New varsity head coach Nance growing game with Western Boone Stars

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

An investment has been made in the future of baseball at Western Boone Junior/Senior High School in Thorntown, Ind., and Michael Nance is part of it.
After coaching travel ball in the community, in the junior high program that feeds the high school and helping at the high school level, Nance was hired in July 2021 to guide the Webo Stars.
The junior high team has players in Grades 6-8 and plays 12 to 14 games in the spring.
Nance reached out to Western Boone Little League and a partnership was formed. The Western Boone Baseball Club offers instruction on Sundays to players age 9 to 12 not involved in travel ball.
“It’s an opportunity to get these kids more baseball reps all year,” says Nance.
Out of that came 12U and 10U club teams that offer additional games to the Little League schedule.
Knowing his current players and what’s in the pipeline, Nance is upbeat in leading a program which produced five varsity victories in 2019 and four in 2021.
“I think we can win,” says Nance. “I’m very excited about the next six or eight years from what I can see coming.”
Western Boone’s four seniors are Casey Baird, Will Barta, Evan Hine and Mitch Miller.
Baird, who has committed to Franklin (Ind.) College for football, will be called on to play multiple positions, including shortstop, second base, catcher and relief pitcher. Barta is a designated hitter. Georgetown (Ky.) College-bound Evan Hine (.325 average with a team-best .509 on-base percentage in 2021) is a third baseman. Miller, who led the Stars with .349 average last season, is a center fielder and lead-off hitter.
There’s also junior first baseman Andrew Foster, sophomore left-handed pitcher/right fielder Jackson Grimes, sophomore right-hander/left fielder Luke Jackson, sophomore righty/shortstop Bryce Kopriva, sophomore catcher and clean-up hitter Cole Wiley and freshman second baseman Gavin Hawkins.
Nance labels Kopriva, Jackson and Grimes as 1, 1A and 1B on his pitching staff. He points out that athletic Hawkins was the No. 1 singles player in tennis and played on the junior varsity team in basketball.
Former Marian University pitcher Gabe Westerfeld is a varsity assistant coach and the program’s pitching coordinator.
“We are really, really young on the mound,” says Nance. “Gabe has our young guys believing and there have been velocity increases.”
Eric Gubera is JV coach and is also in charge of outfielders and base runners. He has coached with Nance in the summer since their sons were 8. Two years ago, they became affiliated with the Indiana Braves. This summer, they will guide the 12U Indiana Yard Goats — a squad that includes six players from Western Boone, three from Avon and one from Brownsburg player.
Nance, who was a catcher at Lebanon (Ind.) High School, Ancilla College (Donaldson, Ind.) and MacMurray College (Jacksonsonville, Ill.), handles catchers, infielders and hitters.
There are 22 players in the program and all practice together.
Western Boone (enrollment around 510) is a member of the Sagamore Conference (with Crawfordsville, Danville Community, Frankfort, Lebanon, North Montgomery, Southmont and Tri-West Hendricks).
The Stars are part of an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping with Clinton Prairie, Delphi (2022 host), Fountain Central and Seeger. Western Boone has won two sectional titles — 1982 and 1983.
Western Boone is scheduled to open the 2022 season with three games this weekend in Unionville, Tenn., south of Nashville. An optional part of the spring break trip is attending Sunday’s Tennessee at Vanderbilt college game.
The Stars play home contests on-campus with side-by-side varsity and JV diamonds north of the school building. This year, the Stars got new brick dust for the infield and new wind screens for the outfield as well as a Hack machine and new L screens. At the end of the season, lights will go up.
“It’s a really nice place to play,” says Nance.
A 2004 Lebanon graduate, Nance played for Tigers head coach Rick Cosgray.
“He demanded a lot but got more out kids than they knew they were capable,” says Nance. “You knew he really loved the game. He was always so upbeat and positive.
“I have nothing but admiration for Coach Cosgray. I try to run my program like him.”
Nance played for two head coaches at Ancilla — Rockie Dodds and Joe Yonto.
“(Yonto) had a profound impact on me,” says Nance. “He showed me how to see the ball out of the pitcher’s hand (through eye-specific muscle training.”
In Nance’s last year at MacMurray, former high school coach Fred Curtis led the Highlanders.
“He just loved the game,” says Nance. “He said if you do the fundamentals right and not walk people, you can win ball games.”
Nance says he also appreciates the mentoring and assistance he’s received from men also leading high school programs — among them Matthew Cherry (Fishers), Troy Drosche (Avon) and Andy Dudley (Frankfort).
“There’s been such support from the coaching community,” says Nance. “They’ve been willing to help.”
Nance earned a Special Education degree at MacMurray and a masters in Criminal Justice from Xavier University in Cincinnati. This summer will mark 15 years with Boone County Community Corrections. After starting out as a probation officer, he is now executive director.
Michael and wife Emily (who played softball at Manchester University and MacMurray and now works in cancer research at Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis) have a son and daughter attending Thorntown Elementary — Easton (12) and Harper (10). He enjoys tennis, baseball and duck hunting. She likes soccer and plays travel softball with the Indiana Magic.

