


Baseball
Munster graduate Madura one of seven Oilmen named to MCL All-Star team

College has offered plenty of twists and turns for pitcher Mike Madura.
The 2017 Munster graduate redshirted at Central Michigan for one year before transferring to a junior college.
After one season at South Suburban, the 6-foot-5 right-hander said he’s anxious to return to Division I.
“Each step you’re at, you learn more and grow more,” Madura said. “But I was ready to get back. There’s a lot of stuff I learned that I’ll be able to take to the next level.”
Madura, who has transferred to Purdue Fort Wayne, is spending this summer with the Northwest Indiana Oilmen. And he has turned in an all-star performance.
Madura was one of seven Oilmen named Friday to the Midwest Collegiate League All-Star team, joining fellow local products Ben Berenda (Rensselaer), Clay Thompson (Andrean) and Joe Rycerz (Andrean).
The goal this summer, Madura said, was to gain more experience on the mound with the Oilmen. In the spring, he had a 4.29 ERA in 42 innings for South Suburban.
In five appearances with the Oilmen, Madura has a 4.58 ERA in 19 2/3 innings, including allowing only two runs in 6 2/3 innings in a June 14 start against the Crestwood Panthers.
One crucial pitch has keyed Madura’s success — a change-up that Oilmen manager Kevin Tyrrell called “filthy.”
“His change-up has come a long way,” Tyrrell said. “Good hitters can sit on the hard pitches if you’re just a fastball-slider guy.
“If you don’t have something to move their eyes off of the fast stuff, you’re not going to have success at the next level.”
Madura learned that after his freshman season at Central Michigan. He has spent the last year developing the change.
“Pitching against left-handed hitters was the toughest thing for me,” Madura said. “I went into last summer thinking I needed that change-up.
“I kept messing around with it in practice and in games until I finally found something I was confident in.”
Madura believes that pitch will help round out his arsenal and make him more effective in his return to Division I.
“You need a third pitch in college,” Madura said. “It balances out everything else. Someone could be sitting on your fastball, and if you throw them a change-up, it’ll look just like the fastball.”
His heightened confidence should only add to Madura’s eagerness — not that he needed any extra prodding.
“I was always real excited to get back to the D-I level,” he said. “I just wanted to come here and do the best I could against good competition.
“Baseball’s the greatest game. It’s just awesome to be able to compete here in the summer.”