Bales talks about Butler U. baseball recruiting

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Like most NCAA Division I baseball programs, Butler University has a roster with players who have transferred in.

But the transfer portal is considered differently at the private school with just over 5,000 students in Indianapolis.

“Our niche if we’re going to go to the transfer portal we’re going to go for the (graduate transfers) because Butler is not super-easy to transfer credits to just because it’s a lot higher academically than schools kids will transfer from so they’ll lose credits,” says Bladen Bales, the Bulldogs recruiting coordinator who also works with hitters. “A kid might have two years (eligibility) left and it might take him 3 1/2 years to get the degree.”

The current roster does include a few players with two or three years left, but that is the exception rather than the rule. The idea is to have the degree end with the eligibility since Butler is not able to provide scholarship money past that point.

“That’s how we lay it out so those guys don’t accumulate a bunch of debt when they’re done,” says Bales. “I’s a pretty prestigious degree. They have to turn away a lot of kids who want that degree because they want to stay small.”

There are currently 22 new players on the 2024 Bulldogs roster — with the 50/50 split of freshmen and transfers. 

“Going forward we hope the portal is on the side,” says Bales. “We want to recruit high school kids first. That’s our goal. 

“We want them to grow at Butler University and be there for three to four years.”

On the flip side, the wish is that few players will want to transfer away.

“We’re hoping that guys enjoy their experience at Butler — education-wise, playing-wise and all that stuff.”

Bales, who attended the 2024 American Baseball Coaches Convention in Dallas, notes that Joey Urban was the Big East Conference Player of the Year in 2023. 

A righty-swinging outfielder from Jupiter, Fla., Urban started in all 55 of Butler’s games and hit .296 (66-of-223) with six home runs, three triples, 17 doubles, 35 runs batted in, 37 runs scored and a .844 OPS (.364 on-base percentage plays .480 slugging average) 

“He could’ve hit the transfer portal,” says Bales. “He’s that talented. But he likes what we’re doing. He had an opportunity to play every day. 

“He knows that he has the opportunity to be ‘the guy’ again for us. I think there’s a lot to be said about that.”

It equates to recruiting players that are already on the team.

“You have to make sure the guys that you have right now are enjoying the experience so they don’t want to go anywhere else,” says Bales. “Butler allows us to do that. It’s pretty cool as a smaller community in a big city and a tight-knit group.”

The online roster is a mix of near and far. It includes 10 players who have hometowns in Indiana with California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin and British Columbia also represented.

“We’re trying to get the best players we can,” says Bales. “We’re hitting the Indianapolis area kids first and making sure we’re not missing out on those guys.”

After that, the search widens.

“We’re trying to be as national as we can, but we also want to stay as homegrown as we can as well,” says Bales, who is on a staff with Blake Beemer as head coach, Ross Learnard as pitching coach and Isaiah Paige as the other assistant.

Playing in the Big East gives the Bulldogs the opportunity to make trips to UConn in Storrs, Conn., Creighton in Omaha, Neb., Georgetown in Washington D.C., St. John’s in Queens, N.Y., Seton Hall in South Orange, N.J., Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio and Villanova in Philadelphia.

Bladen Bales is 2013 graduate of Nebraska City (Neb.) High School and son of baseball coach and Pioneers program founder Tom Bales, a University of Nebraska at Kearney Hall of Famer who played in the New York Mets system in 1988.

“I knew I wanted to be a coach,” says Bladen Bales. “I really enjoyed the speed of the (college) game.”

Bales coached with Beemer at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., during the 2022 season. The Cardinals head is Rich Maloney.

Bales joined the BU program as an assistant in July of that year. After the 2023 season, he was promoted as a full-time coach and recruiting coordinator.

Prior to BSU, Bales coached for four years at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb.

Before that, he coached Nebraska City American Legion Post 8 senior and junior teams — the former finishing second in the state tournament and the latter posting a 27-2 season.

Bales played at McCook (Neb.) Community College and Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln. He earned his General Studies degree from Nebraska at Kearney in 2019.

Butler is scheduled to open the 2024 season Feb. 16 at Florida State. The first home game is slated for March 5 against Purdue Fort Wayne.

Bladen Bales. (Butler University Photo)

