BY STEVE KRAH
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.
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