star for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and New York Yankees in the late 1930’s through early 1950’s.

“He’s been under-covered,” says Freedman of the Hall of Fame. 

He’s a Hall of Famer. “He was overshadowed with the Yankees (teammates included Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto plus Hank Bauer and Billy Martin). “He was a tremendous player.”

Lew Freedman has authored or co-authored around 110 books since 1990. Around 60 of those titles have been on sports. The 50-year newspaperman is now sports editor at the Seymour (Ind.) Tribune. He has won more than 250 journalism awards.

Prolific author Lew Freedman had two books come out this summer — “Phillies 1980!: Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose and Philadelphia’s First World Series Championship (Sports Publishing)” and “Cy Young: The Baseball Life and Career (McFarland Books).” He has authored or co-authored about 110 books in the past 30 years. Of that number, about 40 are on baseball. He lives in Columbus, Ind., and is sports editor at the Seymour (Ind.) Tribune.

Northridge, Evansville graduate Troyer to play independent pro baseball

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Sam Troyer has changed his swing to add more power and he’s taking it into pro baseball.

A graduate of Northridge High School in Middlebury, Ind. (2015), and the University of Evansville (2019), Troyer has been added to the roster of the independent United Shore Professional Baseball League’s Birmingham Bloomfield Beavers. The USPBL plays all its games at Jimmy John’s Field in Utica, Mich., a northern suburb of Detroit.

“I’m super-excited about going there,” says Troyer, a righty-swinging third baseman/shortstop. “I know I can get signed to an affiliated club.”

Since getting his business management degree in May 2019, Troyer has been splitting his time between work and honing his game. Joined by former Jimtown High School and Ball State University pitcher Nick Floyd, training is done in a friend’s barn. Troyer also works out with the Northridge team.

Troyer has been traveling regularly to the St. Louis suburb of O’Fallon, Mo., to work with hitting coach Kevin Graham, whose son, Kevin, was the 2018 Gatorade Missouri Player of the Year and now plays at the University of Mississippi.

“He’s the best hitting coach I’ve ever had,” says Troyer of the elder Graham.

Troyer met Graham through Ben Bailey, Troyer’s former Indiana Chargers travel baseball coach who now lives in Missouri.

Bailey, Joel Mishler and George Hofsommer founded the Chargers. Troyer played for the organization from 13 to 18, missing his 17U summer for Tommy John surgery.

“I considered (Bailey and Mishler) both my mentors,” says Troyer. “They’ve been there, done that

they have their connections.

“They know what they’re talking about.”

Troyer attended various tryout camps that went nowhere then in January and February, he went to Palm Springs to play in the California Winter League, a showcase for unsigned players. He impressed former big leaguer Von Joshua and the Birmingham Bloomfield manager invited him to join his club. Joshua was a coach for the 1993 South Bend (Ind.) White Sox.

USPBL spring training is scheduled for April 25-May 7 in Utica. The Beavers’ first game is slated for May 9.

Troyer appeared and started in all 53 games for Evansville as a senior in 2019, batting .249 with two home runs, 11 doubles, 25 runs batted in and 27 runs scored. He also stole 21 bases in 25 attempts. He usually hit first or second in the order to take advantage of his speed.

“I was getting on base and creating opportunities for everybody else to drive in runs,” says Troyer.

As a junior in 2018, Troyer played in 42 games (40 as a starter) and hit .220 with two homers, four doubles, 16 walks and 13 stolen bases in 14 attempts.

Wes Carroll is head coach for the Purple Aces.

“He’s very knowledgeable with an extensive background,” says Troyer of Carroll. “He made it to Triple-A.

“He brought a lot of energy, which I like.”

To get Evansville ready for the Missouri Valley Conference, Evansville played teams like Vanderbilt, Indiana, Boston College, Creighton, Florida Gulf Coast and Iowa.

Troyer chose Evansville after two years at Rend Lake College in Ina, Ill.

“It was my best scholarship,” says Troyer, who had a friend sell him on the academics at UE. “I enjoyed my two years (at Rend Lake).”

Troyer played for the Warriors in 2016 and 2017. Tony Etnier was his head coach his freshmen year and Rend Lake player and strength coach Tyler O’Daniel took over the program his sophomore season.

