<p>Steve Mirizzi set a goal for himself to become a high school baseball head coach by the time he was 30.</p>
<p>He made it by one day.</p>
<p>Offered the Indian Creek job on September 22, Mirizzi entered his 30s with a veteran ball club and more responsibility than ever before.</p>
<p>More than eight months later, the Braves are preparing to compete in the school’s first baseball semistate. Indian Creek, ranked 10th in Class 3A, plays No. 3 Silver Creek Saturday afternoon at Jasper’s Ruxer Field.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]
<p>"I honestly can’t describe it. It’s been an awesome ride," Mirizzi said. "I walked in and inherited a group of guys who were ready for this moment."</p>
<p>A graduate of Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio, Mirizzi played baseball at Lincoln Trail College before transferring to Ouachita Baptist University.</p>
<p>Mirizzi played center field for Ouachita, a Division II program in Arkansas, batting .347 as a senior for the Tigers.</p>
<p>His coaching career started in 2011 as an assistant for two seasons at Princeton High School in his hometown of Cincinnati. He then spent five years as part of the staff at Danville, helping lead the Warriors to 3A sectional titles in 2013 and 2015.</p>
<p>It seemed Mirizzi might reach his coaching goal with room to spare when he applied to become Danville’s new head coach prior to the 2017 season. However, the Warriors opted for Patrick O’Neil, who Mirizzi assisted for one more year before coming to Trafalgar.</p>
<p>"I applied for the job at Danville and it didn’t work out. They went a different route, and when the Indian Creek job opened up, I couldn’t pass it up,” Mirizzi said. “I feel like I’m a players’ coach. A younger coach."</p>
<p>And a coach that knew what kind of roster he would have at Indian Creek.</p>
<p>In Mirizzi’s time at Danville, the Warriors lost three of four sectional games to the Braves, including semifinals the past two seasons when Indian Creek went on to win the sectional.</p>
<p>Mirizzi had never set foot in Trafalgar before his interview in September. All the same, he knew about Trevor Ankney’s fastball, the brothers Sprong and how Dawson Read and Jared DeHart were experienced playing the infield.</p>
<p>“Seeing them in past years, I really wanted them to play relaxed,” Mirizzi said of the team as a whole. “That’s the best part of our team. They don’t get too high or too low. I’ve told them this whole postseason not to worry about the scoreboard because you’re going to have to get through all 21 outs.”</p>
<p>The confidence Indian Creek exudes on the baseball diamond isn’t fabricated or for show.</p>
<p>It’s from spending countless practices and 29 games with Mirizzi, whose belief in his team’s abilities makes a difference.</p>
<p>“Most of it’s the motivation and the drive he gives us, It’s how confident he is in our abilities,” said Read, the Braves’ starting third baseman. “He tells us he believes in us and he knows how we can play. We all take what he says to heart.”</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="The Mirizzi file" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Steve Mirizzi</p>
<p>Age: 30</p>
<p>Born: Cincinnati</p>
<p>Family: Fiancee Tiffany; son Jackson, 4; daughter Mackenzie, 1</p>
<p>High school: Lakota West, Ohio (2006)</p>
<p>College: Ouachita Baptist University (2010)</p>
<p>Major: Business</p>[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title="Scouting today’s Class 3A semistate" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Indian Creek (24-5) vs. Silver Creek (24-2)</strong></p>
<p>When: Approximately 3:30 p.m. (following completion of 1 p.m. game)</p>
<p>Where: Ruxer Field, Jasper</p>
<p>Players to watch: Indian Creek — Trevor Ankney, Jared DeHart, Wyatt Phillips, Dawson Read, Dustin Sprong; Silver Creek — Sammy Barnett, Holden Groher, Tyler Kapust, Tyler Wheeler</p>
<p>Outlook: The Dragons come in as hot as any team in the state, winning 11 straight and avenging both of their regular-season losses in the process. They’re scoring nearly 10 runs a game and have a pair of Indiana University commits in ace pitcher Barnett and freshman Groher. Indian Creek, though, has a couple of Division I stars of its own in Ankney (Purdue) and Sprong (Xavier). Silver Creek rates as the favorite on paper, but if the Braves can get another shutdown game out of Ankney — who has struck out 27 batters in his two postseason starts — they’ve got an excellent chance to reach the first state championship game in school history.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
