(This article first appeared in the June print edition of the Hendersonian.
Last season, the Henderson Flash were finally able to get over the hump by winning the Ohio Valley League championship. After winning the North Division four times since 2019, the team was finally able to bring home the ultimate prize.
Much of its success was credited to the pitching staff. In recent years, club president Clay Bolin and manager J.D. Arndt had worked to revamp the roster to include more pitching. The remodel paid off in a big way.
Now the team faces a new challenge: repeating as the OVL champions.
Bolin is quite optimistic based on the team’s recent successes.
“We’re excited to have a different perspective, kind of get that monkey off our back so to speak, and now it’s all about trying to put together a back-to-back season and see if we can’t repeat. It’ll be tough as it always is,” said Bolin.
Each year, there are many unknowns with the roster due to the nature of this league. While there will be several players returning, there will be many new faces, all of whom possess talent, but several who may not have had the opportunity to display their skills at their respective schools yet.
Bolin expects that his team will be strong both at the plate and in the field. He hopes that the pitching will be able to match last year’s performance, but there is much uncertainty.
“The pitching is just going to be kind of a little bit of a wait and see. We don’t have as many returning guys this year as we’ve had in the past on the mound,” said Bolin. “We’ve got young guys with talent, but we just haven’t seen it on the field yet at the college level.”
One returning pitcher is Henderson’s own Seth Galloway. Last summer, he posted a 1-1 record with 10 strikeouts in 17.1 innings. The right-hander just finished his sophomore year at Berea college, in which he threw 57.1 innings and was named the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference player of the week for week three of the season.
Other hometown connections include newcomers Drew Isenberg, Alec Satterfield and Reed Rheinhardt.
Isenberg is the son of former Cols baseball coach Nathan Isenberg. He pitched at Bowling Green High School this year, where he tossed 37.2 innings with 43 strikeouts and a 2.60 ERA. He will play at Rend Lake College this fall.
Satterfield is a 2024 graduate of Henderson County and current player at Oakland City University. He hopes to provide support to the pitching staff, manning the middle of the infield. He has aspirations of continuing his baseball career after college and hopes playing for the Flash will allow him to improve his game.
“I want to get stronger in the game of baseball and play good in front of my hometown and meet a lot of people that I haven’t met before and learn their game to help better mine,” said Satterfield. “Pretty much my whole life, I’ve been wanting to play with them so I could you know give back to the community for what all they’ve done for me.”
Fellow Colonel alumnus and Oaks teammate Reed Rheinhardt looks to bolster the pitching staff and is excited to be reuniting with Arndt.
“My junior year of high school baseball, J.D. Arndt was the assistant and he’s been coaching for the Flash for a while. He saw potential in me and always pushed me to be better. He asked me to play for the Flash with him after my freshman year of college,” Reinhardt said of his former coach. “Coach Arndt is one of the best hitting coaches around this area, and he knows a lot about baseball.”
Along with these local products, there are many other players coming in with enormous potential. Bolin mentioned several players who could have big seasons.
Among them is infielder and pitcher, Aidan Mouton, who returns to the Flash from LSU-Eunice. Bolin thinks he has a chance to be one of the best players in the league. On the mound last summer, he pitched 11.1 innings with 12 strikeouts and a 0.62 ERA. At the plate, he accumulated 10 RBI, 12 walks, eight stolen bases, and three doubles. During the 2025 college season he hit .391 with 11 home runs and 53 RBI.
On the pitching side, there are a couple of key returners. Left-hander Kiefer Parsons, an Evansville native, recorded a 2-0 record and 2.73 ERA and 47 strikeouts over 33.1 innings for the Flash last summer. Alex Brew, of Lee University, is expected to have a solid season as well after striking out 14 over 16.1 innings pitched last season.
Bolin is ready for the season to start and welcomes all the fan support the Flash can get.
“I can’t say thank you enough to our sponsors. For the fans, keep coming. Our attendance has continued to grow every year. This is our first full season with our party deck. We have a great family atmosphere in the stands and a picnic area for the kids. I just hope that everyone continues to want to come out and be a part of it.”