Etnier offered Troyer a full ride on his first day and O’Daniel was high energy.

“The thing I loved about going to Rend Lake, the competition out of high school was no joke,” says Troyer. “I immediately got better. It turns you from a boy into a man real quick.

“(The Great Rivers Athletic Conference with John A. Logan, Kaskaskia, Lake Land, Lincoln Trail, Olney Central, Rend Lake, Shawnee, Southeastern Illinois, Southwestern Illinois, Wabash Valley) is one of the better junior college conferences in the country.”

As a sophomore at Rend Lake, Troyer was hit by a pitch 22 times and ranked second among National Junior College Athletic Association Division I players in that category.

In two seasons at Rend Lake, he hit .285 with two homers, 59 stolen bases and was hit by 41 pitches.

Summers during Troyer’s college career were spent with the Great Lakes League’s Richmond (Ind.) Jazz in 2016, briefly with the Norhwoods League’s Mankato (Minn.) Moondogs and then-Prospect League’s Kokomo (Ind.) Jackrabbits in 2017 and South Florida Collegiate League’s Pompano Beach Clippers in 2018.

At 15 and 16, Troyer trained with former Notre Dame baseball and football player Evan Sharpley.

Troyer helped Northridge to the 2015 IHSAA Class 4A Elkhart Sectional title while playing for head coach Andrew Brabender.

“He’s intense, but in a good way,” says Troyer of Brabender. “He brought out the best in me.

“He was able to mold me to be ready for college.”

Troyer earned four letters for the Raiders and hit .429 with seven homers and 35 stolen bases as a senior while earning team MVP and best bat awards. He was a two-time all-Northern Lakes Conference honoree and was named all-state and to the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series (The North swept the three-game series in Terre Haute in 2015).

As an NHS sophomore, Troyer played alongside two future NCAA Division I players in Shannon Baker and Brock Logan.

Sam is the third of Steve and Shanna Troyer’s four children. Sean Troyer was not an athlete. Scot Troyer played baseball and football in high school. Sara Troyer is currently a diver at the University of Nebraska. In the recent Big Ten meet, she placed fifth in the 3-meter and 10th in the 1-meter.

Sam Troyer, a graduate of Northridge High School in Middlebury, Ind. (2015) and the University of Evansville (2019), is to play in the independent United Shore Professional Baseball League. He is a righty-swinging third baseman and shortstop. (University of Evansville Photo)

 

Here’s a look back at 2018 IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series in South Bend

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

The 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association All-Star Series is in the books.

Despite wet weather in South Bend, Ind., many of the best players from around the state got a chance to show what they can do on the diamond —  first with the annual Junior Showcase Friday, July 21 and then the recent graduates took to Four Winds Field for three games following a Friday night banquet featuring keynote speaker Greg Kloosterman and the announcement of Roncalli’s Nick Schnell as IHSBCA Player of the Year.

A scheduled doubleheader Saturday became a rain-shortened game. That led to a 9 a.m. Sunday doubleheader.

Three IHSBCA founders were remembered during the weekend. There was a pregame ceremony Saturday to posthumously honor Jim Reinebold and Ken Schreiber.

Declaring, “This ones for you Grandpa!!” on Twitter, Fort Wayne Carroll’s Hayden Jones went out and took MVP honors for the North/South Series in memory of a Bill Jones.

The North coaching staff was head coach Steve Stutsman (Elkhart Central) plus assistants Steve Asbury (Elkhart Central), Shane Edwards (Oak Hill), John Huemmer (Mishawaka) and Lonnie Weatherholt (Elkhart Central).

Coaching the South was head coach Shawn Lyons (New Palestine), Jason Combs (Decatur Central), Zach Payne (Lanesville) and Curt Welch (Castle).

Ryan Fagan and Anna Roberts served as trainers.

Umpires were Tony Gaugler, Bob Lichtenberger, Jay Miller and Corey Stewart in Game 1, Mike Alberts, Terry Baker, Kevin Kirsch and Eric Erb in Game 2 and Laird Salmon, Zach Sliwa, Bob Schellinger and Steve Kajzer in Game 2.

The 45th North/South Series is planned for one week after the IHSAA State Finals in Madison, Ind.

