By STEVE KRAH
To say there is excitement in the South Decatur Junior/Senior High School community would be an understatement.
The Greensburg, Ind.-based Cougars just beat Oldenburg Academy 4-1, Waldron 4-0 and Southwestern of Shelbyville 4-1 to reign at the IHSAA Class 1A Jac-Cen-Del Sectional.
It’s South Decatur’s third all-time sectional title and the others came in 1972 and 1976.
“We’re excited,” says second-year Cougars head coach Anthony Jarvis. “The boys seem pumped. They’e ready to go. They’re confident. I’m confident.”
South Decatur (16-5) has earned the right to play in a one-game IHSAA regional against Indianapolis Lutheran (16-15) at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 1 at Morristown. The winner moves on to the four-team 1A South Semistate.
The preparation week is going include a focus on defense.
“We’ve got to get the ball in quicker with our outfielders,” says Jarvis. “We’ve just got to make the routine plays. We’ve been doing that all year. We’ve just got to continue that.”
Moving on to regional means Jarvis gets to keep repeating a 2024 rallying cry.
“It’s a different day, but the same game — Do You Believe?,” says Jarvis. “That has been our saying this year.
“The boys have taken that and ran with it.”
Running is something the Cougars do well with 121 stolen bases in 21 games.
The leaders are freshman Corey Nugent (25), sophomore J.P. Scudder (20), senior Devin Pate (16), senior Colby Rathburn (16), junior Corbin Johnson (11) and senior Alex Myers (9).
Says Jarvis, “We have a lot of speed on our team and take advantage of miscues.”
The adjective Jarvis uses to describe South Decatur pitching is “phenomenal.”
The staff is paced by right-hander Pate (10-2, 0.96 earned run average), lefty J.P. Scudder (5-0, 0.91) and righty Nugent (1-1, 3.12).
In terms of average, the Cougars top hitters are
Nugent (.466), Rathburn (.406), Pate (.357), sophomore Grady Scudder .351) and J.P. Scudder .339).
Jarvis says Pate is deciding whether to pursue college baseball or enter the work force after graduation.
One recent graduate — Avery Seegers (Class of 2023) – is on the baseball team at Indiana University Columbus.
The SD coaching staff also features Garry Sauley, Wayne Pate, Shane Lakins, Brandon Scudder and Austin Petro.
South Decatur (enrollment around 270) is a member of the Mid-Hoosier Conference (with Edinburgh, Hauser, Morristown, North Decatur, Southwestern of Shelbyville and Waldron). The Cougars were 10-2 in the MHC and placed second.
The other teams in the 2024 were Jac-Cen-Del Sectional were Jac-Cen-Del and North Decatur.
South Decatur plays and practices on-campus. The field recently received upgrades to the dugouts and press box. A concrete pad was placed under the bleachers.
“We’re making some small progress,” says Jarvis.
For eight years, there has been a middle school baseball program. This spring, there were about 15 seventh and eighth graders.
“Being a small school we have multiple-sport athletes and a lot of them don’t play travel ball,” says Jarvis. “Integrating that middle school program is huge for our school. I’m able to sit down and talk with the boys to let them know what I’m looking for. They’re learning the basics so when they come to me (at the high school), we can move on to the next step of getting better so we can compete.”
The past two years, there have been enough players at the high school to have a junior varsity schedule.
Jarvis took South Decatur to a 17-8 mark and a tie with Hauser atop the MHC standings in 2023.
His first six seasons in the program were as an assistant coach.
Prior to that he helped coach middle school and varsity baseball at Jennings County and travel ball with Columbus-based Demand Command.
Jarvis was a pitcher and center fielder at Jennings County, graduating in 2003.
His head coach was Bob Howe.
Jarvis credits Howe for teaching him patience and a winning mindset.
“You go into every game knowing you’re going to win,” says Jarvis.
For his day job, Jarvis is a JAG (Jobs for America’s Graduates) Specialist. As part of his job description, he “identifies, recruits, and instructs students deemed to have a high degree of difficulty of being promoted into the next grade level, achieving graduation, and/or making a successful transition from school to a career with advancement opportunities.”
Bree Geswein is Jarvis’ fiancee.
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