Evansville Christian making its way back from early-April tornado damage

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Evansville Christian School in Newburgh, Ind., opened the home portion of the 2024 high school baseball season Thursday, April 1 against defending IHSAA Class 1A state runner-up Barr-Reeve.

On April 2, a tornado swept through the Vanderburgh County area area and caused considerable destruction to the Scott Township Park diamond where the Eagles play. There was also a fence down and trash cans overturned at Evansville Central High School’s field.

“We lost a yard barn, a batting cage, half of our fence all-around including our backstop. We also had some damage to our concession stand,” says Evansville Christian coach Joe Paulin in a partial list of the wreckage at Scott Township Park caused by high winds. “Our first base bleachers blew up over a 20-foot fence and skipped across our field and into the left field corner and smashed the fence out. We woke up to that damage and it was heart-breaking.”

At a house next to the field, a tree fell and covered it and the roof was blown off of its hollow-block garage.

“There were no fatalities and thankful no one was (at the field) at the time,” says Paulin. 

Almost immediately the clean-up work began. The community has rallied to repair the off-campus facility the team has called home for seven years while Eagles baseball — varsity, junior varsity and Cub — has scrambled to find places to play and practice.

“We’ve had to do a lot of re-scheduling,” says Paulin. 

The weekend before the storm, there were about 50 volunteers doing work on the field to get it ready for the season. 

“We had it in the best shape it’s ever been,” says Paulin. “Less than a week later is when he damage occurred.”

Through much time, effort and donations, the field is coming back.

“We feel that God has a plan,” says Paulin. “We’re going to build it better than it was.”

More than a month after the today, Evansville Christian plans to play its second home game of the spring on its home field. There’s a night game slated Friday, May 10 against Vincennes Rivet.

Paulin started the EC program in 2017. Another memorable moment is his time there is when the team bus broke down. While waiting for help, he had the Eagles practicing in a gas station parking lot.

Says Paulin, “We needed the work.”

Heading into a May 3 road game against Perry Central, Evansville Christian is 4-6. The 2024 regular season is winding down with IHSAA sectional tournaments beginning the end of the week leading into Memorial Day (May 27).

The Eagles, which became eligible for the state tournament for the first time in 2023, is to play in a Class 1A sectional with host Northeast Dubois, Cannelton, Springs Valley, Tecumseh and Wood Memorial.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Tornado damage at Scott Township Park’s baseball field, home to the Evansville Christian School Eagles.

Former UIndy assistant Hutchison now running the baseball show at Lake Erie

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

Landon Hutchison spent five seasons (2017-21) as an assistant baseball coach at the University of Indianapolis.
The former right-handed pitcher graduated from Liberty Union High School in Baltimore, Ohio, then played four seasons at the University of Rio Grande (Ohio). He followed that up with two seasons a Red Storm graduate assistant before UIndy, where he worked primarily with pitchers.
Last July, Hutchison followed former Greyhounds head coach Gary Vaught as the leader of the program at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, 30 miles northeast of Cleveland.
“I’m extremely excited for this opportunity,” says Hutchison, who attended the 2022 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Chicago. “I can’t thank all the guys who coached with me (including Vaught, Al Ready and Trevor Forde at Indianapolis and Brad Warnimont at Rio Grande).”
While he was still in Indianapolis at the beginning, Hutchison started at Lake Erie in the middle of the summer recruiting season.
“I immediately started hitting the needs,” says Hutchison. “We have a very strong 2022 (recruiting class) and we got the pieces that we needed to be competitive.
“It’s looking bright for the future.”
Besides Ohio, Hutchison counts players from Indiana (Calumet New Tech’s Caleb Deel), California, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Argentina, Canada and Mexico on the published roster.
Hutchison says he wants to carry a large number of players.
“Division II schools typically get more arms and having that depth helps a lot,” says Hutchison.
There is also competition with the team.
“(Players) know that there’s guys that are going to try to take their job and then next year it’s going to be the exact same way,” says Hutchison. “But I’m trying not to over-recruit and be as honest as I can during the recruiting process. The recruiting board is sitting right there for any guy that comes to visit.
“Once that position’s done, that position’s done. I don’t want a situation where I have six shortstops, 18 outfielders or anything like that. Once that (desired) number is hit that class is done.”
Through his involvement with Pastime Tournaments while in Indiana, Hutchison was able to cultivate relationships and identify some talent.
“(Pastime Tournaments president) Tom Davidson was unbelievable in helping me get to where I am now with my career,” says Hutchison. “He knew that was the end goal.”
Like UIndy, Lake Erie is an NCAA Division II school (the Storm are in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference).
The difference for Hutchison is that he now has a hand in all aspects of the team — from scheduling and travel accommodations and all facets of the game. With that in mind, he attended many ABCA Convention sessions on the position player side of things.
“The relationships are a little bit broader now,” says Hutchison, who has hired two graduate assistant and a volunteer coach to help him. “Rather than just the pitching staff and a handful of position players, it’s every guy.
“It’s been my goal to create a great culture and the guys understand that we really care about them. We’re trying to have their best interests with everything we do with the development side of things and education.
“We had one of the highest team GPA’s (last semester) that we’ve had in a long time.”
Hutchison will also be able to use technology and training aids in his new position, including products from Rapsodo, Blast Motion and Driveline.
Lake Erie is to open the 2022 season Feb. 25 in Evansville against the University of Southern Indiana.

