Vermilion County baseball bringing excitement beyond eastern border

Apr. 28—Vermilion County prep sports programs are capped, to a certain extent, on how much IHSA postseason hardware they can earn in a given school year.

Because they're customarily forced to battle one another in the same Class 1A and 2A regional and sectional draws.

Such is the case for this year's high school baseball season within The News-Gazette's easternmost county.

Doesn't mean those teams can't pile up victories before the playoffs begin, though.

And several of them are doing just that.

Westville (19-3), Oakwood (16-4-1) and Salt Fork (14-6) are leading the charge, with the Tigers and Comets presently undefeated in Vermilion Valley Conference play.

Don't sleep on Armstrong-Potomac (9-5) or Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin (9-9), either.

Opponents likely won't be itching to draw any of these teams come postseason time.

"It makes me feel good as far as the competition in the county," said Joe Brazas, Westville's coach since 2008. "There are a lot of (talented) senior athletes this year, but there's also upcoming stars."

Throw in Milford (9-8-1), a club out of neighboring Iroquois County, and it's clear VVC baseball provides some it-could-go-either-way matchups this spring.

Westville, for example, needed nine innings to stave off Milford in a 3-2 victory on Monday.

"If you go out and think, 'Oh, we've got these guys,' you're going to get beaten," Brazas said. "You've got to take every game playing your hardest. You are definitely right by saying it's very competitive."

Brazas' Tigers, in search of the school's first baseball regional championship since 1993, regularly are tearing the cover off the ball and delivering good pitching efforts these days. They had a 13-game win streak broken up by also-hot St. Joseph-Ogden on Wednesday.

"We come out every day to win, and we believe in each other and that helps so much," Brazas said. "We're not just stringing together two or three wins."

Coach Ryan McFarland's Oakwood team, his seventh, is finding consistent success, as well. That includes earning a March tie with a Unity team that has won all but three of its games this season.

"We know that when we can put one of our top-three guys on the mound, we've been pretty successful," said McFarland, referring to seniors Dalton Hobick and Travis Tiernan plus junior Alec Harrison.

"We've had some years in the past where we know our offense is going to come from two or three guys, maybe four guys," McFarland continued. "We're getting a lot more contributions from a lot more spots in the lineup."

Several of Vermilion County's star baseball athletes quickly will move on either to American Legion or travel-ball versions of the sport for late spring and summertime.

Post 210 Speakers' senior roster captured plenty of attention in 2019 with an American Legion World Series Final Four berth. The seniors since have won two more division titles, and Speakers' juniors are two-time reigning state champions.

"Seven out of our nine starters play Post 210 or other ball, and we have a bunch of (junior varsity kids) that are playing," Brazas said. "It's expensive, but I'll thank (the parents) because it only shows that much more that they're getting good baseball."

McFarland points to the number of Vermilion County baseball high school coaches involved with IESA baseball — McFarland, Brazas and Hoopeston Area coach Rick Harbacek also serve as junior high head coaches — as another reason programs are excelling.

"Not only do we have a nice summer league setup with the legion, but when (kids) come in the fall, they get exposure," McFarland said. "It definitely helps when you get into that system a couple years earlier than just high school, and you're exposed to your high school coach early."

It's not just youth baseball that's to thank for Vermilion County seeing good publicity this spring.

The ascension of 2016 BHRA graduate Dylan Dodd, son of 10th-year Blue Devils baseball coach Mark Dodd, to the Atlanta Braves' starting pitching rotation earlier this month also keeps vibes positive for current high-schoolers.

"We had the entire team (at Busch Stadium in St. Louis for Dodd's MLB debut)," Brazas said. "It's what dreams are made of. ... Seeing him strike out (Nolan) Arenado for his first K, it makes it believable.

"When a kid like this works his butt off and goes up the rankings it's like, 'Wow, maybe I can do this.'"

Oakwood alumni of a certain age had a similar past experience thanks to Darrin Fletcher, a Comets product who had a 14-year MLB career from 1989 to 2002.

"If I work hard and have the talent, I don't have to be in a big school to get noticed and get to where I want to be," McFarland said. "We have kids over the years who get out and play high-level baseball."

This season's Vermilion County baseball players presently are aspiring toward IHSA postseason trophies.

Armstrong-Potomac was the county's lone regional champion last season, in Class 1A.

"It always feels like somebody is figuring out a way to get in the regional championship," McFarland said, "in whatever regional they're in."