Now it's their turn: Lakers ready to add to Shakamak's rich baseball legacy

Jun. 20—Shakamak coach Jeremy Yeryar has fond recollections of his time when he played in the white and baby blue baseball duds that Shakamak have made famous.

"It's the same program I played under with Chip Sweet," Yeryar said. "We went to regional at Mooresville in 1992, we got beat 4-0 by Terre Haute North. My brother played for an unbeaten team in 1996 and got beat in open class in the regional."

Shakamak's legacy in baseball is its greatest in any sport. The Lakers have always been strong, even in the pre-class days when it was much harder for a small school to get statewide recognition. Since 1997-98 when class sports came into being, the Lakers have had their consistent winning validated by eight semistate titles and two state championships.

Shakamak's tradition goes back to former coach Sweet, in two stints, as well as coaches Matt Fougerousse and Todd Gambill. Yeryar, who played under Sweet, merely continues the Lakers' winning culture.

Having an atmosphere were winning is expected is half the battle for most programs, but at the end of the day? It's still up to the players on the field in each individual season to get it done.

When Shakamak steps on to the Victory Field diamond on Monday for its 5 p.m. Class A title clash against Washington Township, none of the current Lakers will have ever gone this far in their careers.

Tradition or not, it's still a daunting task to live up to the idea that it's their turn to keep the tradition alive. So how are these Lakers handling the responsibility of having the torch passed to them?

At Friday's pre-tournament practice on a hot day at Shakamak, the Lakers almost uniformly approached the challenge with a smile.

"It's been more fun than anything. We look at it as it's our last game no matter what, so make the best of it. We're fulfilling a legacy that's been put there for us," Peyton Yeryar said. "We haven't felt any pressure, that came last week when we had to win to get to Victory Field. This week has been all fun."

Maybe the looseness which the Lakers demonstrated both in this practice and in their 11-1 destruction of Borden at the Class A Mooresville Semistate is where the rubber meets the road in terms of tradition meaning something towards on-field success?

After all, many of these Lakers have grandfathers, fathers, brothers and cousins who suited up and succeeded at the highest level for the Lakers. Many have been back helping this week, including recent standout Braden Scott. Even alums of neighboring schools have pitched in. Clay City standout pitcher Hunter Wolfe, who went on to pitch well at Dayton, tossed to the Lakers on Friday.

In asking several of the players how intertwined the family tree branches are among the Lakers, many said it would be difficult for them to straighten those branches out on short notice.

"I think every single one of us who have had a relative that has passed through Shakamak baseball. We're all connected to someone, somehow in the previous years," Peyton Yeryar said.

The confidence Shakamak (19-9) has displayed wouldn't have seemed evident at seasons' end. Shakamak entered the postseason with a 13-9 record. The Lakers had lost to its most threatening sectional opponent — Bloomfield — during the regular season.

Still, Jeremy Yeryar thought the Lakers were in a decent position to make a run.

"We played pretty good ball at the end of the year as we played some pretty big schools, but I think when they got into the tournament and realized everyday could be their last? They began playing like that," Coach Yeryar said.

And so, like clockwork, the Lakers began doing what is seemingly their birthright, they started dominating. The Lakers outscored their foes 28-1 in the White River Valley Sectional, the 4-1 championship game revenge win over the Cardinals was the only close contest.

And it remains so. Shakamak won its pair of regional games and its semistate by a combined 34-2 margin.

Shakamak has combined excellent pitching from Peyton Yeryar with a timely uptick in fortunes at the plate. The Lakers have taken pride in putting teams behind the 8-ball with early surges that have put pressure on their foes when they bat. Brady Yeryar (.453, 5 HR), Peyton Yeryar (.402), Ethan Burdette (.372) and Oscar Pegg (.357) have been among those swinging the bats well for the Lakers.

"Bats are contagious. Once one or two of us jump on-base? The rest of us follow along. It's been a key factor in making it this far," Peyton Yeryar said.

So given the balance they've had, the Lakers have every right to feel good about their prospects on Monday. It's their turn and they know it.

"Everybody's feeling loose and having fun and we've been doing that throughout the postseason," Pegg said.

—Washington Township is next — The Lakers will be playing another school with a strong Class A lineage — Porter County-based Washington Township.

The Senators (26-7) advanced to the title game with a 3-0 victory over Cowan in the LaPorte Semistate title contest. Washington Township was on this stage when the IHSAA state baseball finals were last contested in 2019. The Senators lost to University School 4-1 in the 2019 Class A title clash.

The Senators have pitching depth to burn. Washington Township's primary three starters — Logan Curran (1.54), Steven Hernandez (2.22) and James Hernandez (2.33) — are all very good.

What Yeryar is most concerned about is Washington Township's small-ball offense. The IHSAA program indicates that the Senators have not hit a single home run this season, but they've batted .364 and they love to bunt. Shakamak was practicing bunt defense straight of the box during Friday's practice.

"That's how they won their game [against Cowan]. Three bunts at the very end. We've been going through a lot of bunt coverage. We want an out, no matter what. If we sacrifice a runner to get an out, that's what we want because you only get 21 outs in a game. That just takes one away," Yeryar said.

"We just hope we jump out and score. If we do like we have been, you can't play that type of ball," Yeryar continued. "We have to play our game. If we do, we're in it to have a shot to win it."

The leading hitters for the Senators with a high amount of at-bats include Steven Hernandez (.386), Bretin Boettcher (.372), James Kirk (.369) and James Hernandez (.363).