Smith makes throwing strikes a priority for ’22 Edinburgh Lancers

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

Dennis Smith has been head baseball coach at Edinburgh (Ind.) High School since the 2019.
He already knows a point of emphasis for 2022.
“Pitching,” says Smith. “Last year we won one game. In 17 gams, we had 148 walks.
“Throwing strikes will be crucial this (coming) year.”
Three pitchers — seniors Ian Buchanan and Riley Palmer and sophomore Gabe Bennett — return. Senior Travis Jones and junior Max Blanford are also expected to get a turn on the mound.
The 2021-22 school year is the first where Edinburgh athletes are allowed to participate in two sports during the game season. Smith says Blanford will split his time between golf and baseball.
Smith, who teaches eighth grade math at Edinburgh, was a Lancers assistant on the staff of Cole Zook in 2013-14 and helped Jason Burke one season prior to taking over the program.
A 2003 Edinburgh graduate, middle infielder Smith played for head coach Todd Tatlock as a senior and was a teammate of current Southwestern of Shelbyville coach Chris Ingels (Edinburgh Class of 2002).
“I still pick his brain,” says Smith of Tatlock, an Edinburgh alum who was an All-American at Indiana State University. “I still call him or get with him when I can.”
An IHSAA Limited Contact Period goes from Aug. 30-Oct. 16. Smith says Edinburgh does not plan to start baseball activities until January.
“I can’t (practice in the fall),” says Smith, who works at a school with an enrollment around 235 and plenty of baseball players involved in fall sports. “We’ve got to share your kids as much as possible.”
Smith says he expects a few players to find the time to play in a Sunday fall baseball league in Columbus.
A feeder for the high school program is the Edinburgh Park and Recreation/Babe Ruth League.
Edinburgh is a member of the Mid-Hoosier Conference (with Hauser, Morristown, North Decatur, South Decatur, Southwestern of Shelbyville and Waldron).
In 2021, the Lancers were part of an IHSAA Class 1A sectional grouping with Greenwood Christian Academy, Indianapolis Lutheran, Morristown, Southwestern of Shelbyville and Waldron. Edinburgh has won four sectional titles — the last in 2017.
Lancer Field at Steve Hollenbeck Sports Complex is the home diamond for Edinburgh baseball.
Plans call for a new mound to be installed next week.
“We hope to put in four new loads of dirt in the infield,” says Smith.
Chris Hoffman and Coltan Henderson are assistant coaches. Smith says another may be added to the staff.
Dennis and wife Hannah have three children — daughters Reese (9) and Reagan (6) and son Ryan (who turns 2 in November).
When he’s not teaching or coaching, Dennis likes to compete in bass fishing tournaments.

Dennis Smith and the Edinburgh (Ind.) High School Lancers.

The Smith family (clockwise from upper left): Hannah, Ryan, Dennis, Reese and Reagan.

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Inglels sees ‘special’ things at Southwestern (Shelbyville)

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Chris Ingels has watched an exceptional group of athletes make their way through Southwestern Junior-Senior High School near Shelbyville, Ind.

The Class of 2021 played a part in a 14-11 baseball season in 2018 — the first winning season in program history since 1976. The Spartans went 17-9 on the diamond in 2019 and lost the 2020 season to the COVID-19 pandemic.

So far in 2020-21, Southwestern has earned IHSAA Class 1A sectional titles in boys soccer and boys basketball.

“They’ve contributed so much to our school,” says Ingels, who heads into his eighth season as Southwestern head baseball coach this spring and is also a boys basketball assistant and head cross country coach at the school where he is also a Social Studies and Physical Education teacher. “They’re pretty special kids and great students.

“When you have really good players it makes the coach look smart.”

Of the Spartans’ six seniors (Anick Harstell, Christian DeArmitt, Ethan Wending, Chance Johnson, Blake Dunbar and Kirk Van Gorden), five played as sophomores with Hartsell, DeArnitt, Wending and Johnson in the starting lineup. 

Two juniors (Aiden Hartsell and Jordan Jones) started as freshmen. Matthew Clements is a talented sophomore who grew up in the Indiana Bulls organization. Southwestern lost two players to graduation in 2020.

Ingels’ 2021 assistant is South Dearborn High School graduate and Franklin College senior Alex Smith.

Located seven miles from Shelbyville and close to the community of Marietta, Southwestern (enrollment around 175) is a member of the Mid-Hoosier Conference (with Edinburgh, Hauser, Morristown, North Decatur, South Decatur and Waldron).

MHC games are played on consecutive days as home-and-home series.

“You have to have multiple pitchers, which I like,” says Ingels.

The Spartans are part of an IHSAA Class 1A sectional grouping with Edinburgh, Greenwood Christian Academy, Indianapolis Lutheran, Morristown (the 2021 host) and Waldron. Southwestern won its lone sectional crown in 1999.

Southwestern is to open the 2021 season at home April 5 against Eminence.

Opponents not in the conference or sectional include Austin, Oldenburg Academy, Shelbyville, Brown County, Indiana School for the Deaf, Trinity Lutheran, Arsenal Tech and Herron.

The Spartans could see Triton Central in the Shelby County Tournament at Morristown on May 8.

There are 17 players in the Southwestern program. Ingels says a few junior varsity games will be sprinkled in to get younger players some playing experience.

The Spartans play home games on-campus at the Jeremy Wright Athletic Complex.

The high school program is fed by a junior high club. Seventh and eighth graders play some games in the spring then take part in the Babe Ruth League at Edinburgh during the summer. 

“It’s really beneficial,” says Ingels. 

