Baseball: Season preview

This wasn’t how the story was supposed to go.

Tyler Cerny had already lost his sophomore baseball season to a global pandemic; his junior year was supposed to be the trade-off. Already committed to play college ball at Indiana University, Cerny was eager to take the field last spring with a loaded Center Grove team expected to contend for a state championship.

But the morning after one late-March practice, Cerny woke up feeling sore — much more so than any soreness a teenage boy would ordinarily feel. He fought through it for a few days, playing in the Trojans’ preseason scrimmage and the season-opening tournament at Noblesville. But after that weekend, he quickly came to the realization that whatever he was feeling was not normal.

“The thing that hurt the most was probably the wrists,” Cerny said. “The inflammation, the joints were killing me. I couldn’t really rotate my wrists very well.”

Cerny was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, but what type still hasn’t been pinpointed. He temporarily got better, to the point where he was hoping to get back on the field, but in late April, things regressed to the point where he eventually had to spend a week at Riley Hospital for Children.

Over the course of the spring, Cerny lost about 20 pounds. By the time his situation cleared up and allowed him to start working out again, much of his strength had been sapped.

“Just picking up the bat felt like swinging an oar,” he said. “I had no bat speed at all.”

Eventually, Cerny regained enough strength that Center Grove coach Keith Hatfield gave him some late-season at-bats as a DH or pinch hitter — but he was just 1 for 13 with a pair of RBIs, acknowledging that he “never really was who I used to be.”

Now, he is. The weight and the strength are back, and Cerny figures to be at the heart of a loaded Center Grove team that features a half dozen Division I college commits. Hatfield hasn’t yet decided whether the bulk of the shortstop reps will go to Cerny or junior Drew Culbertson, who manned the position last spring, but Cerny insists that he and Culbertson are close friends and that there won’t be any friction regardless of who’s at short or third base on a given day.

Similarly, Cerny has remained in close contact with IU baseball coach (and Bargersville native) Jeff Mercer throughout all of his health difficulties, and player and team remain fully committed to one another.

“They know what they’re getting with me,” Cerny said. “They know that I’m a competitor, and if I have a setback like that I’m going to build myself back up even stronger. They believe in me, and I’m grateful for that.”

Cerny is excited to continue his playing career at the collegiate level — but he’s got a full spring of unfinished business to tend to beforehand. The Trojans enter the season ranked fifth in the Class 4A poll, which most teams would consider good enough but this one has taken as a motivational slight.

Not that Center Grove needed more of a push after a surprising loss to Jasper in last year’s regional championship game.

“It really did light an extremely large fire in us,” Cerny said of that setback. “Since that day, I think we all made a personal decision that we weren’t going to let that happen again. Everyone’s been working their tails off in the weight room, in the hitting facility, on the field, working on their skills. I think we’ve done a very good job of preparing ourselves to make a run.”

It’s a run that Cerny has had to wait an entire high school career for. His freshman season — when he batted .361 with 28 runs scored and 22 RBIs and established himself as a future star — ended with an upset sectional loss to Whiteland and its ace pitcher, Luke Helton. With his last two seasons canceled and curtailed, this spring is all that Cerny has left if he’s going to leave his mark at Center Grove.

He has no intention of squandering the opportunity.

“I’m definitely excited to go to college and play with Mercer over at IU, but obviously my first focus is going to be this year,” Cerny said. “I want to go out on a high note with these guys that I’ve played baseball with my whole life.”

SCOUTING THE COUNTY

Center Grove Trojans

Coach: Keith Hatfield

Last season: 29-5, won MIC, county and sectional championships; lost to Jasper in Class 4A regional final

Key returnees: Tyler Cerny, Mitchell Evans, Sam Griffith, Owen Guilfoy, Elijah Matheson, Aidan Murphy, Matthew Sauter and Jacob Wilson, seniors; Garrison Barile, Caden Cornett, Drew Culbertson, Ben Murphy and Grant Sawa, juniors

Top newcomers: Jacob Murphy and Evan Zapp, juniors; A.J. Beggs and Noah Coy, sophomores

Outlook: Returning almost everybody from a team that ranked among the state’s top five team almost all of last season, the Trojans have their sights set on a state championship and have the horses to get there. The return of a healthy Cerny, who missed most of last spring, bolsters an already loaded lineup full of Division I talent, and Wilson and Ben Murphy headline a deep pitching staff. Until someone proves otherwise, Center Grove is the team to beat in the county and sectional tournaments, and perhaps beyond.

Edinburgh Lancers

Coach: Dennis Smith

Last season: 1-16, lost to Greenwood Christian in Class A sectional opener

Key returnees: Ian Buchanan, Landen Burton, Nick Detling, Riley Palmeter, Colin Richardson and Caleb Turner, seniors; Jarrett Turner, junior; Gabe Bennett, sophomore

Top newcomer: Travis Jones, senior

Outlook: The Lancers ran into trouble last year by walking too many batters and struggling to get off the field in two-out situations; Smith is hopeful that they can improve in those areas and bump the win total up a bit. Edinburgh doesn’t have nearly as many year-round players as some other teams do, but there’s no shortage of athleticism — many of the players were part of successful football and basketball seasons. If it can translate to the diamond, the Lancers should become a bit more competitive.

