JASONVILLE —
With a huge SouthWestern Indiana Athletic Conference game coming up in less than a week, coach Chip Sweet of Shakamak used two pitchers against a powerful Northview team in high school baseball about a month ago, and was pleasantly surprised when Patrick Green and Brock Dowell combined for a shutout in a 4-0 win.
Green didn’t get a lot of offensive support in that SWIAC game at North Central the following Monday, but teammate Brodie Crowe broke up a no-hit bid by Connor Strain of the Thunderbirds in the top of the seventh inning and Green’s four-hitter with 12 strikeouts was enough for a 1-0 win for the Lakers.
Approximately 24 hours later Shakamak still wasn’t hitting very well, but Dowell and Brett Yeryar pitched 12 shutout innings against Terre Haute South, then combined for the walk-off run — Dowell scoring on Yeryar’s bases-loaded single — for another 1-0 victory.
Now the Lakers haven’t shut out every opponent this season, and three games on Friday and Saturday boosted the team earned run average above the 1.00 mark that it hovered around for a while. But Shakamak went into a nonconference game at Eminence on Tuesday with a 14-3 record and a No. 3 ranking in the Class A poll, and its deep and talented pitching staff is certainly one of the reasons for high hopes for the rest of the season.
And their coach remains as pleasantly surprised as he was a month ago.
“Did I anticipate [pitching like] that? Never,” Sweet said this week. “The first 12 or 13 games, I never would’ve believed it. It’s hard to explain.”
Sweet acknowledged he’s probably blessed with one of the deeper staffs around “for a small school,” and he might be understating his case. If Green and Dowell are the one-two punch for Shakamak, they are nicely complemented by Yeryar and also by Crowe — “I’m usually third or fourth in the rotation; I’m more of a basketball player,” he said this week — and there are also two promising freshmen available in Braxton Yeryar (he and Brett are cousins) and Dylan Collins.
Collins may not get any varsity innings this season, however. He’s been another surprise as the Lakers’ first-year catcher. “He’s an unsung hero,” Sweet pointed out. “He contributes to these guys [and their success] too.”
Green, a junior with a 6-0 record, is unanimously considered the hardest thrower among the Lakers. “I have really good control, but my fastball is up there — mid to high 80s [in miles per hour],” he said, “and I have a pretty good curveball.” He fanned 16 Linton batters on Saturday in a one-run victory that kept his team unbeaten in the SWIAC.
Dowell is the staff’s only left-hander and also its only senior. He has a 2-1 record and, like most of the other Shakamak pitchers, relies on command. “Being able to place [the ball],” he answered when asked about his pitching strength. “I don’t throw the hardest, but I hit my spots for the most part.”
“I feel pretty comfortable putting [any of] them on the mound,” Sweet said. “They’ll pitch to contact … and give us a chance [to make defensive plays].
“They’re not going to overwhelm you, but they’re pretty smart and they all have an idea [of how to pitch],” the coach continued, “and the defense has been pretty respectable — and it better be.”
“Control,” is what Crowe — a junior with a 2-0 record — answered when asked about his pitching strength, to continue the theme, and Brett Yeryar — a sophomore who’s 4-2 — said “I’m trying to work on my control … and my curveball’s been working for me lately.” At least three generations of Yeryars in the Jasonville area have been known for throwing hard and challenging hitters, though, and Brett admits that’s his preference too.
Pitching alone won’t be enough for the Lakers to achieve their goals, they all agreed this week.
“Our defense has to show up every game. We can’t expect any of us to strike out 16 every night,” Dowell noted.
“We’ve got to put the ball in play, put pressure on the other team’s defense,” added Green. “And we have to play good defense and not give up four or five outs in an inning.”
“Our hitting has been behind our defense and pitching,” Sweet said, “but it’s already catching up … and we’ve been seeing a lot of good pitching [from other teams].”
It’s been a more pleasant season than last year, when North Central — now a Class 2A team — won sectional and regional championships on Shakamak’s field. And if the Lakers’ dreams are big ones, there’s precedent for that too — a 2008 state championship and three other Victory Field appearances in the four years prior to that.
“If you’d told me we’d be 14-3 right now, with who we’ve played … I wouldn’t have predicted that,” Sweet said, “but I knew we’d be better than last year. The chemistry is different; these kids enjoy being around each other.”
“I see us growing really fond [of each other] as a team,” Green agreed. “We’ve become stronger; one big tight-knit group.”
“We’re moving in the right direction,” said Dowell. “We all want to get to Victory Field, but we’ll take one game at a time.”
“If we can keep our heads on, we can make it all the way,” Crowe predicted. “Stay focused and confident.”
The future, Brett Yeryar said, “looks pretty bright to me. If we play like we’re capable, we can make it all the way. Humble and hungry: that’s the motto of Shakamak baseball.”
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Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Having a ball: Shakamak pitchers (from left) Patrick Green, Brett Yeryar, Brodie Crowe and Brock Dowell.
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