Colt World Series: Lafayette All-Stars believe in defense

Our local Colt World Series team is looking for victory. Good luck to those hard working kids and too Josh Loggins for leading the way!

Parents Day!!!

Parents day for Franklin College is Sept. 29th! My boy is going to college, wow, where have the days, errr years gone?

Franklins history & coach

Looks like Nicks head coach at Franklin College will be Lance Marshall. His stats are impressive as well as the history of Grizzly baseball. Nick has 2 former Central Catholic Knight team mates already there from previous state finals CC teams, Taylor Glaze who pitched in 2 state championship wins. The other is Scott Windler, also from 2 state finals championship teams. Below is a copied and pasted story on the history of the Grizzlies & Coach Marshall.


As written by Franklin staff:
Lance Marshall was named the head coach of the Franklin College baseball program in August 1997. He also is an assistant athletic director at the college.

During his tenure at Franklin, Marshall has guided the Grizzlies to three Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season championships, plus a conference tournament title and subsequent berth in the NCAA Division III Championship tournament.

In the 2011 season, Marshall coached Franklin to a 30-14 overall record, including a perfect 17-0 mark in home contests and a 16-8 record in HCAC games. The Grizzlies captured their first HCAC championship tournament and earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs.

In 2009, Marshall guided the Grizzlies to a 31-11 record and their third HCAC title. FC posted a 17-4 mark in HCAC contests – matching its best league record of 2002 – and earned the college’s third opportunity to host the conference tournament since the league tourney became limited to four schools in 2001.

Franklin also was ranked a best-ever 21st in the American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball national Top-30 poll for NCAA Division III schools and Marshall was voted the HCAC’s Coach of the Year for the third time in 2009.

The Grizzlies that season shattered several school records, including team and individual marks. FC set new team records in batting average (.349), at-bats (1,484), runs scored (442), hits (518), doubles (109), home runs (55) and runs batted in (393).

In 2005, Franklin won the HCAC title with a 15-6 mark and achieved its second best single-season victories total in finishing 29-15 overall. He was voted the HCAC’s Coach of the Year for the second time. The Grizzlies led the league in both team batting average and team earned run average and garnered their highest ever national ranking of 24th among Division III schools as rated by the American Baseball Coaches Association. Franklin also was rated a best-ever third in the NCAA III Mideast Region.

In the spring of 2002, Marshall coached FC to a school-record 32 victories and its first HCAC regular season crown with a league record 17 league triumphs. Franklin also was ranked a then best-ever fifth in the Mideast Region and was rated in the Top 30 in the nation for the first time. He was voted the HCAC’s Coach of the Year — the first time a Franklin coach was the recipient of the honor.

Marshall has coached three HCAC Most Valuable Player honorees – Craig Bland (2002), Terry Kinnett (2004) and David Verdeyen (2005), a HCAC Pitcher of the Year recipient – Nathan Ellis (2012), plus five conference Freshman of the Year selections – David Verdeyen (2003), Andy Clark (2005), Jim Swienconek (2006), Nick Stoia (2010) and Scott Windler (2011).

Moreover, during Marshall’s tenure, the Grizzlies boast two victories over NCAA Division I scholarship opponents. The Grizzlies earned a 6-2 triumph at Butler University in 2009. This followed one of the most notable victories in any sport in school history defeating the University of Notre Dame 4-3 in South Bend in 2007. He owns an overall coaching record of 353-256 in 15 seasons at FC.

His previous college baseball coaching experience includes assistant coach positions at two NCAA Division III schools in Illinois, Elmhurst and Rockford colleges. At Elmhurst, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1993, Marshall guided the pitchers and catchers, directed the fall baseball program and was involved in recruiting and fund raising from 1995 to 1997. Moreover, Elmhurst captured the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship in 1997 while Marshall was coaching there.

Marshall was assistant at Rockford while working on his master’s degree in secondary education, which he received in 1995. Marshall served as an assistant football coach at Elmhurst, coaching tight ends, in ’95. Additionally, he was the manager of operations at the Chicago White Sox Training Centers after serving as instructor and regional director. He also served as an associate scout for the Houston Astros from 1995 to 1998.

Nicks Possible Roomie at Franklin

Through the first four innings of last week's City tournament baseball final, Cardinal Ritter High School pitcher Hayden Cleveland had stymied one of the best teams in Class 4A.

Using a variety of pitches, Cleveland held No. 6 Cathedral to one run on three hits, striking out six batters in the process.

That, Ritter coach Jason Sims said, is what Cleveland is capable of doing on a nightly basis -- and getting past what happened in the fifth inning is the key to the senior pitcher making that next step toward a successful college career. ...

