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GOSHEN – The RedHawks may have won 10-3 when they faced Jimtown April 16, 2025, but Goshen baseball was drastically different then than it was when it beat the Jimmies 364 days later. Last season’s win was on the road, and it happened just three days before the grand opening of the RedHawks’ new $14 million baseball and softball complex.
Were it not for the new facility – which includes turf diamonds, new bullpens and batting cages, and much more – Goshen’s game vs. Jimtown April 15, 2026, would have been rained out. Instead, it was played without delay as the RedHawks moved to 4-1 on the young season with an 11-3 win while the Jimmies fell to 3-2.
More: Could Goshen baseball find a way to muster a little more postseason magic at semistate?
Head coach JJ DuBois knows games are won and lost not because of where they are played, but because of who shows up. Yet, as his players and family scattered around the turf Wednesday evening, he did admit that part of Goshen’s success the past year is undoubtedly due to the athletic department’s financial investment in his program.
“It’s amazing what can happen when people actually support things that are important,” DuBois said. “They put money into this, so I felt not that we owed it to anybody to have success, but that that success wasn’t a fluke. They put resources into it, and our kids appreciated it and wanted to make something happen.”
When Goshen beat Jimtown last year, the former’s record improved to 1-1, but it finished the regular season 9-13. Little did the RedHawks know then that they would win their first IHSAA 4A sectional title since 2008 and make their first trip to semi-state since 1981 a couple of months later.
This time around, however, Goshen expects to make another deep run in the state tournament.
“I think it’s mostly mental,” Braxton Cline said. “Toward the end, we fought through that adversity and turned it on when we needed to … It’s the brotherhood we have; we’ve been through everything together.”
Cline was the RedHawks’ best hitter last season, and he is continuing that early in his senior campaign, picking up three RBIs in the win over the Jimmies. He is one of nine seniors who returned from Goshen’s magical run last season with the goal of proving that success was not a miracle.
Colton Rapp is another.
“Nobody really knew we were going to make it that far or expected us to make it that far, but we all just believed in ourselves,” Rapp said. “ … We have a lot of confidence in each other; We trust each other a lot.”
More: 32 South Bend Tribune coverage area high school baseball players to watch
During their post-game interview together, Rapp and Cline were teased by their teammates, who playfully put a backward hat on Rapp’s head while stacking three on top of Cline’s. The RedHawks were constantly chattering in the dugout through all seven innings of their win vs. Jimtown, a signature of many scrappy – yet successful – high school baseball teams.
DuBois now recognizes that his squad knows what victory, when it matters most, tastes like; his job this season is to instill in them the trust that they’re capable of repeating it. Their sectional victory against Northridge wasn’t expected, nor was their regional triumph vs. Penn, and especially not their semi-state semifinal win vs. Westfield.
All that matters to Goshen is that it happened, and that it happens again.
“They’re hungry to do it again,” DuBois said. “We’re a good baseball team – that’s why we beat them. I think they want to prove that to people and to themselves that it wasn’t a fluke. That’s their standard.”
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at [email protected] or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Goshen RedHawks baseball building off last season's IHSAA semi-state run
Continue reading...
Were it not for the new facility – which includes turf diamonds, new bullpens and batting cages, and much more – Goshen’s game vs. Jimtown April 15, 2026, would have been rained out. Instead, it was played without delay as the RedHawks moved to 4-1 on the young season with an 11-3 win while the Jimmies fell to 3-2.
More: Could Goshen baseball find a way to muster a little more postseason magic at semistate?
Head coach JJ DuBois knows games are won and lost not because of where they are played, but because of who shows up. Yet, as his players and family scattered around the turf Wednesday evening, he did admit that part of Goshen’s success the past year is undoubtedly due to the athletic department’s financial investment in his program.
“It’s amazing what can happen when people actually support things that are important,” DuBois said. “They put money into this, so I felt not that we owed it to anybody to have success, but that that success wasn’t a fluke. They put resources into it, and our kids appreciated it and wanted to make something happen.”
When Goshen beat Jimtown last year, the former’s record improved to 1-1, but it finished the regular season 9-13. Little did the RedHawks know then that they would win their first IHSAA 4A sectional title since 2008 and make their first trip to semi-state since 1981 a couple of months later.
This time around, however, Goshen expects to make another deep run in the state tournament.
“I think it’s mostly mental,” Braxton Cline said. “Toward the end, we fought through that adversity and turned it on when we needed to … It’s the brotherhood we have; we’ve been through everything together.”
Cline was the RedHawks’ best hitter last season, and he is continuing that early in his senior campaign, picking up three RBIs in the win over the Jimmies. He is one of nine seniors who returned from Goshen’s magical run last season with the goal of proving that success was not a miracle.
Colton Rapp is another.
“Nobody really knew we were going to make it that far or expected us to make it that far, but we all just believed in ourselves,” Rapp said. “ … We have a lot of confidence in each other; We trust each other a lot.”
More: 32 South Bend Tribune coverage area high school baseball players to watch
During their post-game interview together, Rapp and Cline were teased by their teammates, who playfully put a backward hat on Rapp’s head while stacking three on top of Cline’s. The RedHawks were constantly chattering in the dugout through all seven innings of their win vs. Jimtown, a signature of many scrappy – yet successful – high school baseball teams.
DuBois now recognizes that his squad knows what victory, when it matters most, tastes like; his job this season is to instill in them the trust that they’re capable of repeating it. Their sectional victory against Northridge wasn’t expected, nor was their regional triumph vs. Penn, and especially not their semi-state semifinal win vs. Westfield.
All that matters to Goshen is that it happened, and that it happens again.
“They’re hungry to do it again,” DuBois said. “We’re a good baseball team – that’s why we beat them. I think they want to prove that to people and to themselves that it wasn’t a fluke. That’s their standard.”
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at [email protected] or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Goshen RedHawks baseball building off last season's IHSAA semi-state run
Continue reading...
