MAB MONTHLY May 2012 FREE RailCats Season Preview Duneland Michigan Recruits Region Softball Midseason Report Boys Hoops All Stars in College Plus, an evening with Bobby Knight www.midamericabroadcasting.com MAB MONTHLY Page 3 MAB ONLINE MAGAZINE MAB Staff family Yet another month rolls around, and another MBA Monthly comes your way. This month we take a look forward at Hank Kilander the Gary SouthShore RailCats 2012 season. Things should be Webmaster Broadcaster exciting in downtown Gary this season as Greg Target leads Staff Writer the team on it’s second American Association campaign. Andy Wielgus does a great job as always taking a look at Rich Sapper the region to Ann Arbor connection in men’s basketball and a Staff Writer Broadcaster historical perspective on Indiana athletes who have set re- Sales cords. Layout & Design Brandon Vickery returns with a mid season look at high school softball in the area, while Hank Kilander gives us a look Bob Potosky Broadcaster at where those Indiana basketball all-stars went to college. We Host only give you a recent list here, the entire list is on our web- Staff Writer site at www.midamericabroadcasting.com. Andy Wielgus We also recap the picks that the Bears and Colts made Broadcaster in this year’s NFL Draft. Of course, as the cover suggests, Rich Host Sapper reflects on his evening with listening to coaching leg- Staff Writer end Bobby Knight speak. JT Hoyo Finally, as always, we ask that you support our spon- Broadcaster sors. Without them, we can not do what we do. Thanks and en- Host joy! Staff Writer Sales Contact Information Phone: 219-973-7990 Website: www.midamericabroadcasting.com Also find us on Facebook and Twitter MAB MONTHLY Page 4 Inside this issue: Vision Point Athletes of the Month 6 Gary SouthShore RailCats 2012 Season Preview 8 Duneland Trio in the Home of the Fab Five 14 Region Softball Midseason Report 20 Record Setting Hoosiers 26 An Evening With Bobby Knight 30 Recent MAB Show Pictures 34 Indiana Boys Basketball All Stars and College 36 2012 NFL Draft Recap 42 Gary Roosevelt Sports: A Proud Tradition 44 Did You Know? 44 May Broadcast Schedule 45 MAB Golf Guide 46 P. 14 P. 20 P. 8 MAB MONTHLY Page 5 To order the 2011-2012 Boys or Girls Magazine Visit Indiana Basketball Magazine online at www.indianabasketballmagazine.com MAB MONTHLY Page 6 VISION POINT ATHLETES OF THE MONTH Written and Compiled by Andy Wielgus MAB Staff Writer Zach Plesac Jimmy McNamara Crown Point & Taylor Leinhart Lake Central Zach Plesac from Crown Two Central Michigan Chippewa Bound Senior Point is 2-0 on the mound to Pitchers for Lake Central Jimmy McNamara propel the Bulldogs to a 5-0 and Taylor Leinhart share the honor. They have led the Lake Central Indians Baseball Team to start. He struck out 11 Munster a No. 1 Ranking in 4A, No. 1 in the Midwest, and to a 9-0 start and 2-0 in the Duneland Ath- batters in a 3-2 victory . letic Conference. McNamara threw a Perfect Game vs Lowell and Taylor Leinhart beat previ- ously undefeated Crown Point. LC also swept all of the Wooden Bat Challenge Games for Head Coach Jeff Sandor. Jake Post & Bobby Nicole Steinbach Humphreys Andrean Chesterton Andrean pitcher Nicole Stein- Led by Chesterton's Pitchers Jake bach picted a no-hitter against Lowell. Post and Bobby Humphreys the Trojans In the contest, the senior struck out 10 won back to back games over Portage 4-1 Red Devils as the 59ers improved to and at The US Steelyard, 3-0 over Griffith. 10-1 overall and 7-1 in conference this The Trojans Staff only gave up One run in campaign. 14 Innings of play. Also, the Ohio State Bound Post got the win over Lake Central 4- 3 to give the Number One team in 4A Lake Central, there 1st loss on the season. CLEARLY DIFFERENT MAB MONTHLY Page 8 Gary SouthShore RailCats 2012 Season Preview By Rich Sapper MAB Monthly Staff Writer It’s take two for the Gary SouthShore RailCats in several ways this season. The first of these occurred at the end of last season when Kevin Spudic was hired as the President and General Manager. The Highland na- tive and Valparaiso University graduate was the assis- tant GM from 2002 to 2005. Take two also in the American Association. Last year was the first year in the AA for the ‘Cats who spent the first 9 years of their existence in the Northern League. Last year, the RailCats battled to a 54-46 re- cord in the AA Central, and just barely missed the play- offs for the first time since 2004. Spudic and Manager Greg Tagert