Storied South Bend Clay baseball program nearing the end of the line

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

A scholastic era is nearing an end.

South Bend Community Schools’ last day for students is to be May 31 and with it will be the last-ever classroom day for Clay High School, which the school board voted in April 2023 to close at the end of 2023-24. The school was established in 1939.

The curtain is also coming down on the storied history of Colonials baseball, the one with more than 1,000 all-time wins, 12 sectional titles, four regional crowns, one semistate trophy and one state championship.

Clay, where Al Hartman in athletic director, has a handful of regular-season games remaining with the Jim Reinebold Classic May 18 leading into the IHSAA Class 3A sectional at Mishawaka Marian. The Colonials drew the host Knights in the first game on May 22. 

Clay was to be host, but because of the situation the sectional was moved to Marian though Clay is to host regional games on June 1.

Joel Reinebold, the fourth of Hall of Famer Jim and wife Evelyn Reinebold’s five children, played for his father, coached with him and witnessed the Colonials moving from Clay Park to what became Jim Reinebold Field. The baseball sleeve that hangs on the fence during games dates back to that era.

Joel has been Clay’s head coach since 2014.

“It’ll be hard to take that uniform off for the last time whenever that is,” says Reinebold, a 1979 Clay graduate. “I grew up in that program. I spent so many hours in the stands and the dugout.

“I was there for the good games and the tough losses. There’s a lot of emotional attachment.”

That there would be a 2024 season at all was an uncertainty. The Colonials eventually did take the field for a limited schedule. At this writing, the team is 3-3.

“We had no business trying to compete in the (Northern Indiana Conference,” says Reinebold. “Three of our guys have played very little baseball before. 

“We’re trying to save the dignity of the program and gain the confidence of the kids.”

Day-to-day, Clay has been coached by Reinebold and Tony Cruz. Dan Kasper and Nate Meadimber have also helped at times with a group that has peaked at 14 — seniors Jeremy Cleveland, Noah Fernandez and Tommy Sconiers, juniors Dominic Damp, Nolan Dool, Jose Duque, Tyler Gibson, Misael Gonzalez, Cole Hunt, Carson Meadimber, Yazael Sarmiento and Liam Wolf and freshmen Jean Barnes and Noah Camarillo. “There’s not a lot of kids playing in a lot of programs,” says Reinebold. “It hits you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

The coach says some of his non-seniors are planning to attend John Adams or Riley next year and a couple are moving out of town.

“It’s very hard to play under those conditions and coach under those conditions,” says Reinebold.

The field has been home in recent summers to travel ball tournaments and the South Bend American Legion Post 151 and the plan is for that Cruz-led team to play there again this year. 

What happens after that is not yet known.

“I’ll maintain it like I always do until I hear otherwise,” says Reinebold. “It’s certainly too nice of a field to go to waste.”

For 25 years, Reinebold was the head groundskeeper at what is now Four Winds Field in South Bend. He has built or renovated at least 30 diamonds from scratch and has helped with countless others.

Reinebold, who turns 64 in August, is sorting out his own future.

“I know I still want to coach,” says Reinebold, who recently began a day job with Holladay Properties in South Bend. “I’ve had some offers, but I haven’t decided on anything yet.

“I know I still enjoy practice. I probably enjoy practice as much as the game. I enjoy being around the kids. The kids I have this year are super. They give everything they’ve got.”

Before coming back to Clay, Reinebold was head coach at Bremen High School for two seasons and six at Adams. He would prefer to be a head coach at his next stop.

Jamaica is a place Reinebold has visited multiple times and some of those has been with non-profit organization Rounding Third, donating baseball equipment and teaching the game to youngsters on “The Rock.” He’s even gone to Curacao.

He is planning a return to Jamaica in November for a vacation/baseball visit. 

“I’ve got all kinds of baseballs and gloves to go down there,” says Reinebold. “I can’t take helmets and bats.”

In most years for the last 30, the Jim Reinebold Fall Baseball Camp and Instructional League has been a staple in South Bend. 

“Right now camp is up in the air,” says Reinebold. “We canceled it last year because I had heart issues. I was thinking about tinkering with it and changing it up a little bit.”

