by Emily Armentrout

emily@thepaperofwabash.com

Former Manchester assistant coach and current Northfield football coach and physical education teacher Brandon Baker has been selected to coach Northfield’s varsity baseball team. Baker is also a former Northfield graduate.

Baker joins a completely new coaching staff, which includes Justin Branock, Cody Schell, Tory Shafer and Troy Vigar.

“The team is responding well,” Coach Baker said. “It’s a totally new staff; no one from last year is back and they’ve responded well to everything we’re trying to do with them.”

Not only did the Norse baseball team have a staff change up, they also lost multiple senior starters and the winningest pitcher in Indiana high school history. This year, the team is made up mostly of juniors and sophomores, with a lone senior.

by Gary Andrews

The Northfield varsity baseball team evened their season record to 3-3 Saturday with a double-header sweep over Marion.

The Norse rode the back of Shane Vigar in game one who was the winning pitcher striking out 13, while going 4 for 4 at the plate.

In game one, the Norse jumped on Marion in the first inning. Adam Roser led off with a single and was followed with a single from Brad Bever. Roser and Bever would then pull off a double steal with Roser scoring on a steal. Drake Richter then drove home Bever and the Norse led 2-0 after one.

In the bottom of the third, the Norse would tack on two more runs. Vigar started the inning with a single and was drove home on a Remington Monce double. Bryce Kendall was then hit by a pitch and followed by a Nate Hembree bunt single. With the bases loaded, Monce was picked off third but Joseph Mitchell loaded them back up with a single. Kendall would score on a wild pitch and the Norse led 4-0.

Marion would pick up a run in the fourth, and it was 4-1 in the fifth when the Norse struck again. Bryce Kendall started the inning with a double, but was thrown out at third. Nate Hembree then singled and was followed by a Mitchell walk. Both runners would advance a base on a wild pitch when Brown singled scoring Hembree and Mitchell to lead 6-1.

by Gary Andrews

The Southwood varsity baseball team hosted Peru in a double header Saturday, losing game one 5-4 before handing the Tigers their first loss of the season with a 9-8 victory in game two.

In game one, the first inning had plenty of action. In the top of the inning, Peru would strike first when Logan Brimbury hit a fly ball out to bring Cameron Beauchamp home. Richardson would then score on a Ray single for a 2-0 lead. The Southwood offense would waste no time answering the Peru opening. Jackson Blair led off the inning with a single and was followed by a Nathan Hollars single to put runners on first and second. Robbie Cole would then single and the Knights had the bases loaded with no outs. Brandin Frazier hit the fourth straight single, knocking in Blair and Hollars to tie the score at 2. On the next pitch Cole and Frazier pulled off a double steal with Jacob Lloyd making the Tigers pay with a 2 run single and the Knights led 4-2 after one.

Unfortunately for the Knights, the seeing eye hits they had in the first inning became a thing of the past the rest of the game as everything they hit went right at someone. The Tigers would chip away at the Knight lead, scoring 2 runs in the third to tie the game and scored 1 run in the 5th to take a 5-4 lead which held up for the game one win.

By Emily Armentrout

emily@thepaperofwabash.com

The Industrial Business Complex, which sits on 135 acres of land in Wabash, has been selected as one of five properties in Indiana for Duke Energy’s 2013 Site Readiness Program. According to Duke Energy’s website, Duke Energy’s Site Readiness Program “provides funding and expertise to help communities identify, assess, improve and increase awareness of industrial sites in the Duke Energy Indiana territory.”

In an email to The Paper, Bill Konyha, President and CEO of the Economic Development Group of Wabash County, stated that the “process and evaluation were essential to Wabash County becoming a community working towards continuous improvement.” Konyha also explained the criteria by which Wabash County and the Industrial Business Complex were evaluated. Categories like site characteristics, utility adequacy/capacity, transportation access and site costs were included in the site evaluation. The Wabash Northeast Business Complex received at 77 percent, with a 229.75 out of 300.

There are some issues that are out of the community’s control. One issue that was part of the report was the distance  from I-69. Though the 38-mile distance from the complex to I-69, Konyha pointed out that the Hoosier Heartland Highway is complete and will open soon. He also noted that means “we will have four-lane highways connecting us to I-65 and I-69.”

The issue of the complex not having a railroad isn’t as big of a problem because the complex was never intended for heavy industrial use. The complex is more appropriate for “light manufacturing, food processing, logistics, distribution, value added agricultural processing, medical implements and advanced manufacturing,” according to Konyha.

On the Business and Industrial Services level, Wabash trails Indiana when it comes to educational attainment. Wabash County’s graduation rate is 85.4 percent, with Indiana’s graduation rate being 87 percent. Wabash County also trails the state in bachelor degree attainment by 6.8 percent. Konyha told The Paper that “the ability that Wabash County has to recruit technical and professional workforce is perceived as a weakness.”

“We have been working on these (issues) with all of our community partners. The Wabash County Promise is a great example of how the community is working to improve our issues with educational attainment. EDG is proud to partner with the YMCA, all three of our public school corporations, the Chamber of Commerce, our elected officials, Beauchamp McSpadden, Parkview Hospital, and countless others to develop a culture that values college and career readiness,” added Konyha.

The information received from McCallum Sweeney will be used as the Economic Development Group designs the final phases of infrastructure for the complex according to Konyha. “We’ve already addressed the minor issues and we will consider all of their remaining comments.”

There is no current plan to build on the remaining 135 acres at the Wabash Northeast Business Complex, but Konyha told The Paper that the information put out by McCallum Sweeney would be used for marketing programs as well.

“The opportunity to be evaluated by a major site selector is a great opportunity and EDG is very grateful to Duke Energy for making it possible.”