2018 IHSBCA NORTH/SOUTH

ALL-STAR SERIES

(At Fort Winds Field, South Bend)

Saturday, July 21

North 8, South 4 (rain-shortened in 5th inning)

S 201 1 — 4 4 5

N 602 x — 8 6 4

Sunday, July 22

South 8, North 4

(Wood Bat Game)

N 000 040 0 — 4 5 2

S 130 040 — 8 12 0

North 8, South 0

S 000 000 0 — 0 4 0

N 214 010 x — 8 8 1

MVP: Hayden Jones (Fort Wayne Carroll).

Offensive Stats (AB R H RBI)

Pitching Stats (IP H R ER BB SO)

North

Kollyn All (McCutcheon HS/Butler) — G1 — DNP; G2 — C 2 0 0 0; G3 — C 1 0 0 0.

Chandler Banic (LaPorte HS/Ball State) — G1 — DNP; G2 — SS 0 0 0 0, P 1 0 0 0 0 2; G3 — P 1 0 0 0 0 0 3

Robbie Berger (John Glenn HS/Lincoln Trail CC) — Participated, but did not play.

Ryan Bolda (Crown Point HS/Indiana) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 1 0 0 0 2; G3 — P 1 0 0 0 1 0

Ty Bothwell (Boone Grove HS/Indiana) — G1 — DNP; G2 — DNP; G3 — PR 0 0 0 0

Alec Brunson (DeKalb HS/Purdue Fort Wayne) — G1 — DH 2 0 0 0; G2 — C 1 0 0 0; G 3 — C 0 1 0 0

Eric Doyle (Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger HS/Ivy Tech Northeast) — G1 — DNP; G2 — SS 2 1 1 1; G3 — SS 1 0 0 0

Justin Graves (Lake Central HS/Purdue Northwest) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 2B 3 0 0 0; G3 — 2B 2 0 1 0

Ashton Guyer (Western HS/Purdue) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 1 0 0 0 2 1; G3 — PR 0 1 0 0, P 1 1 0 0 2 3

Jay Hammel (South Newton HS/Quincy) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 1B 1 0 0 1; G3 — 1B 1 0 0 0

Riley Hershberger (Logansport HS/Danville Area CC) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 3B 1 1 0 0; G3 — 3B 1 0 1 0

Hayden Jones (Fort Wayne Carroll HS/Mississippi State) — G1 — C 3 1 3 2; G2 — DH 3 0 1 2; G3 — C 1 0 1 1 (double)

Payton Kerr (Penn HS/IUPUI) — G1 — SS 3 1 1 2; G2 — SS 1 0 0 0; G3 — SS 0 2 0 0

Ethan Larason (Maconaquah HS/Indiana) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 1 4 4 4 2 0; G3 — P 1 1 0 0 0 0

Jacob Marin (Lafayette Central Catholic HS/Marian) — G1 — P 1 1 1 1 2 1; G2 — DNP; G3 — DH 1 0 0 0

Ian McCutcheon (Huntington North HS/Huntington) — G1 — RF 2 1 0 1; G2 — PR 1 1 0 0;  G3 — RF 1 1 0 1

Matthew Meyer (Westfield HS/Sinclair CC) — G1 — 3B 2 2 2 2; G2 — 3B 0 0 0 0; G3 — 3B 2 0 0 0

Pat Mills (Western HS/Olney Central) — G1 — 1B 3 0 0 0; G2 — 1B 1 0 1 0 (triple); G3 — 1B 2 0 1 1

Benji Nixon (Plymouth HS/Indiana) — G1 — 2B 0 1 0 0; G2 — 2B 0 0 0 0; G3 — 2B 2 1 1 1

Tyler Owens (Noblesville HS/Northwood) — G1 — LF 3 1 0 0; G2 — DNP; G3 — LF 0 0 0 0

Riley Perlich (Fort Wayne Carroll HS/Wright State) — G1 — P 3 3 3 1 1 1; G2 — DNP; G3 — DH 1 0 0 0

Austin Peterson (Chesterton HS/Purdue) — Participated, but did not play.