Jim Reinebold, who helped found the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association and coached many years in professional baseball with the South Bend White Sox/Silver Hawks after leaving the Purple & Gold at the end of the 1988 season, started the camp with some top-notch coaches to do the instruction. 

Many of those coaches have retired or moved on. The challenge is to find young coaches who will give of their time and talent.

Clay High School (enrollment around 550), which is the Fine Arts school in the SBCSC magnet program, is on Darden Road on the north side of South Bend. Jim Reinebold Field is a few blocks away on Lily Road.

Joel Reinebold.

Joel Reinebold.

Jim Reinebold Field.

Jim Reinebold Field.

South Bend Clay gets 1,000th win in baseball program history.

South Bend Clay High School’s 2021 baseball team.

South Bend Clay High School’s 2022 baseball team.

Clay at the beach.

South Bend Clay baseball lineup cards.

Here come the Colonials.

Abrell values life lessons while leading Plainfield Quakers baseball program

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

As a coach and educator, Shane Abrell looks for teachable moments.

Abrell and his coaching staff got the opportunity to teach their players about dealing with failure and about momentum during Abrell’s first season in charge of the Plainfield (Ind.) High School baseball program.

“Life lessons are really important in coaching,” says Abrell. “If we’re not teaching them about life, we’re failing them.”

Facing a formidable schedule, the 2018 Quakers got off to a 2-9 start then went on an 8-3 run on the way to 12-16-1. Right-hander Sam Tackett (an Indiana University Kokomo commit for 2019-20) hooked up in a pitchers’ duel with Braydon Tucker (now at Indiana University) as Plainfield bowed to Northview 1-0 in nine innings in the first round of the IHSAA Class 4A Avon Sectional.

“Now they know they can play with those teams,” says Abrell. “It gives us a lot of mental toughness as time goes on.”

Abrell and his assistants spent much time talking about the team.

“We have some really great conversations,” says Abrell, who welcomes back varsity assistants Josh Morris, Noah Lane and Jaylen Cushenberry, junior varsity coach Brian Holsclaw and freshmen coach Mike Harper for 2019. “We demand a lot of time and effort. But hese guys don’t skip a beat. They make my job easy.”

The coaches were honest with their athletes and admitted when they made mistakes in 2018.

The lines of communication are kept open through that sincerity.

“Baseball is so mentally tough on people,” says Abrell. It’s not for everybody.

“Kids are more willing to come to us when they’re struggling. We’re seeing more players are consoling each other.”

Abrell, who teaches computer science at PHS, was a Plainfield assistant to Jeff McKeon (now head coach at South Putnam High School) for one season before taking over the program.

Prior coming to Hendricks County, Abrell was an assistant to Kyle Kraemer at Terre Haute South Vigo High School from 2001-14 and helped coach youth teams around Terre Haute including the Junior Sycamores and with the John Hayes-managed Wayne Newton American Legion Post 346 program.

Abrell played for Kraemer at South Vigo, graduating in 1998.

“Kyle is probably one of the most organized people I’ve come across in coaching,” says Abrell of Kraemer. “He is very meticulous. There was very little down time in practice. You were always moving.”

South Vigo has enjoyed continuity on the coaching staff with assistants like Brian Pickens, T.C. Clary, Todd Miles and Chad Chrisman serving for decades.

“(Kraemer’s) been a great mentor and friend to me,” says Abrell, who will take his Plainfield team to the 2019 Braves Bash at South Vigo. The event also features Munster and New Haven.

Plainfield (enrollment around 1,700) is part of the Mid-State Conference (with Decatur Central, Franklin Community, Greenwood Community, Martinsville, Mooresville, Perry Meridian and Whiteland).

The MSC plays home-and-home series on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to crown its champion.

The Quakers are part of the IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping with Avon, Brownsburg, Mooresville, Northview, Terre Haute North Vigo and Terre Haute South Vigo. Plainfield has won eight sectional titles — the last in 1997.

While in Terre Haute, Abrell had the opportunity to coach A.J. Reed and become close T.J. Collett and his family while coaching his brother Doug with the Post 346 junior squad and then as North Vigo athletic director.

