Tippecanoe County baseball connection

From Bob Friend of West Lafayette to Todd Dunwoody and company at Harrison to more recently Clayton Richard of McCutcheon, Tippecanoe County has a rich baseball tradition.

The 1993 Harrison Baseball team consisted of five players who were drafted to play professional baseball. Four of them: Josh Loggins, Eric Bruntlett, Todd Dunwoody, and Eric Sabol have World Series rings either as a player or scout.

"We've all kind of fed off each other I think. We've gone on to do things that we dreamed of doing when we were kids," said Josh Loggins.

"It's Pretty amazing. I think once it gets started, it just kind of feeds on itself. The guys that are the best athletes, they see the baseball players doing well and they want to do that themselves," added Eric Bruntlett.

Those players pushed each other to be better, and pushed future generations of area high schoolers to give them confidence that they too could one day play professional baseball.

"I was fortunate enough that my father was really aware of the local baseball and what was going on. He would always take me (to games). What I remember most was he would take me to go watch Dunwoody actually pitch" said Clayton Richard.

"I was at the game in '95 when they won the state championship and the guys that I played with, that's the only thing we ever talked about was winning a state championship. When you are around kids who have similar goals, it makes it a lot easier to work together and work towards that common goal," said Josh Lindblom.

Another factor in the local development of professional baseball players could be this inconsistent, frigid Midwest weather.

"A colder weather player is usually a later developer than a warmer weather player. You have guys in the Midwest who have the athletic ability and the tools, but don't have the time to be on the field do to weather. They get a chance to play more often and their tools come around," said Loggins.

In addition, some of the top high school athletes play multiple sports. Once they begin focusing on one, in this case baseball, they grow as players.

"Kids from Indiana aren't just going to play baseball. They're also going to play football, and basketball. Once they're done playing and they move on to another level the growth and development in other sports help out in baseball," said Richard.

The one constant outside of baseball that brings these players together is giving back to the communities that support them. Whether it's signing autographs speaking to fans or teaching at a free clinic. It's just as important as striking a batter out, or scoring the game winning run in the World Series.

Lindblom is one phone call away from being called up to the Dodgers, which could set up a potential County pitching match-up in southern California between him and Clayton Richard. Also, that Harrison team in 1993 that had five pros on it was swept by McCutcheon that season.

The Mavs and Raiders shared the Hoosier Conference Championship that year.