Michael Nance.

Michael Nance.

Emily, Easton, Michael and Harper Nance.

Michael, Emily, Easton and Harper Nance.

Harper and Michael Nance.

Easton, Michael and Harper Nance.

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IHSBCA Hall of Famer Robinson made calls at Indiana’s highest prep levels

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

Growing up on the southeast side of Indianapolis, James Robinson was drawn to sports.
Robinson played baseball as a junior for Woodchucks coach Ed Ward and was a basketball student manager for his last three years at Harry E. Wood High School, where he graduated in 1966.
When Robinson became an adult, he was attracted to officiating. After high school, he attended Indiana Business College in Indianapolis for two years, entered the working world and wound up in Kokomo, Ind., in the mid-1970s and began making calls.
After a few years of umpiring slow pitch softball, Robinson became a Indiana High School Athletic Association-licensed baseball umpire and a basketball referee the same year.
“Being involved in the game and being in-charge, I liked that idea,” says Robinson. “I could help the game and do the right thing.”
Doing the right thing to Robinson meant making the right call.
He also set a goal for himself.
“I wanted to work the State Finals in the three sports I had licenses for (football, basketball and baseball),” says Robinson. “I did attain that.”
Robinson, who was elected to the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association‘s Hall of Fame in the Class of 2021 and will be honored Friday, Jan. 14, 2022 at the Sheraton at Keystone Crossing in Indianapolis along with the Class of 2022, began umpiring high school games in 1980.
He worked for 35 years with 33 sectionals, 25 regionals, 14 semistates and six State Finals — the first in 1990 (LaPorte beat Bedford North Lawrence in the final and semifinalists were Logansport and Wes-Del with Robinson working a foul line and the bases) and the last in 2007 (Jarrod Parker and Norwell beat Evansville Mater Dei in the Class 3A title game and Robinson worked the plate).
He umpired six IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series and was voted IHSBCA Umpire of the Year five times.
In 1994, Robinson was elected to the National Federation of State High School Associations Baseball Rules Committee and served from 1995-1998.
In 2002, he was named IHSAA/ NFOA Baseball Official of the Year and he was named as the National Federation Distinguished Official of the Year.
He coached Babe Ruth and American Legion baseball for 10 years.
He has been a rules clinician at the IHSBCA State Clinic since the mid-1990s. Prior to the clinic, he attends National Federation rules meetings in Indianapolis and talks with IHSAA assistant commissioner Robert Faulkens about rule changes.
Robinson went far and wide to blow a basketball whistle for 30 years.
“I tried to travel all over,” says Robinson. “I wanted to be seen by as many coaches as possible and rise in through the tournament structure.”
He’d trek as far from Kokomo as East Chicago, South Bend or New Albany. He officiated the 2001 3A state championship boys basketball game between Muncie Southside and Evansville Mater Dei.
He attends the biannual “Rosie’s Round-up” basketball dinner at Stookey’s Restaurant in Thorntown, Ind.
His 33 years as a football official included the 1993 2A title contest between West Lafayette and Providence.
In football, Robinson is now an IHSAA officials observer, Big Ten Conference replay official and back-up clock operator for the Indianapolis Colts. He worked six years in NCAA Division II and seven in the Mid-American Conference. He has also been a replay official for the MAC. He was a replay official for the 2014 National Championship game at the Rose Bowl between Florida State and Auburn.
Robinson, who turned 73 in October, is very appreciative of the recognition by the IHSBCA.
“It’s an honor,” says Robinson. “I’m very, very thrilled to be thought of with all the coaches and players who came through Indiana who played the great game of baseball and be known as an umpire where you’re supposed to be neutral.”
Jame’s wife Nada is deceased. He has one daughter and grandson — Chiquita and Kameron — in Kokomo. One of seven children (four boys and three girls), James has two living sisters residing in Indianapolis.

