New Palestine’s Maddox Manes (30) delivers a pitch during their game against Franklin Central in the championship game of the Class 4A Sectional 11 tournament at Franklin Central High School on Monday, May 31, 2021.
Rob Baker/Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — Balance is the key for the New Palestine baseball team heading into this spring.
With 15 wins in 2021, Dragons veteran head coach Shawn Lyons is quick to point out the obvious from a season ago, namely the program’s 16 losses that often unfolded in waves.
A two- or four-game winning streak would typically lead to back-to-back losses or four straight, which marked their longest stretch of setbacks in 2021.
The speed bumps were partly due to the lost COVID-19 season in 2020 and a roster packed with 10 juniors and three sophomores with minimal varsity experience.
The other culprit was mentality, especially in the face of adversity.
“You have to embrace the failure. We didn’t do good enough of a job last year of embracing the failure. I think, if we embrace that, we’ll be able to overcome those adversities and then have more success in the next at-bat or the next play or the next pitch,” Lyons said. “If you make a bad play, embrace it, then let’s go.”
In a sport designed for players to fail more times than not, the Dragons enter the 2022 campaign humbled, a year wiser and determined to course correct.
The Dragons finished fourth in the Hoosier Heritage Conference with a 7-7 league record in 2021, but they also reached the Class 4A Sectional 11 title game, narrowly losing to Franklin Central, 10-6, last May.
With the loss of five seniors to graduation, the Dragons return a majority of their varsity lineup this season led by a core of juniors turned senior leaders that are eager to leave their mark.
“The difference this year is that I hope they know they belong. Last year, they didn’t. I think, that was partly due to the year before with COVID. They didn’t get to play. Now, they seem to be, more so in practice, sure of themselves, which we’re hoping translates in games,” Lyons said.
Six Dragon seniors are already committed to play collegiate baseball, and those behind them, in regards to age, aren’t too far from taking a similar path in the near future.
Seniors Maddox Manes (Franklin College), Zayden Stiller (Anderson University), Luke Legault (Mount St. Joseph’s), Eli Bruns (Grace College), Caleb Davis (Grace College) and Carter Stogsdill (Indiana Wesleyan) will be the team’s centerpieces.
“Most of our guys are back. The guys that we’re going to count on this year. Maddox Manes, obviously, he headlines our team. Zayden Stiller, too,” Lyons said. “Those six seniors will hopefully lead us to better times for us.”
In 2021, Brendan Tabor, who is now at Anderson University, drove in a team-best 24 runs. Zayden Stiller (20 RBI), Stogsdill (19), Manes (15) and junior Wes Stiller (14) backed up their former third baseman, offensively.
This year, the group will be counted on to set the pace.
“Maddox and Zayden have been the leaders of our winter group, and the guys the team looks up along with the other seniors,” Lyons said. “With this group, if I ask them to jump, they ask how high and not why? That’s not always been the case with some seniors we’ve had in the past couple of years. They’re real receptive and buying in. But, we haven’t had any adversity yet, so we have to see how we deal with adversity. That’s probably the biggest jump we have to make.”
Manes continues to make the necessary progressions after hitting .329 with two home runs and five doubles. On the mound, Manes went 2-4 with a 4.86 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 40.1 innings pitched.
“He pitched in a lot of our big games last year. Obviously, he was a conference pitcher for us most times. He was hurt part of the season, so he missed some games,” Lyons said. “But, we’re going to lean on him. He’s made significant strides in the winter. He changed his work ethic in terms of the weight room and eating right. You can see it in his velocity, the way he carries himself and how the ball comes off his bat.”
Bruns was the team’s ace last year after finishing with a 4-0 record, a 3.25 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 32.1 innings. Coming off an offseason knee surgery, Bruns will be limited early on, but he is projected to rejoin the Dragons rotation in mid-to-late April.
Until he returns completely, Manes will be the Dragons’ top pitcher followed by Davis (1-1, 3.44 ERA), Stogsdill and multi-sport standout Blaine Nunnally (2-4, 3.23 ERA), a junior, among others.
“He’s a freak of nature. Nunnally is all-conference in football, all-conference in basketball, and he’s a really good baseball player. He’s trying to do something that’s hard to do and play three sports and be successful at it. He’s done that, so we’re going to lean on him,” Lyons said. “He’s a kid that you would certainly jump in a foxhole with because of his mentality. He’s a tough-minded kid.”
At the plate, Zayden Stiller (.300), Stogsdill (.299), Manes, Nunnally (.265, 10 RBI), and Wes Stiller (.327, 14 RBI) represent tough outs.
Zayden Stiller, Legault (.266, 12 RBI) will see time at catcher along with Ben Yoder, a senior.
Manes and senior Jackson Havel will handle first base, while Bruns, Davis and sophomore Adam Rickey could rotate at third base. Bruns and Nunnally are set to share shortstop duties, and Legault and Rickey are projected to patrol second base.
Stogsdill will leadoff and start in center field, again, with Wes Stiller and junior Nolan Cox set to round out the defensive outfield ahead of a handful of reserves that will push for at-bats.
“New Pal baseball is never under the radar. Mt. Vernon is obviously the class of our conference. They are, but I think, let us be under that radar. That’ll be fine,” Lyons said. “We won 15 games last year, but that’s still not good enough for us. We still lost 16, too.”
If experience means anything, the Dragons are built to flip the ratio, beginning with an HHC series to open the year against Shelbyville next week.
“If we had adversity, and things didn’t go right last year, we’d kind of go backwards. This year, we have to battle through it,” Lyons said. “I’m hoping Zayden and Maddox help us out with that, along with guys like Luke Legault. It’s eight weeks, but it is a marathon, and our conference is going to be really good. There’s really good talent and really good coaching, and that will prepare us for the state tournament.”
2022 New Palestine Baseball Schedule
Apr. 5: Shelbyville at New Palestine, 5:30 p.m.*
Apr. 6: New Palestine at Shelbyville, 5:30 p.m.*
Apr. 8: New Palestine at Knightstown, 5:30 p.m.
Apr. 9: Batesville at New Palestine, noon
Apr. 11: Perry Meridian at New Palestine, 5:30 p.m.
Apr. 12: New Palestine at Yorktown, 6 p.m.*
Apr. 13: Yorktown at New Palestine, 6 p.m.*
Apr. 18: New Palestine at Whiteland, 5:30 p.m.
Apr. 19: New Palestine at Mt. Vernon, 6 p.m.*
Apr. 20: Mt. Vernon at New Palestine, 6 p.m.*
Apr. 21: New Palestine at Southport, 5:30 p.m.
Apr. 23: Franklin Central at New Palestine, 10 a.m.
Apr. 26: Greenfield-Central at New Palestine, 5:30 p.m.*
Apr. 27: New Palestine at Greenfield-Central, 5:30 p.m.*
Apr. 30: New Palestine at Pike, noon
May 2: Warren Central at New Palestine, 5:30 p.m.
May 3: New Palestine at Delta, 6 p.m.*
May 4: Delta at New Palestine, 6 p.m.*
May 5: New Palestine at Danville, 6 p.m.
May 10: Pendleton Heights at New Palestine, 6 p.m.*
May 11: New Palestine at Pendleton Heights, 6 p.m.*
May 13: Cathedral at New Palestine, 5:30 p.m.
May 14: Connersville at New Palestine, noon
May 16: New Palestine at Scecina Memorial, 5:30 p.m.
May 17: New Castle at New Palestine, 5:30 p.m.*
May 18: New Palestine at New Castle, 5:30 p.m.*
May 19: Greenwood at New Palestine, 5:30 p.m.
* Hoosier Heritage Conference game
