Midwest Select A Great Experience For Everyone

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Midwest Select A Great Experience For Everyone

WESTFIELD - Would year two of the Midwest Select hold up the reputation that was established by the inaugural PBR event?

The answer is a resounding yes if you listen to those that participated during two days of excitement at Grand Park, just north of Indianapolis, over the weekend.

This year there were 11 teams in the field including two from Ohio and three from Michigan. Indiana also had three teams play at least one game while Illinois was represented by three squads, including Joliet Catholic - one of two teams that did not lose a game during the 2018 Midwest Select.

“It was a great experience for the kids to be at this great facility with scouts bouncing around from field to field gathering data and seeing if there were any pro or college prospects,” noted Moeller head coach Tim Held.

The Crusaders were back for their second appearance at the event and, like a year ago, won one game and lost one. Ohio’s other participant, Centerville, also split two games. Michigan’s Gull Lake and Portage Northern both finished 1-2 while Portage Central was winless in three outings.

Columbus North, the number two rated 4A team in Indiana, was 3-0 while Joliet Catholic, the second-ranked team in Illinois, went 2-0 for the second year in a row. Edgewood, ranked second in Indiana in Class 3A, was the only other team not to lose, winning its only game played. Edwardsville, ranked fifth in Illinois, had a 2-1 record for the second straight year with Libertyville, Ill. 1-2 and Southport, Ind. 0-1.

Playing against such stiff competition early in the season gives the coaches involved an early view of their teams.

“This was a good learning experience for our guys,” explained Held, whose squad is ranked fourth in Ohio in Division I. “Our goal is to go as far as we can in the state tournament, so to face these kind of pitchers now helps us know how we stack up and what to work on. It’s a good measuring stick for us.”

THE EVENT

Win or lose, there was much to gain at the prestigious event.

“Things went really well for us, it was a lot of fun,” noted Gull Lake coach Reggie Walters, who had never been to Grand Park previously. “We had a great time playing good teams with a lot of talent and we hung in there with them. It was a litmus test for us and we were able to stand up to it.”

The Blue Devils lost to Edwardsville 3-1 on Friday before coming back to beat Libertyville 9-0 on Saturday morning. But the eighth-ranked team in Michigan ran into Centerville star pitcher Nick Hoffman (pictured) later in the day and the right-handed senior headed to Clemson threw a perfect game in a 4-0 contest, striking out the final batter with a 91 mph fastball.

“In the first game there were 25 mile per hour winds that helped make their kid’s breaking ball a pitcher’s game,” Walters said in reference to righty Collin Salter of Edwardsville. “It was only our fourth game of the season and the rest of the teams were like 15 games in, so for us it was … were we going to show well?

“Then after the Edwardsville game we went and watched Libertyville and they scored 13 runs (in a 13-7 win over Portage Central) and we’re thinking this will be another tough matchup. We threw our ace (uncommitted junior Luke Scoles) and he threw a great game (one-hit shutout). It made us feel we belonged. We could relax. But then we faced the Clemson kid. He was pretty darn good.”

Coaches found a lot of “pretty darn good” up close throughout the 11 games played over the two days of action.

“When we got the PBR invite we were really excited,” said Centerville coach Jason Whited, whose squad is currently ranked sixth in Ohio in D-I. “Then we saw the list of teams and we did a little scouting of them. In the regular season there are two or three, at most maybe four or five really good players on every team. But there, we had seven or eight on the report for each team. There were no weak links. The number of talented players there was unreal.”

Getting to know your own team made it even more difficult for first-year Portage Central head coach Cory DeGroote

“I’m trying to put in our own system and philosophy,” noted DeGroote, whose Mustangs are currently ranked 15th in Michigan. “We’d only been outside three times so we wanted to see what we had as a team on top of playing this high-caliber of competition.”

The veteran of 22 years as a head coach found plenty his team can learn.

“These other teams play the game the way we want to play it,” DeGroote explained. “It was awesome for our kids to see. We went 0-3, but I don’t care. The experience, to see it all first hand, was so beneficial. Now when we talk about all the little things in practice it will make more sense.

“There’s so much about it. How you show up. How you take infield, How you put your uniform on. How you handle adversity. The atmosphere in the dugout. We got a first-hand look at it. It’s what we want in our program. It was invaluable for us.”

