Braves picking up where they left off last year

It hasn’t taken Indian Valley baseball coach Shannon McCombs long to leave his mark on the program.

Last year, in his fourth year as coach of the Braves, the former Indian Valley and Muskingum college star guided the team to the Division III State championship, downing Hamilton Badin 7-6 in eight innings. Indian Valley finished last year with a 29-3 record, and the 2010 version of the Braves have not let up.

With several of the big boppers back from last year’s title team, the Braves were 18-2 through the first 20 games, 11-0 in Principals Athletic Conference play.

Logan Gray returns as the leading hitter for the Braves. He had 28 hits in his first 53 at-bats, posting a .528 batting average.

“Logan Gray leads a strong group back from last year,” McCombs said. “Johnny Iacobucci, Adam Mizer, Matt Wheeler, Trey Porter, Tanner Eckstein and Logan Cozart are all key returning players for us.”

Wheeler banged out five hits with two homers in a win at Tusky Valley. The Braves blasted five homers in a 12-11 win over the Trojans.

Gray is also one of the top pitchers Indian Valley has back. He had only given up 13 hits through the first 67 batters he faced, a .206 batting average against.

Iacobucci would probably be considered the ace of the staff, not allowing an earned run all season.

“The biggest key to our success this season has been our pitching,” McCombs said. “Johnny has yet to give up an earned run, Gray has a 0.28 ERA and Adam Mizer has an ERA under 2. Our team ERA is a 1.28.”

Some of the newcomers to the team this year include Zane Shuss, Chase Burcher, Kyle Lehigh, Matt Allensworth, Brandon Fox, and Holden Fellers.

Lehigh was hitting close to .400.

Indian Valley was never out of a game last season, and the team has maintained that level of play this year.

“Our leadership and our ability to never give up and play to the last out were keys last year,” McCombs said. “We had a number of late-inning wins last season.”

Playing at the State tournament was not too overwhelming for the Indian Valley team, as several members were part of the Little League Senior Division team that competed in the Little League World Series Senior Division in Maine.

Indian Valley won’t be vying for a repeat in Division III this year because the Braves have moved up to D-II. They began tournament action at Zanesville’s Gant Municipal Stadium on Monday, May 10, against the winner of John Glenn-Maysville.