Hayden Schott (Culver Military Academy/Cypress College) — G1 — DNP; G2 — RF 2 1 0 0; G3 — LF 2 1 1 1

Sullivan Swingley (Yorktown HS/Bethel) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 1 2 0 0 0 1; G3 — P 1 1 0 0 1 0

Clay Thompson (Andrean HS/Oakland U.) — G1 — CF 2 0 0 1; G2 — LF 2 0 0 0; G3 — CF 3 1 0 0

Wes Transier (Oak Hill HS/Ivy Tech Northeast) — G1 — PR 0 0 0 0; G2 — CF 3 0 2 0; G3 — LF 2 0 1 0

Alex Voss (South Bend St. Joseph HS/Butler) — G1 —DNP; G2 — DNP; G3 — P 2 1 0 0 2 1

Landon Weins (Frankton HS/Morehead State) — G1 — PR 0 1 0 0; G2 — P 2 6 4 4 1 2; G3 — DH 1 0 0 0

South

Luke Albright (Fishers HS/Kent State) — G1 — P 2.1 5 8 2 3 3; G2 — DNP; G3 — DNP

Jake Andriole (Guerin Catholic HS/Purdue) — Participated, but did not play.

Zyon Avery (Ben Davis HS/Ohio U.) — G1 — C 1 1 0 0; G2 — DH 2 0 1 0; G3 — DH 1 0 0 0

Aaron Beard (Tecumseh HS/Danville Area CC) — G1 — PH 1 0 0 0; G2 — 2B 2 0 0 0; G3 — 2B 2 0 2 0

Riley Bertram (Zionsville HS/Michigan) —  G1 — 3B 2 1 2 1 (triple); 2 1 1 1 (double); 3B 2 0 0 0 0, P 1 0 0 0 0 0

Case Eisenhut (Northeast Dubois HS/Undecided) — G1 — 2B 1 0 0 0; G2 — PH 1 0 0 0; G3 — 2B 1 0 0 0

Ethan English (Jeffersonville HS/Indiana Wesleyan) — G1 — 1B 1 0 0 1; G2 — RF 1 0 0 0; G3 — 1B 2 0 0 0

Tyler Finke (Columbus North HS/Snead State) — G1 — PR 0 0 0 0; G2 — PR 0 1 0 0; G3 — PR 0 0 0 0

Drew Hasson (Columbus East HS/Northern Illinois) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 1 2 2 2 2 0; G3 — PH 1 0 0 0

Eli Helton (Lawrenceburg HS/IU Southeast) — G1 — RF 2 0 0 0; G2 — RF 3 0 1 0; G3 — PH 2 0 1 0 (double)

Cameron Holycross (Lapel HS/Indiana State) — G1 — P 1 1 0 0 2 5; G2 — DNP; G3 — P 1 1 2 2 2 2

Chase Hug (Pike HS/Olney Central) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 1B 3 0 1 0; G3 — DH 2 0 0 0, P 1 2 1 1 2 1

Lucas McNew (Borden HS/Southern Indiana) — G1 — DH 1 0 0 0; G2 — C 1 1 0 0; G3 — C 0 0 0 0

Sam Meek (Hauser HS/Bluffton) — G1 — DNP; G2 — DNP; G3 — P 0.1 2 0 0 2 1

Caleb Meeks (Evansville Memorial HS/Evansville) — G1 — CF 2 1 1 0; G2 — CF 4 1 1 0 (double); G3 — CF 0 0 0 0

Zach Messinger (Castle HS/Virginia) — DNP; DNP; G2 — PH 1 0 0 0; G3 — DNP

Dillon Olejnik (Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter HS/Marian) — G1 — DNP; G2 — C 2 1 2 0; G3 — C 1 0 0 0

Matthew Panagouleas (South Vermillion HS/Indiana State) — G1 — DNP; G2 — PH 1 0 0 0; G3 — P 1.1 1 1 1 2 1

Alan Perry (Seymour HS/Cedarville) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 2 1 0 0 0 1; G3 — DNP

Ryan Robison (New Albany HS/Vincennes) — G1 — LF 1 0 0 0; G2 — 1B 1 0 1 0;  G3 — RF 2 0 0 0

Chase Springmeyer (Greensburg HS/Cedarville) — G1 — DNP; G2 — LF 3 1 2 1; G3 — LF 2 0 0 0

Sam Steimel (Sullivan HS/Evansville) — G1 — DNP; G2 — SS 2 0 0 0; G3 — PR 1 0 0 0

