Dave Pishkur was on the first team to ever play on the baseball field at Andrean High School in 1970.
He shepherded the program’s growth over the years, transforming the modest facility in Merrillville, about an hour south of Chicago, into a beautiful place to play a ballgame complete with a scoreboard, fencing and a bullpen that did not exist 50-plus years ago.
After a tornado rumbled through Illinois and parts of Northwest Indiana last Thursday, the damage done to the field destroyed the place where the 59ers’ baseball dynasty was built. The fencing collapsed and scattered throughout the campus. The scoreboard was ripped apart, a gaping hole where the visitors score was once displayed.
“In our 45 years, we’ve done a lot to that field and made it one of the nicest natural surfaces in Northwest Indiana,” Pishkur said. “To see the destruction of the field, the scoreboard, the backstop, the fencing, the bullpen, it’s kind of sad, because there’s a lot of good, fond memories of that (field).
“You don’t know what the future is going to bring. Are they going to rebuild or relocate? A lot of unknown questions that have to be answered soon.”
As the 59ers prepare for Friday’s Class 3A state championship game against Guerin Catholic, baseball has been a welcome distraction from the tornado that left their school severely damaged. The team hasn’t been on campus since the tornado and is using different fields and facilities around the area to practice.
Andrean returned several members from last season’s championship winning team, but Pishkur said each team is different and you never know how players will respond once they get under the lights at Victory Field. Right fielder Luke Goben and third baseman Chase Nelson started on last year’s championship team, but they batted eighth and ninth last season. Now the duo bats one and two in the lineup, respectively, and the jump from contributor to key cog can be a significant one for some athletes.
“We have a number of players who were on that team last year that are back, so they at least will have game experience and have gone through the practice that we did the week of the state tournament, but I don’t know if that really is going to determine how it affects the game,” Pishkur said.
“All of a sudden we’re supposed to play really good because we’ve been there and they’re not supposed to be playing good because they have not? I don’t think it matters, but it’s nice that we have at least been on the field, and we’ve been in that situation, but still another day, another game, and who knows what’s going to happen?”
Saying Andrean has been to the state championship game before is putting it modestly. The 59ers have won a state-record tying nine championships since 2004 and finished runners-up in two more.
Kouts, a community of about 2,000 residents in Porter County, is also dealing with the aftermath of last week’s tornado. Kouts coach Jason Dorhorst said the tornado touched down about one quarter mile away from a subdivision where several members of his team live. He said once the storm passed, he spent time sending messages to his team, checking with everyone to make sure they were unharmed.
Dorhorst added that he went to the field the next morning to assess the damage. Once he realized they could get power to their pitching machine, he knew his team would be good to go.
“We got lucky,” Dorhorst said. “There’s probably at least a dozen houses that have pretty significant damage, but the town itself was spared.”
Dorhorst agreed with Pishkur’s assessment that every season is different, but Kouts – last year’s Class 1A state runner-up – had a young team making its first state championship appearance last season. Going through the preparation for a state title has helped the team better prepare for its return trip to Victory Field.
“The experience helps. I feel like it’s helping us this week as we prepare, definitely,” Dorhorst said. “We kind of know what to expect. … We’ve built on last year. We learned from some of our mistakes, and we’ve definitely pushed that to get better. It helped that we had a lot of returners, and we returned all of our starters from last year, so that absolutely helps.”
Kouts is led by sophomore pitcher/shortstop Billy Miller. Miller started the 2025 championship game against Lutheran, struggling through five innings as walks and errors put Kouts in a 3-0 hole after one inning. Lutheran was the better team that day, but Miller’s confidence never wavered. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound righty spent his summer playing high-level travel baseball with the Indiana Bulls. Miller is also a starter on the Kouts basketball team, and his athleticism shines on the diamond.
Miller’s already stellar numbers are up across the board. In 34 games, he’s batting .514 with 45 RBIs, 12 doubles, five home runs, four triples and 27 stolen bases. He’s drawn 25 walks and struck out just seven times. His numbers at the plate are gaudy, and his production on the mound is equally impressive. Miller is 2-0 with a 0.42 ERA and 83 strikeouts over 49⅔ innings. His fastball is up to 90 mph and he mixes in a changeup and curveball to keep hitters off balance.
“(Miller) is probably one of the most composed kids, he just doesn’t get rattled,” Dorhorst said. “He absolutely wasn’t rattled in that (championship) game, they beat us. They came out and they hit the ball, but that’s one of the things that we’ve all kind of learned from that game. We’ve reflected on that game.
“Billy was an amazing athlete last year, he’s an amazing athlete this year. I think he’s a little more savvy, a little bit more experienced, but that kid’s played a lot, a lot of competitive baseball over the years, not just in high school. So, he’s used to being in big moments, he’s a starter on the basketball team too, so he’s ready for it.”
State finals
At Victory Field
Friday, June 19
4:30 pm ET | Class 3A | Guerin Catholic (27-3-1) vs. Andrean (30-3)
8 pm ET | Class A | Northeast Dubois (23-5) vs. Kouts (31-1)
Saturday, June 20
4:30 pm ET | Class 2A | Evansville Mater Dei (29-3) vs. Bluffton (19-10)
8 pm ET | Class 4A | Bloomington South (25-6) vs. Lake Central (27-8)
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tornado damage doesn’t slow state title preparation for Andrean, Kouts baseball teams
Reporting by Akeem Glaspie, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Akeem Glaspie, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