Beemer brings energy as new Butler Bulldogs field boss

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

Blake Beemer was hired as head baseball coach at NCAA Division I Butler University in Indianapolis in June 2022.
Beemer, a former first baseman at Ball State University (2010-13) and volunteer assistant at Penn State University (2014-15) and assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at both Eastern Illinois University (2016-18) and Ball State (2019-22), brings a style to his players he describes as energetic.
“They’ll get energy from me,” says Beemer, 31. “They’ll get dirt honesty. And I think that’s going to help build relationships.
“Guys are going to know where they stand. They’re going to know I care about them. They’re going to know who I am as a human being. Really building those relationships in that foundation will allow us to build toughness and accountability. We’ll build it with with energy will build relationships.”
As an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator at Ball State over the past four seasons, Beemer helped the Cardinals to a 123-65 record with a Mid-American Conference regular-season championship and an appearance in the MAC Tournament championship game in 2022.
“I learned under one of the best in the business under (Ball State head coach) Rich Maloney,” says Beemer, who earned two degrees from BSU — a bachelor’s degree in 2012 and an Masters of Business Administration in 2014. “I’ve had a chance to see success at a high level through him.
“I think I know the state pretty well. I know what it takes to win him in major baseball. And I’ve got the energy to make sure this thing gets going.
“It’s a cool opportunity. I can tell you I’m very humbled to have this chance. And it’s a neat opportunity. This place can be a rock show. I mean, Butler has everything from the academic side to the location to facilities we can we can really win. Not to mention it’s a great conference (the Big East which also includes baseball-playing members Connecticut, Creighton, Georgetown, St. John’s, Seton Hall. Villanova and Xavier). It’s a it’s a really cool opportunity.”
The Bulldogs went 20-35-1 overall and 4-16-1 in the Big East in 2022. It was the last season for the retiring Dave Schrage.
What does it take to win at the mid-major level?
“First off you’ve got to you got to do the recruiting right.” says Beemer. “I mean you win with players and you win with people. So in recruiting we’re after land guys that that are tough. I think in college baseball, you win with toughness.
“I think it takes execution. And at Ball State what we did there was we tried to get really good on the mound. And I think here we’ve got to get really good on the mound (at Butler). If you have some horses that can carry you along ways and baseball.
“And so I think you’ll see an increased emphasis to help us get better on the bump and to get tougher and to execute at a high level. Baseball is the same everywhere, right? Good pitching, defense and timely hitting. If you do those three things, you’ll be alright.”
With building toughness in mind, Beemer has his Bulldogs waking up at 5 a.m. for workouts. They’re doing sprint work and some other training to which they have not been exposed.
“I think that there is a energy level that you have to be able to get through whether it’s strength training, speed training, conditioning or for our practice,” says Beemer. “I mean we’re having long practices that the energy has been great, but you build toughness that way.
“We’re going to have games that are three and a half hours. We have to have great intent, great focus and great energy in the ninth inning the same as we do when we start the game. That day-in and day-out consistency, that’s where you build toughness.”
With a national reputation at Butler, thanks in large part to the recent success of the Bulldogs basketball program, Beemer sees a expanded recruiting footprint for the private school.
That means getting some players from the New York City or Washington D.C. areas.
“It’s a great degree,” says Beemer. “We just came out in U.S. News and World Report as the No. 1 Midwest regional university in the country. It’s an unbelievable education and I think that speaks volumes across the country.”
Beemer’s staff includes assistant coach, pitching coach Ross Learnard, assistant coach Bladen Bales and volunteer coach Dan Wilcher.
Learnard pitched at Parkland College and Purdue University (he was a two-time All-American) and coached at Illinois State University and Purdue. His duties with the Boilermakers focused on pitching analytics and team operations.
“(Coach Learnard) is really, really detailed and connects with our guys at a high level,” says Beemer. “He’s a great pitching mind I keep telling everybody. I think he’ll be in the SEC. He’ll be an elite pitching coach at one of the high-end jobs within the next seven years. just think I think he’s a stud.
“He develops arms as well. He knows how to take care of the guys. He sees things that are really advanced level.”
Bales was with Beemer at Ball State in 2022. Before that he coached at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb., and managed the Nebraska City American Legion junior team to a state runner-up finish in 2017. He has also coached the Lakeshore Chinooks of the summer collegiate Northwoods League.
Bales played at McCook (Neb.) Community College and Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln.
“He’s a tireless worker,” says Beemer of Bales. “He has a great eye for talent and recruiting.
“I’ve known Dan (Wilcher) for years. We both grew up in Dayton, Ohio. And Dan helps lead our infield play, a lot of our throwing progressions and throwing programs and helps with field maintenance (at Bulldog Park). He’s our Swiss Army knife. He does it all for us.”
The first two weeks of fall practice at Butler was for individuals. Team practice began on Labor Day and will go until mid-October with intrasquad games twice a week. After that, there will be a transition back to individuals.
“Everybody’s new so it’s a clean slate for everybody is what I’ve been telling our guys,” says Beemer. We get to play outside opponents (Frontier Community College on noon Oct. 1 at home and Ball State Oct. 8 in Muncie). But every day is evaluation, whether it’s an intrasquad, in the weight room or just a BP session, our guys are always being evaluated the same way.
“They’re evaluating me. They’re seeing what my coaching style is. They’re seeing how I instruct things. I think that in today’s world, just understand you’re always under a microscope. You’re always being evaluated. Our guys know that. And so every day we’re trying to have competition. We want to get better every day and and move this thing forward day by day.”
Since his hire, Beemer has been getting his face in front of the community.
Alums are coming back for the induction of the 1998 team (that won a then-school record 33 games) into the Butler Athletic Hall of Fame Sept. 24 and the Oct. 1 exhibition and Oct. 2 golf outing. The coach has been on the phone talking to alums and boosters and spoke on the air during an Indianapolis Indians broadcast.
“We’ve got a great opportunity for this place to really take off,” says Beemer. “I’m proud of it really proud of being a Butler Bulldog and I’m very fortunate for it.”

Blake Beemer. (Butler University Photo)\

Blake Beemer. (Butler University Photo)

Blake Beemer presents on outfield play at the 2024 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Dallas. (Steve Krah Photo)