Joey Weller (Union County HS/Thomas More) — G1 — DNP; G2 — P 2 0 0 0 0 2; G3 — DNP

Jackson Wynn (Danville HS/Parkland) — G1 — DNP; G2 — PH 0 0 0 0, P 1 1 0 0 0 0; G3 — PH 0 0 0 0, P 1.1 2 0 0 1 3

Craig Yoho (Fishers HS/Houston) — G1 — SS 2 1 1 0 (double); G2 — SS 1 1 1 1 (double); G3 — SS 2 0 1 0

Trever Zink (Forest Park HS/Olney Central) — G1 — DNP; G2 — 3B 2 1 1 1; G3 — 3B 2 0 0 0

Scorekeepers: Bill & Sue Forgey of Huntington, Ind.

Commemorative plague for founder Jim Reinebold at 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series in South Bend. (Steve Krah Photo)

Commemorative plague for founder Ken Schreiber at 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series in South Bend. (Steve Krah Photo)

Elkhart Central and North head coach Steve Stutsman makes his parting remarks at 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series in South Bend. (Steve Krah Photo)

Making out the Game 3 lineup for Game 3 of the 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series in South Bend are (from left): New Palestine’s Shawn Lyons, Decatur Central’s Jacob Combs, Castle’s Curt Welch and Lanesville’s Zach Payne. (Steve Krah Photo)

A T-shirt to commemorate the 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South Series in South Bend. (Steve Krah Photo)

Plymouth’s Wolfe looks for players who are competitive, confident, comfortable

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Ryan Wolfe was fiery as a player. He got hot at the beginning of his coaching career.

The flame still flickers to the surface on occasion.

But the Plymouth High School head baseball coach has learned to control the flames a bit with time and experience.

Wolfe graduated from Hamilton High School in northeast Indiana in 2001. He was a four-year varsity player for the Marines, which won the IHSAA Class 1A Bethany Christian Sectional in 2000. He was an Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association all-star as senior.

Jim Sanxter was the coach.

A pitcher, Wolfe went on to Manchester College (now Manchester University) and played three seasons for Rick Espeset. The Spartans placed seventh in the 2004 NCAA Division III World Series.

“They had two totally different styles of coaching and both were effective,” says Wolfe of Sanxter and Espeset. “(Sanxter) had a huge influence on me. He was tough. He definitely didn’t go for excuses. He would challenge you and push you and he was very sincere. The more I coach, the more I understand some of the things he did.”

Wolfe came to see in Sanxter a passion and purpose for coaching. Not a teacher, the it was a selflessness that drove the man who coached 30 years, including 18 with Hamilton baseball and passed away in 2014.

“It was how he said things, when he said things and how he reacted to things,” says Wolfe. “I’m humbled to realize I learned from somebody like that.”

A calm demeanor is what Wolfe saw when he observed Espeset, who has led the Manchester program since the 1997 season.

“He had a way of staying even-keeled,” says Wolfe. “I never saw Coach Espeset really get upset.

“You knew he meant business, but he didn’t say it in a brash way. It’s not always what you say, but how you say it.”

Espeset helped his players understand the intricacies of the game and also gave them freedom.

“He let us learn from failure,” says Wolfe. “That’s what I try to do here. We’re not going to win every ball game.”

Wolfe’s post-game remarks after a Pilgrims loss is very minimal. He doesn’t want to harp on the negative.

“We want to get the kids to understand that baseball is much bigger than wins and losses,” says Wolfe, whose first season at Plymouth was 2013 (he was an assistant to Brian Hooker at Rochester High School in 2012 and head coach at West Central High School 2006-11). “We want competitors.”

Even Pilgrims practices — which generally include all 35 to 40 players in the program — have a competitive component. Players must earn a chance to take batting practice on Bill Nixon Field.

“It’s been phenomenal,” says Wolfe, who began combining squads for practice in 2015. “It brings a sense of unity. Our whole purpose is the same — to develop great young men through the game of baseball.”

Practices are broken into stations and one is devoted to work on routines. That’s how important it is to the Pilgrims.

Taking the teaches of mental conditioning and sports psychology expert Brian Cain, Wolfe and his assistant coaches (Brent Corbett, Kevin Garrity, Brian Schuler and Mitch Bowers) tell the players to “get back to green.”

