April showers bring...postponements

Mother Nature had her way this week wreaking havoc on the baseball schedule.

Tuesday Eastern Greene and Shakamak were interrupted with the Lakers coming to bat in the top of the third inning. Bloomfield's game at Clay City was halted in the fourth.

Linton-Stockton never took the field Tuesday against Terre Haute North and Wednesday at North Daviess.

As happens every spring sports season, schools will be scrambling to reschedule games as May approaches.

But we did get some baseball in before the storms hit.

*****

Linton-Stockton and North Daviess made up Wednesday's washout Thursday at Linton.

The Miners hung on for a 10-7 win over the Cougars to remain undefeated in conference play at 5-0.

But they struggled. It was far from Linton-Stockton's best game. Six Miner errors contributed directly to five North Daviess runs.

But they hit enough to make up for the miscues in the field.

Half of Linton-Stockton's eight hits went for extra bases - home runs by Kendall Williams and Austin Allen and RBI doubles from Brayden Allen and Logan Hollingsworth.

Brayden Allen was the big bat, going 2-for-3 and driving in four runs.

Every coach I've talked to this year says the same thing about the Miners - they hit the ball up and down the lineup.

Good thing they did Thursday.

*****

Eastern Greene and North Central did manage to complete five innings Tuesday at Farmersburg before Mother Nature intervened.

Five innings were all the Thunderbirds needed as they routed the "other" Thunderbirds 15-3.

The T-Birds 15 runs came on 11 hits including a two-bagger off the bat of Nathaniel Nolting and Caleb Hamilton's round-tripper.

Coach Ben Hutcherson alluded to some lineup changes. I'll find out more about those next time I see the Thunderbirds in action.

They didn't win Saturday. But Eastern Greene came out playing inspired baseball before falling 6-2 to rival Linton-Stockton.

The T-Bird coach said, "That sets the standard for the rest of the games this season. We should approach the game of baseball that way every time."

*****

Eastern Greene wasn't the only area team to experience a revival at the plate.

Shakamak had scored just two runs in its last three games, against White River Valley, Vincennes Rivet and Sullivan.

The Lakers put eight runs on the board in two turns at bat before the thunderstorms hit.

With thunder rumbling in the distance, cleanup hitter Parker Green unleashed a little thunder of his own. Green tagged a two-run shot to the deepest part of the ballpark for a 3-0 lead.

The second frame featured typical Shakamak "small ball."

The Lakers tacked on five more runs on three singles, a walk, an error and a hit batsman.

The only thing missing was a sacrifice bunt.

*****

Perhaps Shakamak drew a little inspiration from Chip Sweet's jersey retirement ceremony.

I wasn't around to see any of Chip Sweet's Shakamak teams play. So I'll let two of Sweet's former players who followed the Laker legend into the head coaching ranks speak for me.

North Daviess coach Steven McNabb was a junior catcher for Sweet's last team before Sweet retired - for the first time - in 2006.

"Coach Sweet was the coach when I was growing up and I was fortunate enough to get three years under him before he retired the first time. Just the life lessons he taught us and the role model he was for me I'll never be able to thank him enough," the former Laker player and current Cougar coach said.

"He dedicated all of his springs and most of the school year to coaching the baseball team. His family brought you in and treated you as one of their own. It was literally a Laker family and he was the biggest reason for that. He deserves nothing but that - the highest honor you can receive with his number being retired and the first Laker to ever have that accomplishment and he deserves it."

Linton-Stockton coach Matt Fougerousse played for Sweet's first team and later was Sweet's assistant coach for 11 years. He attributes some of his success as a head coach to the things he's learned during his long association with Sweet.

"I learned a lot about the game from him. And he definitely influenced some of my coaching philosophies. I really believe without him I wouldn't have had some of the success I've had in coaching."

*****

We may be looking at the area's most improved team in Bloomfield. The Cardinals had been on a roll winning three straight.

Bloomfield and Clay City finished up Thursday.

The Cardinals trailed 1-0 when play was suspended Tuesday.

But right off the bat Thursday Bloomfield touched Eels' ace Hunter Wolfe for two runs.

Clay City answered with two of its own in the fifth. And those two held up for a 3-2 win.

Wolfe struck out 14 in the complete-game win.

"It was a good game. We played and our kids were right there," coach Jason Pegg said.

Pitcher Brandon Dagley has been superb in his last two outings. Dagley fanned eight against Orleans and whiffed nine WRV Wolverines.

Dagley throws hard. I don't know what he registers on the JUGS gun. But my eyes tell me this much - he's fast.

*****

I like to reward teams that are trending upward. For that reason I'm moving the Cardinals up to third in this week's rankings.

Terry's Weekly Rankings

1. Shakamak (8-6, 3-0)

2. Linton-Stockton (10-2, 5-0)

3. Bloomfield (4-7, 1-3)

4 (tie). White River Valley (7-5, 0-3); Eastern Greene (3-5, 1-2)

Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.