Published: July 12, 2008 09:28 pm            

Howard County meets Loganland in All-Star game

Mother Nature is the only thing that has kept Howard County from a perfect record in the Pharos-Tribune/Kokomo Tribune All-Star Baseball Game.

The Howard County All-Stars cruised to a 14-1 win in the inaugural high school showcase in 2005, then settled for a 6-all tie against Loganland in ’06 when rain halted action after just five innings. Howard County bounced back for an 8-6 win in ’07.

The fourth annual All-Star Game is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Lewis Cass High School. Long-time Western coach Ty Calloway will lead the Howard County squad and he sees no shortage of talent.

“In all areas, it looks like we can field a really good team,” Calloway said. “I think we have seven pitchers we can throw, so we ought to easily find nine innings out of seven pitchers. Hitting-wise, it looks like it’s pretty solid. I think it’s a good defensive team too. Anytime you can put a team like that together, that makes it fun. I’m looking forward to Wednesday night.”

The Howard County team features players from Eastern, Kokomo, Northwestern, Taylor and Western. The Loganland team counters with players from Carroll, Caston, Lewis Cass, Logansport, Pioneer and Winamac.

“Cass County is noted for baseball just like Howard County. I’d put those two counties up against most counties around,” Calloway said. “I think it will be a good game. It ought to be entertaining. We want to make it fun for the kids and for the fans to watch. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.”

The Howard County All-Stars are: Nick Griggs, Colton Hopwood, Bryce Robinson, Nolan Sanburn and Dustin Schacht from Kokomo; Kirk Beachy, Jimmy Corcoran, James Reed, Alex Ridlen and Brad Rist from Northwestern; Kevin Jewell, Matt Reida and Garrett Spall from Western; Seth Vautaw from Taylor and Michael Moreno from Eastern.

Reed, Robinson and Vautaw are All-Star veterans. Robinson was the MVP of the ’06 game.

Both teams will use 15-player batting orders in the nine-inning game. The Howard County squad features nine players who batted .400 or better. Corcoran (.544), Ridlen (.532), Reed (.490) and Schacht (.489) lead the way. The squad also offers power — Moreno belted eight home runs, Robinson cracked seven and Schacht had five.

“Going with a 1-15 batting lineup, it looks pretty good up and down the lineup,” Calloway said. “It should be a good offensive exhibition for people to see.”

Rist headlines the pitching crew. He posted an 8-2 record and a 1.94 ERA for Northwestern. Other pitchers include Spall (5-2), Sanburn (4-1), Reed (4-2) and Hopwood (4-3).

Loganland’s top hitters are Winamac’s Evan Bonnell (.435), Logansport’s Grant McCloskey (.412) and Caston’s Matt Turnpaugh (.409). Turnpaugh belted 10 homers and McCloskey, Pioneer’s Cody Conn and Caston’s Ethan Zartman went deep five times apiece.

Caston’s Elliott Rowe headlines Loganland’s pitching options. The Class A all-state player had an 8-3 record and a 2.30 ERA in 2008. Carroll’s Riley Eller (7-3, 1.68 ERA) is another solid option.

Calloway is looking forward to the game, and also the preceding youth clinic which will take place from 4-5:30 p.m.

“One thing I’m going to try to emphasize to our players is, ‘You’re role models for the young kids. There are a lot of eyes looking on you so let’s put a good show on for them,’” he said.

        

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