Indiana Braves

The Indiana Braves are an adult baseball team that competes in the Indianapolis Adult Baseball
League. The team was founded in late July of 2003 by former Braves manager Jason Nelson and was originally supposed to be based in Kokomo. However, the Braves continued to play in the IABL and the team eventually gave up on trying to play the majority of their games in Kokomo. Nelson, along with founding members Jay Leedy, Robbie Pattengale and former assistant manager Jake Iseminger, held the first tryout for the Braves in late August of that same year. The Braves played their first exhibition game in late September in Indianapolis against the Indianapolis Dodgers. The Braves were given the first pick in the 2004 MABL Draft and selected Matt Burke as the overall number one draft pick.The Braves opened their inaugural season with an 8-4 victory over the Orioles en route to a 4-16 season. Matt Hubbs had the first victory on the mound for the Braves and Ed Rowell hit the first home run in Braves history.

In 2005 the Braves picked Los Angeles City College shortstop Gill Jasso with the first pick
in the IABL draft and added players such as Hugo Pena from Long Beach Community College, Caleb Abbott, a 6 foot 5 pitcher from Huntington College, and shortstop/3rd basemen Josh Wilhelm from Marian College. Catcher Dave Willis from Kokomo was signed to fill the void left when Ed Rowell retired to have more family time with his wife and newborn child. The team also picked up high school standout Jason Pattengale. The Braves finished the season 2-20, but the big step was the the first ever playoff victory when they tallied 23 hits against the Indianapolis Roosters. Matt Burke and Josh Wilhelm had 4 hits each that game while Jason Pattengale, Warren Beal, Hugo Pena, and Jay Leedy had 3 hits apiece. Robbie Pattengale also had a breakout season on the mound holding a 3.24 ERA and striking out 58. He also threw 3 complete games. Matt Burke and Hugo Pena left the team after the season to start their own team, the A's, but the Braves organization merged with the Indianapolis Yankees and kept the Kokomo Braves title.

With a new look in 2006 due to the merger with the Indianapolis Yankees the Braves looked
poised to finally break the franchise's losing ways. Everything looked good as the team opened the season with a 5-2 win over the Indianapolis Cubs. However, that wouldn't last as the Braves record continued sliding to a 1-8 record under manager Jason Nelson. That included a 2-1 loss at the Braves home field (3000 seat CFD Investments Stadium in Highland Park) to Kokomo's former semi-pro baseball team, the Kokomo cfd Saints. Around 400 fans gathered in the stadium to watch the action. In game two of the double header the Braves kept a one run game until the final inning in a game with the then 12th ranked semi-pro team in the nation, the Indiana Outlaws from Evansville. Current player/manager Robbie Pattengale took over the team and added three key players in Ancilla College's Dustin Jenkins and Aaron Ringley and 2003 MLB 6th round draft pick Robbie Wooley. The Braves would finish the season 6-12 under Pattengale, including winning four of the final five games and again losing in the second round of the playoffs to defending champs Indianapolis Dodgers. The Braves finished the season 7-20 and 5-15 in league play and had the teams best offensive season yet. Jonathan Off (.483), NL All-Star Jordan Marsell (.444), and Steve Gentry (.437) would all bat over .400 while Ringley (.375), Erich Rusie (.353), Jason Pattengale (.339), Dustin Jenkins (.310), and Zach Hewitt (.304) all batted over .300. Robbie Pattengale was elected the team's permanent manager in the offseason, but with many questions surrounding the team's future and structure, it was determined that Erich Rusie would manage the Braves and Pattengale would launch an expansion team out of Kokomo, later named the Knights. Pattengale took six Braves players with him to start his team, which competed in the IABL's MABL division, and the Midwest Prospects Baseball League. Rusie named Jason Nelson and Matt Matheis assistant managers for the 2007 season.

In 2007, the Braves recorded the club's first winning season, going 12-8 in the regular season and 12-10 overall. Manager Erich Rusie and his staff, which grew to include Jordan Marsell and Steve Owens, recruited several talented players and established a commitment among
the team. Marsell was once again named to the MABL's National league All-Star team and several players shattered the team's individual record book. Newcomers Nick Blomeke, a LHP from Vincennes, and Daniel Kafoure, a SS from Olney CC, helped the team gain respect from the IABL's top teams as the team's reputation began to change. Other additions such as 3B Steve Owens and UT Nick Smiley helped to fill voids in the infield and RHP Adam Hershberger came within a few percentage points of leading the MABL in ERA, after leading for the majority of the season. The Braves eventually fell to the Arrows in the second round of the playoffs. The Braves received a bye in the first-round when the Knights, managed by former Brave, Robbie Pattengale, were expelled from the IABL because of numerous forfeits. In the fall of 2007, the Braves competed in the Stallion Classic Fall Tournament at Roncalli, using mostly prospective players. The team added a few players from the tourney and also brought Jerad Tallman and Matt DeWolf on board, both formerly of the MABL Rockhounds who folded following the 2007 season. In late December, word broke that former Braves' star, Matt Burke, was rejoining the team and bringing over three top notch players from his A's team that folded: Evan Montgomery, Jason Combs, and Kevin Murphy. To top it off, Erich Rusie won the MABL's Al Maniero Manager of the Year award to close out 2007.

The 2008 Braves underwent a major restructuring due to a lot of teams folding within the
MABL. This allowed former Brave, Matt Burke, to return from the A's. Burke helped bring over other standouts from the A's that included Evan Montgomery, Jason Combs, and Kevin Murphy. The Braves also added talent from the Rockhounds, in the way of Jerad Tallman and Matt DeWolf. The team battled all season, playing a tougher schedule than in 2007. Despite a depleted pitching staff for most of the summer, the club managed to finish 9-9 in league play and 9-12 overall, with the season ending with a loss to the Hurricanes in the playoffs by a score of 11-7. While the team did not match the win total from 2007, the team was actually more competitive against the upper echelon teams from the MABL. The Braves handed the Arrows their first loss of the season after they started 11-0 and defeated the Dodgers on a walk off rbi single by Dominic Marino. The team also lost a two-run game to the Stallions that was actually tied before a groundskeeper turned off the lights, which ultimately resulted in the game being reverted back to the last inning when the Stallions held an 11-9 lead. Overall, it was a quirky season that brought together the most talented team the Braves had fielded to that point in their history. Jerad Tallman made his mark on Braves' history by placing himself among the leaders in several single season records, as did Nick Smiley, who went on a rampage the second half of the season, driving in 13 of his 19 rbi in July and August. The pitching was pieced together perhaps more in 2008 than any other season in team history, with Kevin Murphy leading in innings pitched with 44.0. However, good news came after the 2008 season when the Braves received word that LHP David Dugger, who had his season cut short due to injury, would be back in 2009, as would the young Zach McLean, who pitched for the club between his junior and senior years of high school. Shaun Arnold would join Dugger, McLean, and Nick Blomeke, on the pitching staff for 2009, giving the Braves a very young staff that hopes to build on their league experience from 2008.

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