Lake Erie College head baseball coach Landon Hutchison at the 2022 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Chicago. (Steve Krah Photo)

Vaught lured back to the dugout with Lake Erie Storm

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Gary Vaught did not see himself leading another college baseball program.

When he retired a head coach at the University of Indianapolis in 2018, Vaught wanted to spend more time with his ailing mother back in Norman, Okla., and was secure in the knowledge that UIndy was in good hands with his former Greyhounds assistant Al Ready.

He had agreed to be head coach/general manager for the Hoptown Hoppers, a summer collegiate wood bat team in Hopkinsville, Ky., then Lake Eric College, a private school and NCAA Division II school in Painesville, Ohio (30 miles northeast of Cleveland) came calling.

Vaught was on vacation with friends when former LEC athletic director Kelley Kish (who had been in the compliance office at UIndy) reached out.

With so many former assistants in coaching, including Jordan Tiegs (now in the Texas Rangers system), Vaught was glad to recommend a candidate or two to the Storm. 

Vaught was invited to the Lake Erie campus and met with president Brian Posler (who had served at Kansas State University and the University of Southern Indiana).

The job was offered to Vaught and he took it in January. 

“I fell in love with the people up there,” says Vaught, who works for athletic director Mollie Hoffman.

Vaught led the Storm to a 3-6-1 mark in a COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. All but one of the losses came in the final inning.

The virus caused the Hoppers season to be called off and the veteran coach spent much of his time between Indianapolis and Oklahoma.

Vaught’s career mark at the NCAA D-I or D-II levels to 978-672-2. 

Starting with the 1985 season, Vaught coached two years at Kansas State, three at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., and 24 at UIndy (1995-2018). He won a school-record 808 wins and the program’s first NCAA Division II College World Series appearance in 2000. The Hounds went 51-15 in 2001.

Then there’s the 305 victories Vaught racked up at the beginning of his coaching career at Connors State College in Warren, Okla.

Vaught, 69, is back in Indianapolis with the Lake Erie closed down because of COVID, but he’s still coaching the Storm.

His fire was reignited last spring and continues to burn.

“I’ve got a lot of energy,” says Vaught. “I love the game. It’s been a big part of my life. Hopefully we’ve made changes in kids’ lives.”

Each year around Christmas, Vaught receives and makes calls to former players. He also reaches out to mentor Gary Ward, who enjoyed so much success at Oklahoma State University and is a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

“It doesn’t take anytime to pick up the phone and say thank you,” says Vaught. “Treat people how they are supposed to be treated. That’s how to try to do everyday as a coach. 

“The Lord’s blessed me in so many ways.”

The veteran skipper has so many “baseball brothers” that he appreciates in the baseball fraternity. Among those are Tracy Archuleta (University of Southern Indiana), Rick O’Dette (Saint Leo Universty), Larry Owens (Bellarmine University) and Josh Rabe (Quincy University).

And the list goes on.

Vaught says he looks forward to bringing his team to UIndy for a April 14, 2021 doubleheader, where he can take the field against former players now coaching the Greyhounds Ready (whose son Cam is a godchild to Vaught) and Trevor Forde. UIndy AD Scott Young was Vaught’s assistant for 14 years.

Former Greyhounds AD Dave Huffman hired Vaught in 1994 and the coach also worked with Sue Willey in her tenure as AD.

Lake Erie plays its home games at Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio, home of the Midwest League’s Lake County Captains.

The Storm belong the the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Tom Daeger, who played for Vaught at UIndy, is the GMAC commissioner.

Gary Vaught was the head baseball coach at the University of Indianapolis, where he won 808 games in 24 seasons concluding with 2018. In 2020, he started coaching at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio. (UIndy Photo)