Tribstars version of state championship

IHSAA Baseball Championship: Lafayette Central Catholic tops Shakamak

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s not often a high school baseball team on the short end of a 12-2 score can legitimately lament wasted chances and missed opportunities, but Shakamak endured that unfortunate situation Saturday afternoon at Victory Field. If former Arizona Cardinals football coach

Dennis Green had been there, he could have paraphrased his most famous rant: “You let ‘em off the hook.” And coach Chip Sweet of the Lakers would have agreed. Top-ranked Lafayette

Central Catholic won its fourth straight Class A state championship and fifth in the last six years — Shakamak interrupted in 2008 — by putting together a tie-breaking nine-run rally in the top of the fifth inning Saturday. But the Knights were extremely fortunate the score was tied at that point, and the Lakers contributed to their own demise to help the big rally get started. “When someone looks at the score, they’ll think we got hammered,” Sweet said after the game. “But we put pressure on [the Knights].” And could have put on even more. Shakamak hadn’t been to Victory Field since its championship season, so every Laker was playing there for the first time — and several Knights for the fourth time. Shakamak’s start, understandably, was a little shaky.

“We let the surroundings get to us a little bit,” sophomore Brett Yeryar admitted after the game. LCC got an unearned run in the top of the first inning on a leadoff single by Austin Munn, a passed ball, a ground out and a sacrifice fly. The Knights could have had more in the second inning after getting two hits and two walks, but Laker catcher Dylan Collins threw out one runner trying to advance on a ball in the dirt and Patrick Green struck out Munn — the Knights’ only strikeout of the game, as it turned out — with two out and the bases loaded. Then it was the Lakers’ turn.

Yeryar laced a sharp single to center with one out in the bottom of the second, Luke Sweet walked and sophomore Christian Burris followed with probably the longest hit of his life. A .214 batter entering the game, with no home runs to his credit, Burris jumped on the first pitch he saw from Munn and launched a drive that one-hopped the fence between the 418 sign in left-center and the 405 mark in straightaway center, both runners scoring easily.

The 400-foot blast, a homer in every other park he’ll play in, was “pretty much” the longest of his life, Burris said after the game. “I didn’t watch it, I was too busy running,” he added. “At that point, I thought we could win it, big-time. I thought we could’ve been state champions.” The next two Lakers couldn’t drive Burris home, and the Knights tied the score in the top of the third on a leadoff walk, a hit and a sacrifice fly. But the Shakamak hitters weren’t finished with Munn. Brock Dowell led off the third inning with an infield hit, Collins walked and Green hit a one-hop smash off Munn’s glove.

The ball trickled into short right field but Dowell, who had held up at third, didn’t realize that in time to score. That proved to be a big play when Munn got out of the bases-loaded, no-outs jam with a strikeout and a double-play grounder. The Knights went out one-two-three in the top of the fourth, though, and Munn yielded three walks and threw a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning.

One of the Lakers was picked off base, however, and that threat was wasted too. “Brock didn’t see me waving him in, and then we got the runner picked off the next inning,” Sweet said afterward. “We had [Munn] on the ropes at the time; a timely hit in there would’ve made a huge difference. “We should’ve gone into the fifth with the lead, a minimum [lead] of 3-2. Then [the Knights are] starting to feel a little pressure.” Instead, Munn led off the LCC fifth with a walk and Nick Stone blooped a ball down the right-field line that fell for a double. Green induced what looked like a harmless popup down the third-base line, but three Laker defenders were unable make a play and the ball landed a foot in fair territory for an RBI single.

Andrew Hubertz followed with a seeing-eye single to drive in one run, LCC’s other runners moving to second and third on the fairly close play at home, and Jake Churchill doubled through the Lakers’ pulled-in infield for two more runs. “We miss those opportunities, and then we start the fifth with a walk,” Sweet noted later. “They get a duck snort [the bloop double], that ball falls in down the left-field line … that opened the floodgates, and sometimes it’s hard to get the bleeding stopped.”

The Knights wound up with eight hits in the inning, including a pair of long extra-base blows later, and added four more hits for their final run in the sixth. “It’s definitely disappointing,” Dowell said after the game — and after winning the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award for Class A baseball. “This wasn’t the ending we wanted. [The Knights] came here and did what they needed to do … but I couldn’t fault our effort. I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to go out with.” “LCC is a great ballclub,” said fellow senior Robert Fowler. “We didn’t have enough hits and we didn’t make enough plays.” “This is a bitter taste, but I’m glad we made it here,” said Yeryar.

“We battled hard, and I feel we deserved to be here. It wasn’t the greatest of outcomes, but we got some experience and we hope to be back soon.” “That taste in my mouth is going to push me to come back again,” Burris agreed. “We can come back and win it next year.” “It’s really been a special year,” Sweet said. “We felt [at the beginning of the year] we were going to be better, and then the young kids got some confidence, our hitting started coming around … the kids are hurting right now, but at this age they’re resilient.

Are they disappointed a little bit? They might be, but I know before long they’ll be really proud of what they accomplished.” “It was a great season, with a lot of great times,” said Fowler. “We had a great group of guys and great coaches. “[Being part of this team] helps me persevere,” maybe the team’s most improved player continued. “I learned a lot from each coach, each in his own way. They taught me an unbelievable amount of knowledge.”

ihigh's media on Nick

ihigh's media on Nick