ELKHART – There was nothing but pride at stake when the Elkhart Lions hosted the South Bend Adams Eagles in Northern Indiana Conference (NIC) baseball on Wednesday, May 20; however, that’s what conference rivalries are all about in the first place.
While New Prairie secured the NIC championship the night prior and both teams came into the contest with losing conference records, both coaches stressed to their squads that playing familiar foes this close to the IHSAA state tournament is invaluable.
Scott Rost has led an Elkhart High School baseball team for 23 straight seasons – previously serving for 17 years as Elkhart Memorial’s head coach before merging with Elkhart Central ahead of the 2021 season – and Mike Cass has been Adams’ head coach for 12 seasons. The two have each won multiple sectional championships, and they both know what it takes to win a league as routinely competitive as the NIC.
“I think the majority of us coaches in the NIC care about the program and the school they represent,” Cass said. “It’s huge, and it makes a difference because they don’t want to lose.”
The latter wasn’t in the cards for either this season, but that doesn’t mean they’re selling themselves short of pulling off sectional upsets come next week. While neither Elkhart nor Adams is favored in their sectional fields, Rost said facing some of the best teams in Class 4A and 3A during conference play certainly helps his squad feel prepared for when it’s win-or-go-home.
“You can do one of two things: You can face that competition and kind of just bury your head in the sand and be like, ‘I can’t wait until this is over’ and not get much out of it. Or, you can realize this is what I have to do when I see a good pitcher, or this is what I have to do when so-and-so is at the plate,” Rost said. “No doubt, that helps us. It’s kind of a gauntlet.”
The Lions received a first-round bye in IHSAA Class 4A sectional four, facing the winner of Warsaw vs. defending champion Goshen in a semifinal Saturday, May 30, at Noon. The victor in that game will face the winner of Northridge vs. Concord in the championship game Monday, June 1, at 6 p.m. in Goshen.
The Eagles did not get such luck, having to face South Bend Riley in a first-round contest in the IHSAA Class 4A sectional three on Wednesday, May 27, at 5:30 p.m. Should Adams advance – and it is favored to do so after beating the Wildcats twice by a combined score of 34-0 in the regular season – the Eagles would face the winner of Penn vs. Michigan City in a semifinal on May 30 at Noon.
On the other side of that bracket is just one semifinal game between La Porte and Mishawaka, with the winner advancing to the championship June 1 at 6 p.m. in Mishawaka. Adams’ non-conference schedule was one of the most demanding in the area as well, playing against winning programs like Chesterton, Concord, Edwardsburg (Mich.), Homestead, Mishawaka, La Porte and Valparaiso.
Although senior Bethel University commit Weston Hoke would rather not lose 16 times in a season, he recognized how the Eagles have grown because of their setbacks.
“The better battles we have, the better we can be,” Hoke said. “We just have to be a good team, we have to know what we’re doing, we have to lock in.”
That’s why, for example, sophomore Jeffery Seitz was able to deliver in a clutch at-bat Wednesday. Adams trailed Elkhart 4-3 in the top of the seventh inning with two outs, and the seven-hole hitter forced extra innings with an RBI single up the middle. Cass admitted his team wouldn’t have been able to handle the pressure if it were in a situation like that early in the season.
Seitz’s heroics were ultimately for naught, as the Eagles allowed four straight batters to reach base in the bottom of the seventh and lost 5-4 on a walk-off hit by pitch to Lions senior Max Shreiner. The standout catcher hit two home runs the day before, and he explained how he hasn’t been phased much by NIC opponents all season.
“You’re facing good competition day in and day out, so you know you’re going to see [their] No. 1 and No. 2 [pitchers] and you have to be ready for anything they throw at you,” Shreiner said. “ … Nobody’s expecting us to go in and do all of these great things, but we know what we can do.”
Elkhart last won a sectional title in 2021, while Adams most recently did so in 2022. The Lions (6-8 NIC) still play one more NIC game against Mishawaka Marian Saturday, May 23, but the Eagles end the season with a 2-10 conference mark. Each team lost twice to rivals Marian, New Prairie, Penn and South Bend Saint Joseph.
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: NIC baseball sharpening up South Bend Adams and Elkhart before sectionals
Reporting by Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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