BACK AGAIN

Returning to Grand Park for year two of the Midwest Select helped Moeller and Portage Northern be more prepared according to their coaches.

“Doing it a second time gave our kids more of a heads-up on why we were invited and why these other teams were invited,” Held said.

Moeller senior Michael Tennie (pictured) admitted that past experience a year ago was helpful.

“Having done it before made it easier,” Tennie said. “Last year we faced a big arm from Kokomo (Jack Perkins, now at Louisville) and we scored off of him so we came in knowing we can compete against anybody.”

The Crusaders did just that, scoring seven runs in the loss to Joliet Catholic and standout pitcher Zach Hise, the 19th-ranked junior in Illinois. Moeller came back to plate seven runs in the first three innings of an 8-6 victory over Southport, which started the top-ranked player in Indiana in senior Avery Short, who played with Team USA and is projected to be the fifth southpaw pitcher taken in the upcoming draft

“The kids are going to remember playing against him for a long time,” Held noted..

Portage Northern coach Chris Andrews, whose team is currently ranked first in the state of Michigan, felt his team was more ready for what they were going to see the second time around at the event.

“We knew a little more of what to expect,” Andrews said. “Last year we expected teams to be good, but we did not fully know how good they would be. This year we went in knowing these teams were going to be really good.”

Junior Parker Brey agreed with his head coach.

“This year we knew what we were getting into, the level of the talent we were facing,” Brey said. “Even though we only won one, we could have won more.”

DIFFERENT FEELING

Playing against strong competition did more than help prepare these 11 squads for tough opposition ahead come tourney time in their own state.

“The atmosphere was like a tournament,” Brey said. “We went 11 innings with Joliet and our dugout was going crazy. Everybody was on the fence every second of the game.”

Andrews remembers it well.

“It was like a playoff game,” the Portage Northern coach said about the Friday night game with Joliet Catholic. “The guys loved it ... the adrenaline of it.”

Walters found the same feeling with his squad getting the chance to play in a different state far from home.

“The players were excited to be there,” Walters explained. “It was different than a regular game. We got out of school early so right away the kids liked that. Then we stayed all night..

“When we got there the players were excited to see all the big schools. We might have been the smallest school there but it was good to know we stacked up. The kids were excited about that.”

Whited perhaps summed it up best.

“There was so much excitement to play in this,” the Centerville coach said. “There was all the cosmetic stuff, while not the most important, it added to it. The kids got to feel like a Big Leaguer for a day.”

HELP DOWN THE ROAD

Providing a great experience for the players, coaches and fans is not the only benefit these teams received from participating in the Midwest Classic.

“Playing against such good teams, every mistake gets magnified,” Andrews noted. “Our kids now have a better understanding why we need to work on things that can come into play in close games against good teams.”

Getting a win in the final game of the event, an 8-4 victory over Centerville, was huge in the eyes of Andrews.

“That was very important, we left with a much better feeling,” the Portage Northern coach said. “Had we not won, I would still think that we played okay against some good teams, but getting that win … we think we can play with anyone in the state of Michigan.”

While a chance to compete with some of the best players in the midwest, it also helps point out where improvement needs to be made, and the players understand that as well as anyone.

“For me, it was a great opportunity to play against some extremely talented kids,” pointed out Portage Central uncommitted junior Trammell Lindstrom (pictured). “It showed us things we need to work on, but it also showed we can compete with these high-level teams.”

Walters sees it as a learning experience for the coaches as much as the players.

“For me, seeing my guys against good arms helps me figure out where guys fall in when we see better arms down the road,” the Gull Lake mentor said. “We might see one arm as good as Hoffmann, but I thought we had some great at-bats against him. Even though some hits didn’t fall, it gave us a chance to see we can compete with anybody. I can’t say enough how important it is to see good arms for three games in a row like this to help get you prepared.”

After all, it’s what you do the final game of the season that will be remembered most.

“A lot of people get hung up on records, but we don’t care if we go 0-27, we just want to be tournament ready,” Centervile’s Whited said. “We want to play our best game the last game.

“Improving against good competition like PBR put together here, playing against great teams like this now can only help at the end of the season.”