Tag Archives: South Bend East Side Little League

Cardenas carries confidence to the bump for U. of Indianapolis

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

NCAA Division II University of Indianapolisranked No. 2 in the Midwest/No. 20 in the nation by National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association — close the 2024 regular season in Romeoville, Ill., with a four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series May 2-4 against Lewis University (one game Thursday, two games Friday, one game Saturday).

Greyhounds head coach Al Ready and pitching coach Adam Cornwell have decided to hand the ball to junior right-hander Diego Cardenas to start today (May 2). First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. Central Time.

Cardenas, a 21-year-old South Bend, Ind., native and Environmental Sustainability major, brings up the same word when describing Ready and Cornwell.

“It’s amazing,” says Cardenas of playing for Ready. “It’s a great experience. It’s a unique way of coaching and a lot of the players get along with it. He’s very brave and confident in his guys.

“He trusts all of his players and that’s pretty sweet.”

Cardenas says Ready, who played at UIndy and is in his 17th season coaching in the program (sixth as head coach), does not go by the book.

“He’s very unorthodox,” says Cardenas of the man who has the Greyhounds at 32-14 overall and 27-5 at the top of the GLVC standings. The team has won 11 straight.

Says Cardenas, “(Cornwell) gives me a lot of confidence by giving me my own space and making corrections when they’re due.

“He lets us be our own person which is great.”

Cardenas has gone from a reliever going into the season to a mid-week starter and then a weekend arm for conference games.

In eight mound appearances (all starts) in 2024, Cardenas is 5-0 with a 2.70 earned run average, 37 strikeouts and 25 walks in 46 2/3 innings. Opponents are hitting .195 against him.

The 5-foot-11, 200-pounder throws from a three-quarter arm angle and uses a two-seam fastball, change-up and slider to get hitters out.

“I get a ton of arm-side run,” says Cardenas of his two seamer which has hit 91 mph and sets at 86 to 89. “Not a lot of vertical (movement), more horizontal.”

A combination of splitter and change-up, he calls that pitch a “splange” and it goes 80 to 83 mph.

“I choke the daylights out of it,” says Cardenas of the grip.

Wedging the ball deep in his hands in a traditional slider grip, the righty makes deliveries at 77 to 80 mph.

Born and raised in South Bend with Larry and Kelly Cardenas as parents and former John Adams High School ballplayers Esai Cardenas and Benicio Cardenas (who also on the team at Marian University’s Ancilla College) as older brothers, Diego played at South Bend East Side Little League as a youngster and travel ball as a teen with the Indiana Nitro.

At Adams, 2021 graduate Diego Cardenas was a middle infielder when not on the mound.

Mike Cass was and still is the Eagles head coach.

“He kept it simple,” says Cardenas of Cass.

Cardenas underwent Ulnar Collateral Ligament reconstruction (Tommy John surgery) and redshirted for the 2022 UIndy season. That summer he played in the College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., for the Turf Monsters.

In his debut season with Indianapolis in 2023, Cardenas got into nine games (all in relief) and went 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA, eight strikeouts and 11 walks in eight innings. 

He split his summers between contracts with the Prospect League’s Terre Haute (Ind.) Rex and Northwoods League’s Waterloo (Ind.) Bucks. He has signed to play this summer with the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League’s Olney (Md.) Cropdusters.

But before that there’s business to attend at UIndy. The eight-team GLVC tournament is May 8-11 in Marion, Ill. After that comes an NCAA D-II Midwest Regional May 16-19 at a campus site and a chance to advance to a Midwest Super Regional May 24-25 at a campus site and then the D-II World Series June 1-8 in Cary, N.C.

“We’re playing loose and confident,” says Cardenas. “We’re playing in a very fun way.”

While he has no real allegiance to an MLB team, Cardenas does have a favorite player.

“I’ve always been a big fan of Marcus Stroman,” says Cardenas of the New York Yankees right-hander. “I love his confidence and his flash.”

Cardenas has two years of remaining eligibility. He expects to take one in 2025 while finishing his undergraduate degree then a graduate year. He says if he had to decide on his concentration now it would be in Management Sciences.

After baseball, he foresees a career in renewable energies, performing research and analytics and hands-in field work.

“I love the outdoors,” says Cardenas. “It’s pretty awesome.”

Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Image)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)
Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)

Diego Cardenas. (University of Indianapolis Photo)

Cass enjoying success with South Bend John Adams Eagles

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

John Adams High School in South Bend, Ind., is enjoying quite a baseball season so far in 2021.

Under the direction of seventh-year head coach Mike Cass, the Eagles go into a Thursday, May 20 contest at Penn at 15-3 overall and 6-3 in Northern Indiana Conference games.

“It’s the best season we’ve had in years,” says Cass, who has witnessed steady pitching and defense and has shuffled his lineup to produce some offense. Of the three losses, two came down to the seventh inning.

“We’ve gotten lucky,” says Eagles pitching coach Taylor Neville. “We’ve got pretty good depth at the pitching spot. 

“We always try to develop (the young arms) and give them time at the JV level or in a intrasquad game or a doubleheader where we’re trying to get guys playing time. We see how they perform and what we can fix. We come up with a plan for them. 

“We’ve really had a lot of guys develop. It know it just doesn’t happen here but in summer ball.”

Neville cites Adams senior Bryce Martens as someone who has gotten better as his prep career has progressed.

“In his freshman came up with us (to varsity),” says Neville. “His first game pitching was against Jimtown and he was really struggling with the curve ball. We worked on that and got a very nice curve ball out of it.

“He’s just continued to develop.”

Neville is a graduate of Gahanna (Ohio) Lincoln High School.

C.J. Schwartz, another Adams assistant, graduate from Mishawaka (Ind.) High School and played baseball at Grace College in Winona, Lake, Ind.

What does Cass stress with his Adams players?

“Leadership, sportsmanship and fundamentals,” says Cass. “We want to do the little things in baseball like bunt coverage and being where you’re supposed to be (at your position) and those sorts of things.”

Prior to taking over the Adams program, Cass was an assistant to former South Bend St. Joseph head coach John Gumpf and before that an assistant to Scott Sherry at John Adams. 

He credits Gumpf for much about what he knows about coaching the game.

Cass coached at South Bend East Side Little League before his first stint at Adams.

Cass came to Indiana from Pennsbury Township, Pa. — west of Philadelphia where he rooted for the Philadelphia Phillies and his favorite player, Mike Schmidt.

Further educated at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, Ind., and Indiana University South Bend, Cass has been a bookkeeper in the South Bend Community School Corporation for the past 20 years — mostly at John Adams.

Adams (enrollment around 1,950) is a member of the NIC (with Bremen, Elkhart, Jimtown, John Glenn, Mishawaka, Mishawaka Marian, New Prairie, Penn, South Bend Clay, South Bend Riley, South Bend St. Joseph and South Bend Washington).

“We’ve got some good coaches in this conference,” says Cass. “You can tell they’re good coaches because they’re always there building a program.”

The Eagles are part of an IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping with LaPorte, Michigan City, Mishawaka, Plymouth (the 2021 host) and Riley. Adams has won six sectional titles — the last in 2009.

Adams plays its home games at School Field, which is located about a mile off-campus next to the football field of the same name and Jefferson Traditional School.

Mike Cass (South Bend John Adams High School Photo)