How Harrison baseball is proving it's an SIAC contender this spring: 'Our kids believe'

EVANSVILLE — Harrison's baseball team celebrated in jubilation after notching the final out last week against North.

The 6-3 victory was the program's first win against the Class 4A No. 5 Huskies since 2019 and its first Southern Indiana Athletic Conference road triumph since May 10, 2022. Although the Warriors then dropped a one-run game to Class 2A No. 4 North Posey the next afternoon, they bounced back with another SIAC road win on Thursday against No. 8 Castle.

Harrison (6-4) has won three SIAC games this spring, matching their total from the last two years. The Warriors have proved they can be conference contenders by beating two of the favorites, North and Castle.

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"You ask most people, those are two of the better teams in the conference with the arms they have on the mound and the offense they have," coach Houston Dillman said. "We've shown we can play against those guys, and our kids believe in it. They've put in a lot of work in the last three to four years to get themselves to this point."

"We're building stuff (at Harrison)," senior Kaleb Bard added. "Last year, we had zero seniors, but this year we have a lot. As we continued to grow, this team continued to grow."

There are many factors in Harrison's success. Its bats have been hot as it has recorded five or more hits in all but one game. Bard, a Kentucky Wesleyan signee, is strong as the designated hitter and is riding a seven-game hit streak. Senior Levi Thomas, who signed with Olney Central, has five doubles and three in the last two games.

The pitching and defense also has been strong. Thomas has produced some dominant outings on the mound while the Warriors' outfielders rob extra-base hits and the infield turns double plays. There's also been much praise for sophomore catcher Mason Baker.

"He does a great job behind the plate, we have great arms and our defense has been good this year," Dillman said. "If we're going to stay in games, we've got to throw strikes, make the routine plays and get timely hits. The defense is a big point for us, and we've got things we need to clean up. But we'll get back to work and keep taking strides in it."

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One of Harrison's biggest keys to staying in contention is minimizing mistakes. The Warriors committed four errors on Tuesday against Memorial, and they proved costly as they fell 9-4 in their first SIAC loss of the season. They hadn't committed an error in the previous three games.

"There's a common denominator between our wins and our losses," senior Nolan Doan said. "When we win, we do everything right. When we lose, we have an error here or there. We can't let them snowball. But we've got to avoid blowup innings and we'll be fine."

Success is trickling in for Harrison athletics this school year, from boys basketball winning its first sectional title in 11 years to two individuals combining for three city track and field titles last Friday. Seniors Kaiden Bard and Eli Speer and junior Brooks Thomas were key contributors in basketball. Now they want to carry that success to the diamond, where they haven't won a conference title since 2010 or a sectional since 2016.

"They won in basketball, they want to win in baseball," Dillman said. "It credits all the coaches there at Harrison and the administration in what's going on. At the end of the day, they've got to believe. We're kind of mentors for them, and we just got to keep pushing them in the right way."

Courier & Press sports reporter Treasure Washington can be reached via her email, treasure.washington@courierpress.com, and on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Twashington490.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: IHSAA baseball: Evansville Harrison is an SIAC contender this spring