Both A.J. and T.J. were Indiana Mr. Baseball honorees — Reed at South Vigo in 2011 and Collett at North Vigo in 2016.   

A walk-on at Indiana State University, Abrell’s coach with the Sycamores was Mitch Hannahs.

Abrell graduated from ISU in 2003 with a B.S. degree in Management Information Systems/Computer Science and worked various jobs, including web designer for Clabber Girl and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Reserve Deputy for the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department.

“That was an eye opener,” says Abrell of the issues he saw some students dealing with that have nothing to do with a baseball drill or home work assignment.

He makes a point of getting his players to give back by volunteering in the community at a food pantry or with Riley’s Children’s Hospital.

Gratitude is another life lesson Abrell teaches.

“We talk to the kids about thanking their parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents for all the time and money they spend,” Abrell.

He was a football, basketball and baseball coach at South Vigo. North Vigo, coached by Shawn Turner and Fay Spetter and featuring Collett, were 4A state runners-up in 2014 and 2015 with Abrell as AD.

Along the way, he attended Western Kentucky University (Master of Education & Kinesiology) and Indiana Wesleyan University (Education Administration).

Baseball has long been a big deal in the Abrell family.

Shane’s grandfather, the late John Abrell, was a long-time Connie Mack baseball coach and sponsor in Terre Haute.

Rick Abrell, Shane’s father, coached youth baseball at Prairie Creek, Prairieton and Riley and was president of Terre Haute Babe Ruth. He now tends to the baseball fields at both South Vigo and West Vigo.

The Abrells are close with Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famers Bob Warn and Steve DeGroote. Warn was head coach at Indiana State from 1975-2006. DeGroote assisted Warn at ISU and then led the West Vigo program.

Abrell says he took something from all the baseball men in his life.

“To be a good coach, you have to accept you’re not going to create something new in baseball,” says Abrell. “You take what you learn and you mold them all together.”

A love of tending the field was ingrained in Abrell. Kraemer had his team spend 30 minutes after each practice and game wielding shovels and rakes and Abrell does the same with his Quakers.

And there’s lots of time spent mowing and edging in the summer and fall.

“For every two hours practicing, probably another two hours working on the field,” says Abrell. “It’s therapy for me.

“We’re blessed at Plainfield. We have a beautiful complex and support from the administration.”

Principal Melvin Siefert and Assistant Principal of Athletics Torrey Rodkey are both former coaches.

The Quakers feeder system includes Plainfield Pee Wee Association, Plainfield Optimist Baseball League and Plainfield Teenage Baseball League (a Babe Ruth League) as well as a locally-based travel organization — the Plainfield Havoc.

“We’re trying to keep travel ball in the community,” says Abrell. “When they play together their whole life is when you have some of the better teams.”

When Abrell took over the program, he contacted Plainfield graduate Jeremy Kehrt. The right-handed pitcher was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 47th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft and pitched in independent ball in 2017.

“He stops by a lot,” says Abrell of Kehrt. “He works with our pitchers. When he shows up, their eyes get huge.”

Connor Mitchell, a left-hander who pitched in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 2018, also visits to work on arm maintenance. His younger brother, Jackson Mitchell, was the Plainfield’s shortstop in 2018 and is now at Earlham College.

“It means a lot to have alumni reaching out,” says Abrell.

Current Plainfield outfielder/first baseman Jacob Sims is drawing interest from college programs.

A wedding is planned for Shane Abrell and Shannon Bormann in the fall of 2019. Shannon is a nurse anesthetist at IU Health Arnett Hospital in Lafayette.

T.C. Clary (left), Shannon Bormann, A.J. Reed and Shane Abrell meet at the 2018 Triple-A All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio. Clary was a baseball teammate and coached with Abrell at Terre Haute South Vigo High School. Bormann is engaged to Abrell. Reed played at South Vigo and was a Pacific Coast League all-star. Abrell is now head baseball coach at Plainfield (Ind.) High School.

Shane Abrell is heading into his second season as head baseball coach at Plainfield (Ind.) High School. He is also a computer science teacher at PHS.