James Robinson.

Coy enjoys education, baseball life with Waldron Mohawks

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Tommy Coy enjoys being part of the fraternity that is the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association.

Through the organization, he’s got to know diamond leaders from all over the state — men like Andrean’s Dave Pishkur, Jasper’s Terry Gobert, Southwestern of Hanover’s Dan Thurston, Fishers’ Matt Cherry, Noblesville’s Justin Keever and so many more.

“I feel really lucky,” says Coy, who is heading into his first season as head coach at Waldron (Ind.) Junior-Senior High School in Shelby County. “There are a lot of guys I can seek council from all over the place.

“They want baseball to be great in this state. They’ll give you any piece of advice you need and do anything to grow the game.”

Coy was going to be an assistant to Doug Burcham before the 2020 season was called off because the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Waldron (enrollment around 160) is a member of the Mid-Hoosier Conference (with Edinburgh, Hauser, Morristown, North Decatur, South Decatur, Southwestern of Shelbyville).

The Mohawks are part of an IHSAA Class 1A sectional grouping with Edinburgh, Greenwood Christian Academy, Indianapolis Lutheran, Morristown (the 2021 host) and Southwestern (Shelbyville). Waldron’s lone sectional title came in 2001.

The 2021 season opener is slated for Monday, April 5 at Rising Sun (vote-getter in the IHSBCA 1A preseason poll) with the home opener Tuesday, April 6 against 1A No. 2 Oldenburg Academy. 

Besides MHC and sectional opponents, the Mohawk slate also features Indiana School for the Deaf, Columbus Christian, Indianapolis Manual, Irvington Preparatory Academy, Jac-Cen-Del, Tri, Knightstown and Triton Central.

Southwestern is No. 3 and Hauser No. 6 in the 1A preseason rankings and Knightstown is receiving votes in 2A.

With 16 players — up from the usual 11 or 12 — Coy says the Mohawks will play only a varsity schedule this spring.

Coy’s 2021 assistants are all Waldron graduates — Cam Wells (Class of 2018), Nate Bernard (2019) and Cole Chappelow (2020).

The 2020-21 school year is Coy’s second in Shelby Eastern Schools (which includes Waldron and Morristown) where he teaches U.S. History, Psychology and Sociology. At various times, he educates sixth through 12th graders. 

Coy has also been an assistant boys basketball coach on the Waldron staff of Beau Scott.

Waldron Junior-Senior serves the communities of Waldron, Geneva, St. Paul and some students outside Shelbyville.

In 2019, Coy spent one season as pitching coach on the staff of Shelbyville head coach Royce Carlton.

Before that, Coy spent five seasons aiding IHSBCA Hall of Famer John Froedge at Crawfordsville and six helping Rick Cosgray at Lebanon.

“I’ve had a nice little gambit to learn from and coach under,” says Coy. “(Carlton) is a bright young coach. He eats it up. 

“They do it differently, but (Cosgray) and (Froedge) were awesome mentors for me.”

Carlton helped Coy upgrade the infield at Waldron’s on-campus field.

There are five high schools in Shelby County — Waldron, Morristown, Shelbyville, Southwestern (Shelbyville) and Triton Central. Coy and Carlton would like to see a county league for younger players with teams feeding their respective schools. 

At present, younger players can go to the Shelby County Babe Ruth League or Greensburg Youth Baseball League.

A 2002 graduate of Western Boone Junior-Senior High School in Thorntown, Ind., Coy played for Stars head coach Don Jackson and pitching coach Rob Ebert (who also coached him during the summer). His father, Doug Coy, was also a WEBO assistant.

