Highland coach John Bogner takes nothing for granted.
It still stings — and probably always will — that the senior season of his older son, Justin, was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. John Bogner anticipated that would have been a special one for the 2020 graduate.
So he’s trying to appreciate the moments spent with his younger son, Jason, a junior third baseman for the Trojans. When Jason Bogner, who also plays middle linebacker in football, decided to stop playing basketball after his freshman season, John Bogner was on board.
“That’s OK with me,” John Bogner said. “We only get 18 summers with our kids, and then they leave us. He’s on his 17th one, so I’m enjoying every minute I can working with him.
“He just wanted to focus and work harder on baseball because baseball’s his first love. We knew that growing up.”
Indeed, Jason Bogner’s passion for the game has continued to grow since the days of tagging along for batting practice with his older brother, who was a team captain at Highland in football, wrestling and baseball and is a junior at Purdue who’s part of the cheerleading team.
“They’re very good to each other,” John Bogner said. “They push each other. There’s a little competitive edge there, but I’m OK with that as long as it’s healthy.
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“They’re good boys. I’m very fortunate.”
Jason Bogner started at third base last season and hit .333 in the middle of the lineup for Highland (16-9, 5-5), which finished third in the Northwest Crossroads Conference behind co-champions Andrean and Munster.
He’s leading off this season and went 1-for-3 with an RBI in the Trojans’ season-opening win against Morton on April 27.
“That was different,” he said. “I never led off before. It was good. I was comfortable.”
Jason Bogner also is expected to pitch some innings for the Trojans, something he didn’t do last season. It’s a prospect that “excited” him, he said.
Although he had 34 tackles for the football team last season and has played linebacker consistently — he missed all but one game as a freshman after falling off his bike and breaking his left wrist — he’s actually listed as a quarterback. As a backup at that position, he said he’d be ready if called upon.
“He can throw it,” John Bogner said. “He can spin it. He’s a smart kid, and the defensive coaches knew he would be exactly where he needed to be assigned.
“People expect more when you’re a coach’s kid, and sometimes it’s hard because there are people in the community who probably want him to fail because he’s a coach’s kid. But the kids on this team, we had six or seven over for a sleepover (earlier this week). He’s a good teammate, and they know he’s earned every single thing that he gets.”
Senior Sean Harder said he hardly thinks about the dual nature of the Bogners’ relationship.
“Sometimes I don’t even see it as father-son,” Harder said. “It’s just coach-player. He’s a good team player. He loves everybody. I see good things coming from him this season.”
After a strong season in football, Jason Bogner utilized his time wisely heading into the baseball season.
“The winter’s the transition for me from football to baseball,” he said. “I just decided I’d rather work out and get stronger and better for baseball.
“I feel stronger. I’m throwing the ball harder. In the box, I’m seeing the ball better.”
John Bogner has started his 10th season as Highland’s coach and 27th overall after five as the freshman coach and 12 as an assistant to Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Dan Miller. He has seen Jason Bogner’s dedication.
“He works as hard as any kid we’ve ever had come through the program,” John Bogner said. “That’s a compliment to him. It came easily to him early, as a 9- and 10-year-old. We’ve all seen those kids fade out, and he’s trying to avoid that.
“His work ethic even improved this season. He worked hard before, but he knows people are going to pitch him differently. He has to learn to hit to all parts of the field. He worked a lot on his body conditioning.”
Highland nearly stunned Lake Central in a Class 4A sectional championship game at home last season, building leads on multiple occasions before the Indians rallied to win 15-12.
Jason Bogner said he hopes the Trojans, who moved down to Class 3A into a sectional that includes defending state champion Andrean, can contend again under his father.
“I love playing for him,” Jason Bogner said. “A lot of people are like, ‘I don’t know how you do it. It would be so weird.’ But I’m really close with my dad, and I don’t have a problem with it. We always get along. I take his criticism, just like any other player would.”
It’s been a process through the years.
“When he was younger, he always had that little edge to him,” John Bogner said. “There were times he looked at me and I don’t know if he really believed I knew what I was talking about. As he’s grown and matured, he’s been a great student, not just in the classroom but with what we’ve tried to teach him. There’s times he’s smiling, like, ‘My God, my dad’s right again.’
“We haven’t had too many butting moments. I was worried with him coming into high school how things would go. He’s a good kid, so it wasn’t that aspect. It was how much he was going to buy into what we were trying to teach him. But he’s been 100%. He’s been a leader. It’s tough to be a coach’s kid. People think it automatically means he’s going to be good. But he works. He’s an amazing young man with a great heart and a fun personality.”