There are green dots on the bats — a visual device that helps them relax and focus.

“We talk about breathing a lot and keeping our heart rate down,” says Wolfe. “We’re constantly talking about confidence.

“We want them to know their routine because a routine breeds confidence because it makes you comfortable.”

While his assistants hone in on hitting, pitching and fielding skills, Wolfe sees his role to develop his players’ mental sides.

“It’s an aspect of the game that’s left out,” says Wolfe. “We take time out of our day and do that.”

“It’s taken awhile for our kids to understand it’s a part of baseball. They’re high school kids. They don’t know how to handle failure. Are we perfect at it? No way.”

Wolfe and his staff are not trying to cram every player into the same mold.

“We are not cookie cutter,” says Wolfe. “We don’t have every kid hit the same or pitch the same. It’s about learning who you are as a player and what works for you.

“We’re trying to get the kids to take ownership.”

Like many coaches, Wolfe has taken concepts he has learned at clinics and American Baseball Coaches Association conventions and adopted them to the needs of his program.

Justin Dehmer has won multiple state titles in Iowa and has shared his knowledge through his line of 1 Pitch Warrior materials. Plymouth tracks B.A.S.E.2 (Big Inning, Answer Back, Score First, Extend the Lead, Score with 2 Outs, Quality At-Bat System). Wolfe knows that doing three of the five things on the chart often leads to victory.

The Pilgrims are looking for a K.O. — knocking the starting pitcher out by the fourth inning.

Other incentives are the Hit Stick (one each for varsity and junior varsity) and MVP jersey, which players can earn from game to game following a victory. Get the jersey the most times during the season — as voted on by the team — and that player is the season MVP.

“We’ve got to win to get anything,” says Wofle. “There’s nothing if we lose.”

Wolfe and his staff have crunched the numbers and witness enough success to be believers in their methods.

“This stuff does work,” says Wolfe.

Plymouth plays a double round robin in the Northern Lakes Conference (which also includes Concord, Elkhart Memorial, Goshen, Northridge, NorthWood, Warsaw and Wawasee) with games played Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

NorthWood went 14-0 in 2017, taking a pair of 1-0 wins against the Pilgrims. The game at Plymouth pitted NWHS senior Drake Gongwer against PHS sophomore Cam Dennie and was a classic.

“That’s one of the best high school baseball games I’ve ever seen,” says Wofle. “(The NLC) is very competitive. I like the format. In my five years, I have not seem the same pitcher start both games very often.”

Dennie is already verbally committed to Arizona State University, something he did before the 2017 season after showing well in Prep Baseball Report underclassmen games.

Wolfe sees it as his responsibility to engage in the recruiting process.

“I try to make as many connections as I can with college coaches around the area,” says Wolfe. “But I’m going to be honest with (players, parents and college coaches).

“I teach kids there’s a lot of levels of college baseball. You’ve got to show initiative and work hard in the class room also.”

Indiana alone has 38 programs — nine in NCAA Division I, three in NCAA Division II, nine in NCAA Division III, 14 in NAIA and three in junior college.

Wolfe, who also teaches social studies at PHS, lets his players and coaches know what is being sought by college coaches. He wants them to closely assess their situation and pay attention to the intangibles. On-base percentage and pitching velocity are easy to gauge.

But can they handle the grind of college baseball?

What kind if student are they?

What kind of teammate are they?

“These are the kinds of things we want here,” says Wolfe. “I have some of the longest parent meetings of all-time. But I try to be upfront.

“I don’t want to discourage kids from having those aspirations. I want them to reach their own potential and not compare themselves to other kids. You are who you are. It goes back to taking ownership of what you can do to reach that potential.”

Money has been raised to upgrade the playing surface at Bill Nixon Field, a facility named for the IHSBCA Hall of Fame coach. Wolfe says that project is to go forward after the 2018 season.

Tyler Wolfe — Ryan’s brother — really excelled at D-III Manchester and holds school pitching records for career wins, strikeouts, innings pitched and complete games.

Ryan and wife Tara Wolfe have two boys — fifth grader Preston and fourth grader Parker.

Ryan Wolfe, a graduate of Hamilton High School and Manchester University, is entering his sixth season as head baseball coach at Plymouth High School.