IUSB’s Berger tries to stay away from free passes

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

Robbie Berger will be working with numbers when he graduates.
Right now the senior right-handed pitcher is putting up some impressive digits for the Indiana University South Bend baseball team.
A fifth-year senior playing for head coach Doug Buysse and associate head coach/pitching coach Zane Gonzalez, Berger is scheduled to graduate this spring with an Accounting. He already has a job lined up in that field.
As a pitcher, the 23-year-old has 11 mound appearances (10 in relief) in 2023 heading into a home game today (April 25) against Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Saint Francis (Ill.) at Rex Weade Stadium in Granger and is 1-2 with three saves and a 2.63 earned run average.
In 51 1/3 innings, he has 42 strikeouts and just three walks, three hit batsmen and one wild pitch.
“I’ve never been a hard thrower in my life,” says Berger. “I’ve always kind of relied on making batters get themselves out.
“I’m always going to give up hits and that’s part of the game. But if I can eliminate walks and hit-by-pitches it makes it that much harder to score runs.”
Berger averages 7.4 K’s per nine innings.
“I never really try to strike out guys,” says Berger. “I just try to be around the (strike) zone.”
The 5-foot-10, 200-pounder throws from a high three-quarter arm slot and uses a four-seam fastball that sits at 83 to 85 mph, a straight change-up, cutter (thrown as hard as possible with slider-like movement) and a “1-to-7” curveball.
The way Berger is used reflects his team’s new approach to pitching.
“At IUSB — for the most part — we changed around the way we attack games,” says Berger. “We’re trying to steal outs essentially.
“In the past, our back-end bullpen guys had trouble getting outs. So we put those guys at the front of the game and see if they can get through three innings and have our normal starters from past years come in an close out the game.
“We flip the script a little bit (closer, middle relief then starter).”
It’s the NAIA Titans’ take on the “opener” thing that the Tampa Bay Rays have done successfully in the majors.
“The mindset of the pitching staff is to constantly get to the next guy,” says Berger. “There’s 27 outs and we want to get them as fast as possible.”
In Berger’s 2023 relief outings, he has been used for 4, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4 and 5 innings.
Born and raised in South Bend, Berger played travel ball for the Indiana Land Sharks 10U until his junior year at John Glenn High School in Walkerton, Ind.
He credits Land Sharks coaches John Kehoe, Tom Washburn and Dennis Ryans for guiding his early baseball path.
John Nadolny was his head coach at Glenn.
“He’s a great guy and was fun to play baseball for,” says Berger of “Nud.” “He wants the best out of his players and was good at pushing and motivating us.”
Berger was selected for the 2018 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series in South Bend. He did not play and underwent Tommy John surgery that summer.
He was invited by head coach Kevin Bowers to Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill., where he was part of the team while rehabbing from his procedure.
To be closer to home, he transferred to IUSB.
While still recovering, he played some with Buysse’s summer team in 2019. He played for Buysse’s summer team in 2021 and took last summer off to concentrate of weight training and arm care.
What are Berger’s top qualities as an athlete?
“Consistent and hard-working,” says Berger. “Day in and day out, you’re going to get the same from me.”
The righty made three starts with a complete game and went 2-1 and 19 strikeouts and no walks in 18 innings in 2020 — the season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Berger made 10 mound appearances (all starts) with two complete games and was 5-4 with 53 strikeouts and 14 walks in 53 1/3 innings.
In 2022, he started seven times in 14 outings with two complete games and was 2-2 with 52 K’s and 12 walks in 42 2/3 innings.
Robbie is the son of educator and boys basketball Robb Berger, who has 387 wins in 25 seasons and is in his second stint at Mishawaka Marian High School. He teaches at South Bend Washington High School.
Robbie says his father has always been able to pick up on body language.
“If I had a bad day and he noticed it, he said, ‘you better change that right now,’” says Robbie Berger of Robb. “The stuff you can control the most is attitude and body language.”
Grandfather Bob Berger, an Elkhart County Sports Hall of Fame inductee and Nappanee (Ind.) High School graduate, coached basketball in South Bend for 32 years, including 20 as head coach at Riley High School.
“He tells me to try to stay positive,” says Robbie Berger of Bob. “He tells me I have stuff to work on if I had a bad day — stuff like that.”
Robbie is two years older than sister Cassee, who is an IUSB junior.

Robbie Berger. (Indiana University South Bend Photo)

Robbie Berger. (Indiana University South Bend Photo)

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Re-booted Michiana Brewers serve prep seniors, college players and more