Ingels, played tennis for Kevin Rockey, Rodney Klein and Pete Khensouri, basketball for Steve Todd and baseball for Derick Bright and Brian Ingels (his father) at Edinburgh High School and graduated in 2002.

Todd was the first to talk to Chris about coaching and gave him the opportunity to volunteer with the Lancers.

“(Bright) was a really good baseball coach,” says Ingels. “He changed the way we practiced. Everything was structured. In (batting practice), we’d have two-strike swings, hit-and-run swings, bunt, hit to the right side and swing away.”

Brian Ingels, who had been head football coach at Edinburgh when Chris was young and a longtime cross country and track coach at the school. He was Bright’s assistant before stepping in as head baseball coach for his son’s senior year. The Industrial Arts instructor is currently in his 43rd year of teaching at Edinburgh.

Ingels began coaching boys basketball before finishing at Franklin College in 2007 as an assistant to Edinburgh head coach Todd Tatlock. 

After that, Ingels aided Kerry Brown then Toby Carrigan at South Dearborn before helping Brent Keck at Perry Meridian. He is on Brady Days’ staff at Southwestern.

Lance Marshall, the Franklin College head baseball coach, has let Ingels sit in on Grizzlies practice and has offered advice.

“He’s a great guy,” says Ingels.

Ingels values his relationships and connections to his young athletes.

“Through baseball you are dealing with a lot of failure and adversity,” says Ingels. “You’re trying to get kids to be able to handle that and push their way through it and succeed in the end.”

Ingels sees a lot of lessons in baseball.

“It starts with preparation and having to put a lot of work into each little part,” says Ingels. “That adds up in the end.”

The coach appreciates the team aspect of the sport and that you’re 

“A lot of people think baseball is an individual sport on your own island at each position and getting your stats at the plate,” says Ingels. “It’s the ultimate team sport when it comes down to it.”

One player can’t carry the whole load.

On the offensive side, Ingels sees worth in batting average. But that doesn’t rank first in his eyes.

“On-base percentage is so much more important,” says Ingels. “We’ve got to get men on base.”

While the Spartans may not chart it in 2021, there will be discussions about quality at-bats.

“Sometimes a groundout to the right side can be productive,” says Ingels.

Chris Ingels

Baseball among many duties for busy Burton at tiny Edinburgh

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Jason Burton coached his alma mater — Edinburgh High School in south central Indiana — to an IHSAA sectional baseball championship in his first season as head coach in 2017.

Burton, who is also coming off his first season as head football coach at the school of about 270 students, had originally stepped down in baseball.

“I’m involved at so much at the school, I was going to take a year or two away,” says Burton, who was a substitute teacher and helper in the athletic department while still in college and is now a middle school special education teacher and high school varsity assistant girls basketball coach in addition to his head coaching duties.

But he is back in charge after baseball and football assistant Greg Mose left to become head football coach at Southern Wells.

On the diamond, the 2017 Edinburgh Lancers (12-12) beat Morristown and Greenwood Christian Academy to win the Class 1A Morristown Sectional then lost to eventual semistate runner-up Indianapolis Lutheran in the first round of the Morristown Regional.

Edinburgh, part of the Edinburgh Community School Corporation, had last reigned as sectional baseball champions in 2011, Burton’s senior season playing for Todd Tatlock.

Burton credits Tatlock, who was an All-American at Indiana State University in 1995, for passing on many baseball lessons.

“He taught me things I was able to implement into my own coaching,” says Burton. “Attention to detail is the big thing.

“It’s having a purpose for every single aspect of the game. Every minute we’re at practice is about productivity.”

The same is true for all the sports Burton coaches.

Former Lancers head football coach Bill Unsworth provided guidance about both the management and structural sides of that game.

Burton went to Ivy Tech Community College of Columbus and then earned an elementary education degree from Indiana University Purdue University Columbus in 2016. While still in college, he was already coaching football on Unsworth’s staff and helping head coaches Cole Zook and Mike Bryant in baseball.

At a school as small as Edinburgh, the three-sport athlete is a necessity to keep programs going.

In June, it’s not unusual for athletes to take part in three sports. After the IHSAA moratorium period in early July, the focus turns to fall sports.

“They go from one thing to another,” says Burton. “We have a small pool to pull kids from.

“Freshmen that are not necessarily for varsity completion are going against 18-year-olds.”

Assisted by Dennis Smith, Kevin Johnson, John Henderson and Eric Cravens, Burton will guide a baseball program through a full varsity schedule and partial junior varsity slate. The Lancers currently have six JV games scheduled.

While a few players in the community play travel baseball, it is the Town of Edinburgh Park & Recreation League that serves as a feeder program with players from age 3 to 15.

“I have a large say with what goes on with that,” says Burton, who has younger players learning the same philosophies and terminology used at the high school.

Since Edinburgh is located in three counties — Bartholomew, Johnson and Shelby — many different communities are served by the league.

Not far from the building shared by high school and middle school is Steve Hollenbeck Athletic Complex, home to Lancer baseball, football, softball, tennis and facilities.

Edinburgh belongs to the small-school Mid-Hoosier Conference (along with Hauser, Morristown, North Decatur, South Decatur, Southwestern of Shelbyville and Waldron) and is in a 1A sectional group with Greenwood Christian Academy, Indianapolis Lutheran, Morristown, Southwestern and Waldron.

Burton says he would like the IHSAA to come up with a way to seed the sectional so the two best teams don’t meet in the first round of the sectional.

“It could be based off record or a point system with strength of schedule,” says Burton. “It would take everybody getting on-board with it.”

Burton is single. Parents Tim and Angie and older sister Jessica all live in the Edinburgh area.

Jason Burton is the head baseball coach at his alma mater — Edinburgh High School. (Jerrica Smith Photo)