have designs this year on an AA championship this year and have made some moves to help with the on product on the field. MAB MONTHLY Page 9 Infield INF Chris Carrara who batted .295 and saw time at all four infield positions last sea- son was one of the first signings this offsea- son. Rico Washington (.313/12 HR/83 RBI) and Brian Kolb (.280) return as well. Infield mainstay Mike Rohde returns for his fifth season as a RailCat. Rohde, who Chris Carrara is a former rookie of the year with the Rail- Cats, hit .290 last year to go along with 6 round trippers and 63 RBI. Also expected to Frontier League and see time in the infiled are newcomer, lefty with RailCats rival David Cooper and switch-hitter Kyle Haines. Fargo Moorehead be- fore returning this sea- Outfield son. The RailCats Also joining started building the out- Coles, Klein, & Mas- field by re-signing a key saro in the outfield will part of the lineup bringing be new acquisition Ja- back left-handed out- son James who is a Jason James fielder Mike Massaro four time Frontier who hit .320 over the past three seasons and .344 last Check out Region Sports Desk’s year. Massaro was the 11th best Shows, Highlight hitter by average in the Ameri- Videos and can Association. The team also Recruiting Videos on re-signed OF Adam Klein (.299/75 runs/.423 OBP), One of the biggest stories of the off-season was the return of former RailCat, Hammond High Product Mike Coles. Coles, an outfielder returns to the team that he played for his rookie season after spending the www.youtube.com/user/ past several season with the Windy City Thunderbolts of the jtjrmoney8 MAB MONTHLY Page 10 Bear Bay, a new addition to the RailCats rotation was a Cubs draft pick and spent 2011 in the Angels League all-star. The lefty hit .278 with 10 HR and 52 RBI last season and is a ca- Pitching reer .326 hitter. Pitching was one of the weak spots for the ‘Cats last season and a priority in the off- season was to shore up the pitching staff . 59 Indiana Avenue, Valparaiso Just off the Courthouse Square Phone 219-464-7102 or 219-462-0404 MAB MONTHLY Page 11 The first move was to resign RHP Nolan Craig Maddox (.321/22 RBI) behind the dish Richardson who pitched in 25 games last this season. Babineau was signed out of the season and started 16. The same day, it was Diamondbacks system. The team also signed announced that RHP Chris Allen was ac- Jordan Comadena, a former Purdue Boiler- quired ads the “player to be named later” in maker who has played in the Astros organi- the earlier Andy Weeks trade. Allen was 4-2 zation. Dan Pellegrino rounds out the catch- with a 1.42 ERA in 30 relief appearances for ers for the RailCats leading into the season. Lake Erie last season. The RailCats made a splash by adding former Cubs draft pick Bear Bay who spent Manager last season with the Los Angeles Angels Greg Target re- AAA affiliate Salt Lake Bees where we stuck turns for his eight sea- out 95 batters, while walking only 50 over son with the ballclub. 159 innings. Another AAA pitcher added to The two-time Northern the roster is 4 time minor league all-star An- League Champion man- drew Johnston, who spent the last seven sea- ager and two-time son in the Rockies organization. LHP T.J. Manager of the Year Wohlever also returns to the team and RHP missed the playoffs for Scott Kelley was added to the roster. In addi- the first time as the tion, RHP Mike Perconte, who also played in ‘Cats skipper last season. The team played the Astros and Rangers organizations for well under his tutelage though, missing that their AA affiliates last year. They also playoff berth by a single game. Amazingly, brought back pitcher Will Krout (5-2, 1.85 Target has finished every season in his carrer ERA), with a record above .500 and he will enter RHP Phillip Bartleski, RHP Morgan the 2012 season just 8 wins shy of 800 in his Coombs, RHP Derek Johnson, RHP Andrew Johnston, RHP Chad Rhoades, and LHP Car- los Rivas complete the pitching staff. 5 Reasons to Advertise Catchers with MAB Ryan Babineu will split time with 1. Support exposure for student athletes. 2. Low advertising rates. 3. Special packages available. 4. Your ad will run live and on our archive. 5. Option of game, web and online mag. 6. Contact Rich Sapper at 219-973-7990 or [email protected] MAB MONTHLY Page 12 16 year career. Of course, his focus will be on the team bringing home another champi- onship, and his trademark development of players rather than personal honors.