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

The Mishawaka (Ind.) Brewers — a baseball team co-founded in the 1990’s by Shawn Harper and Alex Parker — took 2021 off and has rebranded as the Michiana Brewers.
It is an organization works to provide an opportunity for high school seniors, collegiate baseball players and recent college graduates to play competitive ball with home fields in north central Indiana.
With a focus on players in or about to enter college baseball with some former minor leaguers in the mix, the Michiana Brewers — renamed to reflect the wide area where the team gets players — will compete in the National Amateur Baseball Federation’s Major Unlimited Division and play an independent schedule. The South Bend semi-pro league consists of only two teams — the Brewers and South Bend Royals.
Under the guidance of manager Harper and pitching coach/assistant Chuck Bowen, the Brewers plan to play around 30 games from Memorial Day weekend to second week of August in 2022.
There’s typically one weeknight game (often on Friday) and a doubleheader or tournament on Saturday or Sunday.
The season opener is to be a home game with the Fort Wayne Jackers. A home-and-home series is planned with the Chicago Suburban Baseball League’s Beecher Muskies.
The 2022 Charlie Blackburn Major Division NABF World Series is to be played in Battle Creek, Mich.
Harper and Bowen place the level of play on the Brewers’ schedule at just below summer wood bat circuits like the Northwood League.
The Brewers recently secured Rex Weade Stadium at Harris Township Park in Granger, Ind. — home of Indiana University South Bend baseball — as one home field and hopes to also host games at John Glenn High School in Walkerton, Ind., and other locales.
Now that a home field has been secured, the recruiting process has begun.
Two John Glenn graduates — Calumet College of Saint Joseph baseball player Michael Machnic and Holy Cross College basketball player Billy Harness — have committed to the Brewers for the upcoming season.
Harper (a 1991 graduate of South Bend John Adams High School who played for Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Len Buczkowski then played for and managed the Indiana University South Bend club team) and Bowen (a 2007 graduate of John Glenn where played for John Nadolny and went on to play two years for Joe Yonto at Ancilla College in Donaldson, Ind.) recently met with and received support from IUSB head coach Doug Buysse and South Bend Cubs Foundation executive director, 1st Source Bank Performance Center director and former South Bend Silver Hawks manager Mark Haley.
Harper says he plans to carry a roster of up to 25 with some pitcher-only players. In the past, position players paid $200 to participate with pitcher-onlys paying $100. Sponsorships are being sought to cover team expenses.
Commitment is something Harper expects from his players.
“On the day of game, I want them to ask themselves if they are excited and can’t wait to get to the field,” says Harper. “If they are torn. If there’s a conflict at all, don’t play.
“In 16 years I’ve never forfeited one game. I’m very proud of that.”
Harper accepts players to miss 25 percent of the time as long they communicate that with him.
In October, Harper was inducted into the National Semi-Pro Baseball Hall of Fame in Evansville, Ind., after being nominated by former South Bend Senators manager and the man he replaced as South Bend semi-pro league president — Ron Milovich.
The best ways to contact are the Michiana Brewers Facebook page or by calling Harper at (574) 514-2028 or Bowen at (574) 780-0696.

Michiana Brewers (formerly Mishawaka Brewers)

Confidence is everything for Nadolny and his John Glenn Falcons

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Continual improvement.

That’s the goal of veteran baseball coach John Nadolny as he prepares players for his 17th season at John Glenn High School in St. Joseph County and 25th head-coaching campaign overall.

“‘Get better everyday.’ That’s what I say to these guys,” says Nadolny. “If you had a bad day today, tomorrow’s got to be better for you. Let’s find something positive in what you do everyday.

“This is such a mental game and confidence in high school is everything. You fail. You learn. You go on and get better.”

The coach knows that an average high school team with some confidence is going to be a superior team without confidence much of the time.

Nadolny wants his squad to improve as its progresses through fall ball to winter workouts to preseason indoor training to the first time they step outside in the spring. Then there’s the in-season adjustments.

“We get better at the year goes on every year,” says Nadolny. “We share a lot of kids athletically (at an IHSAA Class 3A school with an enrollment around 600). We don’t have a lot of travel baseball players. We’ve elevated some kids to a pretty good level.”

While Nadolny — aka “Nud” — will raise his voice when he deems it necessary, he is not the yeller and screamer he was as a younger coach — a result of mellowing with age and with the athletes he’s now coaching.

“Kids are a little bit more sensitive nowadays — to a point,” says Nadolny, a 1981 South Bend Riley graduate. “Not everybody is the same. I understand kids and I read kids now better than I ever did.

“We’ve had our success.”

In 24 years as a head coach (at both Riley and Glenn), Nadolny is 480-223. He has sent 36 players on to college baseball and had Josh Glenn (1995 by the Philadelphia Phillies) and Andy Groves (2003 by the Kansas City Royals and 2007 by the Colorado Rockies) taken in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Four of Nadolny’s players have been chosen for the IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series — Glenn (1995) and Brian Stultz (1996) at Riley, Groves (2003) and Justin Gierlowski (2014; he did not play) at Glenn. Stultz was MVP of the series in Jasper.

Two of his former Glenn catchers —  the ones that he trusted to call all the pitches — are now college coaches. Doug Buysse is head coach at Indiana University South Bend and Adam Piortowicz is an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Western Michigan University.

Nadolny has racked up eight sectional titles (1991 at Riley and 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2016 and 2017 at Glenn). Besides the sectional crown in the first year as head coach, Nadolny took three straight Wildcat clubs to the sectional championship game.

Nadolny’s Falcons reigned at the Kankakee Valley Sectional in 2016 and 2017 and have all 23 pitching wins back for 2018.

