Smith gets opportunity to lead Prairie Heights baseball

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

Gene Smith has been coaching baseball in the community for more than three decades.
Now he’s the head coach at alma mater Prairie Heights Senior High School near LaGrange, Ind.
A 1991 Prairie Heights graduate, Smith played for Craig Reece.
“He was down-to-earth and he would teach you baseball,” says Smith of Reece. “He understood the game.
“He’s a good friend and a good leader.”
Reece instilled the desire in Smith to become a coach at Stroh Youth League at 18. He spent 28 years in that organization in various roles, including vice president.
The high school feeder system consists of SYL, Ashley-Hudson Ball League, Orland Tigers Youth League and South Milford Little League.
Smith was a junior varsity coach on T.J. Guthrie’s Prairie Heights staff in 2022 and was approved as head coach at the January school board meeting.
While some athletes have been involved with wrestling and basketball, Smith has been able to work with some baseball players during the winter IHSAA Limited Contact Period.
“They’re eager,” says Smith. “They’re really listening. They ask questions.
“I’m pretty happy with it.”
Prairie Heights (enrollment around 425) is a member of the Northeast Corner Conference (with Angola, Central Noble, Churubusco, Eastside, Fairfield, Fremont, Garrett, Hamilton, Lakeland, West Noble and Westview).
Hamilton is expected to play a JV schedule in 2023. The NECC tournament is April 24-29.
The Panthers are part of an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping in 2023 with Central Noble, Churubusco, Eastside, Westview and Whitko. Prairie Heights has won two sectional titles — 1977 and 1984.
Smith’s staff in 2023 features pitching coach/varsity assistant Dave Priestly, junior varsity head coach Bodie Rice and JV assistant Reese Smith (Gene’s son and a 2018 Prairie Heights graduate).
The Panthers play and practice on Kellet Field. A few years back, the field was overhauled while Prairie Heights played all its games on the road.
“It’s one of the best playing surfaces in the NECC,” says Smith. “We would like to upgrade the dugouts.”
In April, Smith will hit the 24-year mark working maintenance at maintenance at Cold Heading Company in Hudson, Ind.
Gene and wife Stacy Smith have eight children between them. From oldest to youngest there’s Shayntel Smith, Reese Smith, Malachi Malone, Courtney Smith, Jerica Malone, Isaiah Malone and Cheyenne Smith (Prairie Heights Class of 2023).
Elijah Malone is a junior on the men’s basketball team at Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind. Prairie Heights senior Isaiah Malone recently signed to play basketball at the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne.

Family members (from left): Cheyenne Smith, Reese Smith (in back), Courtney Smith, Jerica Malone, Isaiah Malone (back), Malachi Malone, Elijah Malone (back), Stacy Smith, Gene Smith, Shayntel Smith and granddaughter Zendaya Smith (front).

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Guthrie, Prairie Heights baseball embrace technology for training

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

“Kids just love playing video games. They’re playing video games at practice and they love it.” — T.J. Guthrie, head baseball coach at Prairie Heights High School

Always looking for ways to develop his players, Guthrie added Virtual Reality to the Panthers’ practice regimen by bringing in a WIN Reality system which helps hitters with things like pitch recognition.
Athletes don a headset and get a fully-immersive experience, seeing realistic pitches in what looks like a professional stadium.
“I’m constantly scouring the Internet and social media to see what is out there to better our kids,” says Guthrie, who introduced WIN Reality when players returned from winter break in January. “I like to mix up our training routines.
“Some days we don’t get the gym with the batting cage and we can still get in live work. We’re getting that cognitive intuition we need on a much better scale.”
With the WIN Reality, players go through graduated sequence of eight drills. The first is basic, recognizing fastball, curveball and change-up. They are also tracking the pitch. This is done by asking the hitter to point the controller to where the ball ended up in the strike zone.
Later comes the “disappearing pitch” drill where the pitch might go away at 50 feet or less and hitters are still asked to recognize it.
“It really starts to challenge guys,” says Guthrie. “They see their averages at the end (of drills) and the begin competing against each other.”
Guthrie notes that the technology is not new and is used by numerous pro and college teams. Now it has come to Brushy Prairie, Ind.
Using the VR trainer offers an efficient way to see more pitches in less time than would be possible with the traditional methods alone.
“We’re certainly not taking away from the live BP,” says Guthrie. “We’re adding to it in a risk-free environment.”
While identifying these WIN Reality pitches, no swings are taken. Hitters pull the trigger on the controller. The system tells them when they made that decision and if it was in the optimum window of when they could hit the pitch.
“You’re not training your body,” says Guthrie of the VR work. “We’re using this to train the brain.
“We’re using cage to train the body on the proper fundamentals.”
WIN Reality does include an optional bat attachment and collects data on swings.
Guthrie, a 2011 Fremont (Ind.) High School graduate who had his college career ended by injury, embraces tech.
He uses smart baseballs that track spin rates, velocity and movement. There are Blast Motion sensors on his players’ bats to give feedback.
“We’re getting video of guys all the time,” says Guthrie, who likes to shoot 4K at 60 frames-per-second. “We go frame-by-frame and make sure we’re not missing anything.”
A phone app called Coach’s Eye allows for comparative side-by-side videos. It’s helpful for pitchers trying to make all their pitches look the same coming out of their hand.
Guthrie says that pitch recognition training when he was a player involved a VCR.
“We’d see a one-second clip of a ball coming out of the pitcher’s hand,” says Guthrie. “But it did not mix it up like the real pitcher does.”
Guthrie has used YouTube videos for this purpose. There is also a phone app called GameSense Pitch-IQ.
With Guthrie and varsity assistants Mike Gustin (pitching coach), Tyler Christman and Ryan Fulton, junior varsity coaches Gene Smith (head coach), Dave Priestley (pitching coach), Shane Richards and JV statistician Reese Smith, Prairie Heights is preparing to compete in the Northeast Corner Conference (which also includes Angola, Central Noble, Churubusco, Eastside, Fairfield, Fremont, Garrett, Hamilton, Lakeland, West Noble and Westview) and IHSAA Class 2A in 2022.
“The NECC seems to be going in a high-velocity direction,” says Guthrie. “We’ve got a lot of great pitchers in this conference. It was bound to happen because of the push for travel ball. The kids want to get better day in and day out.
“We need to know how we improve at the plate. You’ve got to score runs to win games. The velocity is one thing. It’s the curve balls, sliders and change-ups that are beating us.
“Recognizing the pitch is half the battle.”