Franklin Grizzly Cubs

Coach: Ryan Feyerabend

Last season: 20-9, won Mid-State Conference championship; lost to Center Grove in Class 4A sectional semifinal

Key returnees: Xavier Brown, Logan Devenport, Drew Doty, Jace Fowler and Nolan Netter, seniors; Beau Baker, Max Clark, Noah DeArmitt, Jackson Henry and Pryce Rucker, juniors

Top newcomers: Donovan Armstrong, junior; Brooks McNicholas and Clay Pinnick, sophomores; Landen Basey and Nash Netter, freshmen

Outlook: Any assessment of the Grizzly Cubs starts with Clark, the top player in Indiana and potentially the top pick in the 2023 MLB draft. But Franklin has plenty of talent surrounding him, including a pair of Division I recruits in Devenport (Northern Kentucky) and Fowler (Indiana State). Henry, DeArmitt and Basey add pitching depth behind Clark and Devenport, and the batting order has power and experience top to bottom. Franklin will again be among the Mid-State favorites and should be one of the top 10 or 20 teams in the state.

Greenwood Woodmen

Coach: Andy Bass

Last season: 5-21, lost to Center Grove in Class 4A sectional final

Key returnees: Justin Donenfeld, Luke Fiesel, Ian Flowers, Alex Honeycutt, Josh Miller, Conner Stidham and Dom Wright, seniors; Payton King, junior; Cade Kelly and Landen Smith sophomores

Top newcomers: Noah Rollings and Jaren Sanders, juniors; Brendan Bailey, Logan Connor, Wyatt Flowers, Jackson Simms and Micah Vessely, sophomores

Outlook: After struggling through most of the 2021 season, an inexperienced Woodmen team found its footing late, knocking off Whiteland in a sectional semifinal and giving Center Grove a legitimate fight in the title game. That May surge inspired a very productive offseason, which Bass hopes will lead to a good year with most of the key pieces from last year’s team back. Greenwood doesn’t yet have the depth of proven talent that the Trojans or Franklin have, but it’s a team on the rise that could be a problem for either of those teams in a one-and-done situation later this spring.

Greenwood Christian Cougars

Coach: Doug Hagist

Last season: 12-13, lost to Southwestern in Class A sectional semifinal

Key returnees: Caleb Parson, senior; Eli Ellis, Trey Harney III and Jake Potter, juniors; Colton Flint and Charlie Overton, sophomores

Top newcomers: Zach Haynes and Eli Jackson, freshmen

Outlook: The Cougars are still very young, but most of the current sophomores and juniors were in the starting lineup a year ago, so experience and talent shouldn’t be issues. Hagist notes that all of his pitchers return and says that “if we don’t do well this year, it’s my fault.” The challenge for GCA will be playing all of its games on the road — it doesn’t have a home field to play or practice on this spring — but if the team can keep it together, it should be well positioned to make some noise in the postseason.

Indian Creek Braves

Coach: Steve Mirizzi

Last season: 8-14, lost to Edgewood in first round of Class 3A sectional

Key returnees: Sam Boyd, Drew Gavin and Brandon Murray, seniors; Nolan Ankney, junior; Brock Bragg, Jagger Bray, Blayden Mann and Carter Modlin, sophomores

Top newcomers: Isaac Carter, senior; Arj Lothe, junior; Trent Volz, sophomore; Talan Steinway, freshman

Outlook: The Braves were largely starting from scratch last spring, forcing several freshmen into everyday roles immediately, but it started to pay dividends by season’s end and the result is a talented young core with some important experience. Ankney and Modlin head up a solid group of pitchers, Bragg provides a strong presence behind the plate and newcomers Steinway and Lothe are expected to make an impact right away. Mirizzi is confident that Indian Creek will be a contender in the WIC again and hopefully in the sectional.

Whiteland Warriors

Coach: Scott Sherry

Last season: 10-16, lost to Greenwood in Class 4A sectional semifinal

Key returnees: Eli Hawkins, Josh Medina, Jonathan Moreno and Caden Wilburn, seniors; Peyton Emberton, Brayden Roy, Ethan Shipp and Donavin Woodall, juniors; Drew Helton, sophomore

Outlook: The Warriors will still be young but return a good bit of experience, particularly at pitcher, where Wilburn and Helton spearhead a deep staff that should give the team a chance against anyone. Whiteland will have to step things up on the offensive end to become a consistent top-tier squad — last season’s tough 1-0 sectional defeat at the hands of Greenwood should serve as a reminder — but the arms ought to be enough to make this a tough team to beat in the Mid-State Conference and the sectional.