Jackson had a passion for baseball and expected his players to respect the game by playing hard.

Ebert taught Coy how to “turn the ball over” to get it to move in on a right-handed batter.

“If we can pitch inside I think we’ll have a lot of success at Waldron for sure,” says Coy.

Before arm issues cropped up, right-hander Coy pitched two seasons at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., where Tom Flynn was the Little Giants head coach and Cory Stevens the pitching coach.

Flynn was the Old School, in-your-face type of coach.

“He’d get the most out of you,” says Coy. “He genuinely cared for his players.”

Stevens, who is now athletic director at Jennings County High School in North Vernon, Ind., let Coy know the importance of controlled movement and pitching backwards (throwing breaking balls and change-ups in counts were the hitter is usually looking for a fastball — 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-1 and 3-2).

“The change-up is most underutilized pitch in all of baseball,” says Coy. “It’s all the grip and takes time to develop. Kids don’t have the patience. 

“They want instant gratification.”

Coy admires how Hall of Famer Greg Maddux — while not throwing in the upper 90’s — was able to craftily pin-point his pitches on the inside and outside corners of the plate and get lots of movement.

Tommy and Stacey Coy (a 2004 Waldron alum who was a senior in the pep band at the time the Mohawks went 27-0 and won the IHSAA Class 1A boys basketball state championship) have two sons — Kellen (9) and Karsten (7). The boys will have birthdays two days apart in May — Kellen on the 12th and Karsten the 14th.

Tommy Coy

Portland (Ind.) Rockets baseball a 60-year tradition

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

“Way to get off the bus, Gus. Scoring runs is fun!”

After the Portland (Ind.) Rockets plated three in the first inning at the National Baseball Federation major division (unlimited age) wood bat regional in Fort Wayne, manager Randy Miller shouted his approval from the third base coach’s box.

Miller has brought enthusiasm to the diamond for much of the organization’s long history.

The Rockets — started in 1959 by Dick Runkle and continued by Ray Miller (Randy’s father) — celebrated 60 years of diamond fun and memories in 2019. That makes it one of the longest-running continuous teams in amateur baseball.

“We go back to our 1960’s roots,” says Portland manager Randy Miller, who has seen the Rockets square off against squads from Albany, Geneva, Dunkirk, Elwood, New Castle, Upland, Yorktown and beyond. A rivalry with the Gas City-based Twin City Bankers is well-chronicled in Bill Lightle’s book “My Mother’s Dream.”

When the Rockets began, they were comprised of players from Portland and later fanned out from Jay County.

“We’re still townball,” says Miller”. We just come from a lot of towns.”

The ’19 Rockets (10-13) had four players who claim Portland as their hometown — Peyton Heniser, Chandler Jacks, Max Moser and captain Mitch Waters. They also came from Auburn, Bluffton, Carmel, Ellettsville, Frankton, Indianapolis, LaPorte, Marion, Pendleton, St. Joseph and Thorntown in Indiana and Coldwater, St. Mary’s and Vandalia in Ohio.

The oldest players were Waters (35), Chris Gaines (33), Zeth Tanner (29), Codey Harrison (28) and Craig Martin (28). The rest were under 25 with seven teenagers. Waters is the director of operations at the Jay County Community Center.

A graduate of Jay County High School and Manchester College, Waters played for the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Kings of the independent Frontier League.

“Our guys are some of the best athletes their high schools have ever had,” says Randy Miller. “They’re gamers.

“I’m just so proud of them.”

Miller, 65, began playing for the Rockets in 1972 and caught a doubleheader at 51. By the 1990’s, he was sharing manager duties with his father and has continued helped continue the tradition.

“I’ve got a motorcycle and a boat,” says Miller, a former teacher at Adams Central High School in Monroe, Ind. “I’m not on them very much in the summer.”

Runkle had the Rockets competing in the old Eastern Indiana Baseball League. Local talent included Steve Takats. His Ball State University teammate, Merv Rettenmund, played for Portland in 1966 and made his big league debut as a player with the Baltimore Orioles in 1968 and was an MLB hitting coach for many years.