There have been four regional championships (1991 at Riley and 2003, 2005 and 2006 at Glenn) one Final Four appearance (2003 at Glenn). The Falcons lost to eventual state runner-up Western in the regional semifinals in 2016 and eventual state champion South Bend St. Joseph in the regional finals in 2017.

“Those were awesome weekends when you had to win two in a day and there was no class system. No one remembers those anymore,” says Nadolny. “You might win three games in the sectional then two at regional, two at semistate and two at state. Those days are long gone. You had to have two really good pitchers.”

There’s also the eight conference titles (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011 in the Northern State Conference and 2017 in the Northern Indiana Conference South Division — all at Glenn).

The 13-team NIC includes Glenn, Bremen, Jimtown, Mishawka Marian, New Prairie and South Bend Riley in the South Division and Elkhart Central, Mishawaka, Penn, South Bend Adams, South Bend Clay, South Bend St. Joseph and South Bend Washington in the North Division. Nadolny says seeing strong pitching day in and day out in the conference has helped the Falcons at state tournament time.

The long-time coach does not take all the credit for the winning.

“I’ve been good because I’ve had good assistants,” says Nadolny, who has Joe Gambill as a varsity assistant. Gambill has been with Nadolny for all but one of his seasons at Glenn. Leland Travis (third season) and Brad Laskowski (second season) lead the junior varsity Falcons. Denny Stull was Nadolny’s assistant in all nine of his years in charge at Riley.

Nadolny sees himself as the product of the people who taught him the game over the years. Some of the ways, he loved and adopted. Others, he did not and did not make a part of his program.

“As I decided I was going to be a coach and a teacher, I kind of picked and pecked from everybody,” says Nadolny. “Everybody did things differently and tried to get the same result.

“I’ve was fortunate enough to play and coach against (Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association) Hall of Fame coaches like Ric Tomaszewski (South Bend Washington), Len Buczkowski (South Bend Adams) and Jim Reinebold (South Bend Clay). They were all successful. Why wouldn’t I follow some of the things they’ve done? I took my personality and the way I feel about stuff and it all blended together.”

After playing for Jackson Middle School in ninth grade, Nadolny was a three-year varsity player for Ralph “Peanuts” Pieniazkiewicz at South Bend Riley High School and then played four seasons for Dick Patterson at Bethel College in Mishawaka.

“I learned a lot from Ralph. I learned discipline,” says Nadolny. “He was like a second father to me. I played for him and coached with him (1987-90) and took the Riley job when he left.

Nadolny grew to appreciate Pieniazkiewicz as the years unfolded.

“I got to understand him a little more about where he was coming from as I got older — like you do with anybody else,” says Nadolny. “As your life goes on you learn to see things through other people’s eyes and you step in their shoes a little bit.

“It’s the process of learning and living and coaching. As a player, you think you know everything.”

Nadolny drew some lessons about relationships from observing Patterson.

“He knew how to treat people,” said Nadolny. “One thing about him is that he let us play. We were pretty good.”

As a senior in 1986, pitcher/first baseman Nadolny played for a Bethel team that won the National Christian College Athletic Association World Series in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Pilots had to win three games on the last day of the double-elimination tournament, which meant Nadolny missed graduation exercises.

“That was probably the happiest day of my life,” says Nadolny. “Anytime you’re on the field with a chance to play is a good day.

“There were a lot of good ballplayers at Bethel.”

The Pilots had a roster filled with South Bend area talent.

Steve Hosinski (LaVille High School graduate) Kevin McNamara (Mishawaka Marian) were NCCAA All-Americans. BC’s all-Mid-Central Conference selections included Hosinski, McNamara, Scott Holland (Plymouth), Rick Romeo (Adams) and Joey Underwood (Jimtown).

Hosinski won a then-school record 13 games while striking out 103 batters in 99 1/3 innings in 1986. Romeo set a then-BC mark with 58 walks.

Nadolny established standards at the time with 12 home runs and 56 runs batted in. His slugging percentage was .736 in 1986 and .623 for his college career. When he was a freshman, Scott Anderson (Penn) hit .469 — which still stands as the top single-season mark in Pilots history.

John first learned the game on the lots around his South Bend neighborhood and at South Bend Southside Little League, where his father Stanley became a fixture. Stanley and Betty Nadolny had five children — Cathy, Jackie, Steve, Rick and John. Steve is a member of the Manchester University Athletic Hall of Fame.

John learned from his big brothers and while playing for South Bend American Legion Post 357 and later in the Michiana adult league with the St. Joe AC’s.

After college, the youngest of the Nadolny offspring went into teaching in South Bend and became a Riley baseball assistant. He was with the Wildcats until 1999 then did some scouting before landing the coaching job at Glenn. He has also been a special education teacher at the school in Walkterton.

This fall, Nadolny has conducted optional open fields a couple times a week while planning a trivia night fundraiser. When fall ball wraps, work will begin in earnest on upgrades to the home and visiting dugouts.

At Glenn, it’s all about continual improvement.

John Nadolny is heading into his 25th season as a high school head baseball coach in 2018. It will be his 17th at John Glenn in Walkerton, Ind. He started his career at his alma mater — South Bend Riley. He has 480 career victories. (Gregory Ladewski Photo)