Cory Emmons: 1st All-State Player

Cory Emmons arrived at Lutheran High School in 2005 from the Ben Davis school district. The decision by Cory and his parents to attend Lutheran was very beneficial to both parties as Cory had a great high school career, academically, athletically and socially.

As an athlete, Cory had an excellent combination of size, speed and strength. He was the fastest player I remember seeing at Lutheran. I back this statement up with this story. In 2006, Cory was on an RBI Team I coached that reached the RBI (Rebirth of Baseball in the Inner Cities) World Series in Compton, CA.

We played teams from other areas of the United States and the Dominican Republic. There were several contests that were held among the players from the teams, one being the 60 Yard Dash. Cory made it to the final heat of the contest and ran a 6.5 60. The race was over flat ground but not on a track or baseball diamond. I remember the surprise of Cory's run to many of the observers as he was the only white runner.

The race was so close that I do not know if they selected a winner, but Cory was right there at the finish line.

Cory's impact on athletics at Lutheran was tremendous. In addition to baseball, he played football and basketball. On the football field, Cory was a running back an was selected to the 1A All State Football Team in 2007. He was a powerful and fast runner. In basketball, Cory was a starter and was excellent in taking the ball to the basket. His senior year was hindered with a knee injury he suffered in the last football game of the season at South Adams in rainy, cold weather. After the Christmas break, his knee began to feel better and he was able to contribute more on the court. As a baseball player, Cory was a 3-year starter, primarily in centerfield and some pitching.

In 2007, Cory became the first Lutheran baseball player to be selected as an IHSBCA All-State player. He was also selected as an All-Marion County Team player in 2007. Cory, along with Jared Broughton, certainly helped establish Lutheran baseball as a credible program. I recall trying to fight the reputation that Lutheran players were only good because we played on a diamond that had fairly short dimensions. In his senior year I was touting Cory as an excellent player. Back then to be selected as an All-County Player was a big deal, at least to me. The day that Cory established his spot in my mind was May 27, 2007. We were playing Perry Meridian at LHS. The Perry Meridian coach had been coaching for many years and had influence in talking with other coaches. I will never forget the look of awe from the Perry Meridian dugout when Cory hit a line drive home run over the house in leftfield. Definitely not a Lutheran home run! We did not win that game, but we did earn some respect thanks to Cory and the other players. A nice memory is that Lutheran High School had two players on the All-Marion County Baseball Team in 2007, Cory and Jared Broughton.

Cory was recognized for his achievements on the baseball diamond in the following categories:

2007: All-State, All-Marion County, Mr. Baseball Classic player, Co-MVP for LHS, Golden Glove Award and team leader in triples and stolen bases.

2006: LHS Co-MVP, Golden Glove Award (1.000 Fielding % on 39 chances), All-South Team (Indianapolis Star), team leader in Batting Average, Runs Scored, Hits, Doubles, Walks, Stolen Bases and player on RBI World Series Team.

Following are Cory's career baseball statistics:

AVG. HITS AB 2B 3B HR RUNS RBI SB BB K FIELD AVG

2007 .452 42 93 5 3 9 48 35 18 23 18 .949

2006 .472 34 72 9 - 3 35 17 23 15 11 1.000

2005 .348 23 66 5 - 2 15 12 17 11 18 .765

TOTAL .429 99 231 19 3 14 98 64 58 49 47 .939

(Cory hit in the lead-off spot as a junior and senior. He batted 5th as a sophomore)

(Of Cory's 14 home runs, 8 were at LHS, 6 on the road)

Cory also did some pitching for us. In his career, Cory made 15 starts and had 4 Pitching wins.

Here are some memorable games for Cory:

Cory's first pitching win came against Covenant Christian on April 5, 2005, winning 12-5 with 9 K's.

His first home run was against Manual on May 3, 2005 at LHS. We won 3-1 as Cory scored all 3 runs in the win. He had a HR, 1B, BB and 3 stolen bases.

On May 1, 2006 Lutheran defeated Heritage Christian at HC 4-2. Cory hit a home run, 1B, BB, 1 RBI and scored 2 runs.

At Ritter on April 16, 2007 Cory had an excellent pitching start with 5 IP and 1 ER but we could not get the win, losing 4-3.

Against Perry Meridian on May 27, 2007 at LHS, Cory hit his last LHS home run.

In the Sectionals, Cory ended his baseball career at LHS by playing well. Cory hit .636, 7 hits in 11 AB,

7 Runs, 4 SB, 2 3B's and 4 RBI from the lead off position. We beat University and arch-rival Lapel, but lost to Cardinal Ritter in the championship game held at Marian College.

Cory and Coach Alter at the Mr. Baseball Classic. At that time there was a publication that selected Mr. Baseball for Indiana. Most of the best players came and played a double header. I recall that Drew Storen played on the other team. Also, the second game was stopped early as a player on our team was hit in the face with a pitch and he suffered a bad injury.

LUTHERAN BASEBALL RECORDS

Cory, in 3 seasons established a great player for Lutheran Baseball. Some of his accomplishments were:

CAREER SEASON

3rd in Home Runs: 14 4th in Home Runs: 9

8th in Hits: 99 6th in Hits: 42

6th in Runs: 98 3rd in Runs: 48

4th in Batting Avg.: .428 9th in Batting Avg: .461

3rd in Stolen Bases: 58 4th in Stolen Bases: 23

3rd in Hit By Pitch: 18 3rd in Hit By Pitch: 7

Cory made great contributions to Lutheran Baseball as well as to football and basketball. I believe there could be a great case for Cory to be Lutheran's best overall athlete. All-State in baseball and All-State in football and a starter in basketball are very impressive achievements. Even better than his efforts on athletic activities, Cory was a great young man, excellent student and fun to be around. Certainly made his mark at Lutheran High School!

Cory continued his academic and baseball careers at Marian College.