Prairie Heights High School baseball uses Virtual Reality technology with a WIN Reality system.

A WIN Reality Screenshot.

A WIN Reality Screenshot.

A WIN Reality Screenshot.

Smith makes throwing strikes a priority for ’22 Edinburgh Lancers

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

Dennis Smith has been head baseball coach at Edinburgh (Ind.) High School since the 2019.
He already knows a point of emphasis for 2022.
“Pitching,” says Smith. “Last year we won one game. In 17 gams, we had 148 walks.
“Throwing strikes will be crucial this (coming) year.”
Three pitchers — seniors Ian Buchanan and Riley Palmer and sophomore Gabe Bennett — return. Senior Travis Jones and junior Max Blanford are also expected to get a turn on the mound.
The 2021-22 school year is the first where Edinburgh athletes are allowed to participate in two sports during the game season. Smith says Blanford will split his time between golf and baseball.
Smith, who teaches eighth grade math at Edinburgh, was a Lancers assistant on the staff of Cole Zook in 2013-14 and helped Jason Burke one season prior to taking over the program.
A 2003 Edinburgh graduate, middle infielder Smith played for head coach Todd Tatlock as a senior and was a teammate of current Southwestern of Shelbyville coach Chris Ingels (Edinburgh Class of 2002).
“I still pick his brain,” says Smith of Tatlock, an Edinburgh alum who was an All-American at Indiana State University. “I still call him or get with him when I can.”
An IHSAA Limited Contact Period goes from Aug. 30-Oct. 16. Smith says Edinburgh does not plan to start baseball activities until January.
“I can’t (practice in the fall),” says Smith, who works at a school with an enrollment around 235 and plenty of baseball players involved in fall sports. “We’ve got to share your kids as much as possible.”
Smith says he expects a few players to find the time to play in a Sunday fall baseball league in Columbus.
A feeder for the high school program is the Edinburgh Park and Recreation/Babe Ruth League.
Edinburgh is a member of the Mid-Hoosier Conference (with Hauser, Morristown, North Decatur, South Decatur, Southwestern of Shelbyville and Waldron).
In 2021, the Lancers were part of an IHSAA Class 1A sectional grouping with Greenwood Christian Academy, Indianapolis Lutheran, Morristown, Southwestern of Shelbyville and Waldron. Edinburgh has won four sectional titles — the last in 2017.
Lancer Field at Steve Hollenbeck Sports Complex is the home diamond for Edinburgh baseball.
Plans call for a new mound to be installed next week.
“We hope to put in four new loads of dirt in the infield,” says Smith.
Chris Hoffman and Coltan Henderson are assistant coaches. Smith says another may be added to the staff.
Dennis and wife Hannah have three children — daughters Reese (9) and Reagan (6) and son Ryan (who turns 2 in November).
When he’s not teaching or coaching, Dennis likes to compete in bass fishing tournaments.

Dennis Smith and the Edinburgh (Ind.) High School Lancers.

The Smith family (clockwise from upper left): Hannah, Ryan, Dennis, Reese and Reagan.