The Rockets went 18-1 and won the EIBL in 1968.

With the team in financial trouble, Ray Miller took over in 1972. He doubled the schedule and included games with Fort Wayne teams.

With the support of wife Betty, Ray helped secure a playing facility in Portland that is now known as Runkle-Miller Field.

“Mom was always there with a sandwich and a cold beverage,” says Randy Miller of his mother, who served 16 years as city clerk.

In 1984, the Rockets merged with the Bank of Berne Lancers and went 34-20. The ’85 season was the best to date at 41-14 with Portland’s first-ever American Amateur Baseball Congress state title.

Miller became AABC state secretary in 1991 and the Rockets won AABC state crowns in 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2004, and 2006 and in more than 30 years as manager Portland won more than 900 games.

Ray Miller died in 2017 and was inducted into the National Semi-Pro Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008. Randy Miller was enshrined in 2011.

With Randy Miller, siblings Brad Miller and Mickey Scott and many community members pitching in, the Rockets have survived. Mickey, who was city clerk for 12 years, used to run Runkle-Miller’s “Rocket Lunching Pad” concession stand and now Brad does it.

All three Miller offspring have taken turns watering the field. The baselines are seeded to help with all the excess rain.

For years, the Rockets were purely a family-funded operation.

Since the mid-1990s, the Rockets have swung wood bats. At first, Randy provided those. But that got too expensive and now the players provide their own clubs.

For $100, the team picks up the cost of caps, uniforms and handles insurance.

Randy Miller carries on a tradition by giving the “Rocket Report” on WPGW 100.9 FM on afternoons following games. Samantha Thomas, who once worked for the Fort Wayne TinCaps, is involved with keeping score and other team functions.

Randy Miller schedules games, recruits players, pays bills and generally keeps the Rockets going.

“That’s my legacy,” says Miller. “I carry the torch.”

The Rockets coaching tree spreads far and wide, especially along the U.S. 27 corridor.

“They want to give back to the game,” says Miller. “We are a baseball town. I really believe that.”

Among former Rockets are Jay County High School head coach Lea Selvey, Adams Central head coach Dave Neuenschwander and Bethel University head coach Seth Zartman.

Portland won 35 or more games a season throughout the 2000’s and went to the NABF World Series in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2012. A few years ago, the Rockets posted a 35-12 mark.

In 2018, an $28,000 scoreboard was installed at Runkle-Miller Field.

A 60-foot “Wall of Dreams” mural on the side of Portland’s Ritz Theatre was painted by Pamela Bliss and dedicated July 28 and many alums and Rocket backers came to celebrate.

Wearing the gold and black, fans were in Fort Wayne to see the Rockets’ latest season come to a close.

But the fun is not over yet for 2019. The annual Rocket Rally golf outing is scheduled for Sept. 22 at Portland Golf Club. For more information, email Randy Miller at ramiller15@embarqmail.com.

Randy Miller and Mitch Waters share in the spoils of victory for the Portland (Ind.) Rockets baseball team. (Portland Rockets Photo)

Dalton Tinsley hits for the Portland (Ind.) Rockets baseball team. (Portland Rockets Photo)

Former players and fans gathered July 28, 2019 for the dedication of a 60-foot “Wall of Dreams” mural and celebration of 60 years of Portland (Ind.) Rockets baseball. (Portland Rockets Photo)

Artist Pamela Bliss created the 60-foot “Wall of Dreams” mural on the side of the Ritz Theatre in Portland, Ind. On Aug. 28, 2019, there was a

Siblings Brad Miller (left), Randy Miller and Mickey Scott stand in front of a “Wall of Dreams” mural in Portland, Ind., celebrating 60 years of Portland (Ind.) Rockets baseball. The mural behind them depicts Randy and their father, Ray Miller, who were co-managers for years.

The story of the Portland (Ind.) Rockets baseball team and the “Wall of Dreams.” (Portland Rockets Photo)

Runkle-Miller Field received a $28,000 scoreboard in 2018. The field is home to the Portland (Ind.) Rockets baseball team, which has been around since 1959. (Portland Rockets Photo)