State Tournament -- Beecher City 1982-83 Baseball

The coach and players were ready when the 1982-83 baseball season came at Beecher City High School. Why? Because they knew it could be a very special season and it proved to be just that..

The Eagles ended up at the Class A State Baseball Tournament and finished the season in second place with an 18-6 record.

“As a coach, yes I did know because the year before we were the No. 1 seed in the regional,” said Coach Dave Markwell. “We hosted the regional and we were upset in the championship game by Teutopolis who we had beaten twice that year by the 10-run rule.

“Ronnie Ohnesorge and Kenny Miller both went on to Olney from that team. We thought we’d go to State that year and it was kinda heartbreaking.

“So the next year I had everyone back except those two. Five seniors were on the 1982-83 team and the whole team was pretty good.”

“Absolutely, we knew we were going to be good,” said starting pitcher Grant Beals. “We were so competitive as individual players as well as a team.”

“We played for the National Trail Conference championship in the fall of 1982 and lost to St. Anthony,” said Larry Lilly, who played first base. “If everyone stayed healthy, we knew we had a chance to make a run in the postseason in the spring of 1983. However, there were other good teams in the area and getting out of the regional was our first hurdle. We were seeded third behind Stewardson-Strasburg and St. Anthony.”

The Eagles were led on the mound by Beals and Bill Bales.

“Grant was a left-handed pitcher and he played centerfield when not pitching,” said Coach Markwell. “He was a really good player. That year he was chosen as the Decatur Herald & Review Player of the Year.

“Another pitcher was Bill Bales. He was right-handed and didn’t pitch until he got to high school and I saw how good his arm was in centerfield. I asked him if he ever pitched and told him if he listened to me, I’d tell him how to pitch. Both went on to play college ball, Grant at Lake Land and then Xavier and Bill at Lewis & Clark and then he finished at SIUC.

“Larry Lilly was my first baseman. He did not make any errors. They could throw it anywhere and he could get it, that’s why he was such a good first baseman. Jay Kyle was the catcher and he was very quick. He hit the ball well against Herscher and led off the game with a home run at Springfield Stadium over the fence. That got us up and going.

“Pat Kirchhofer was my starting third baseman. I knew the background of the family and he was a good ballplayer. Pat really worked at it. He got the job done with not too many errors. He had a good arm and that’s why he played third base. Joey Ohnesorge, was a junior and he played shortstop. He had an excellent glove, good size, real good speed and good range. We spent a lot of time on hitting and he did well.

“Doug Giles played second base and he was real quick. Everybody laughed at me but I put Jess Vincent in right field. He was a big kid, heavyset and for about 15 feet he could run pretty good but after that he was out of gas. But he tried hard and he could hit the ball and had a good arm.

“Right field was freshman Richie Ohnesorge, a cousin to Joey and a brother to Ronnie who had graduated. Richie did a real nice job.”

“We didn’t have a lot of players on the team,” said Lilly. “However there were five seniors who started varsity all four years of high school. Grant and Bill were two top-notch area pitchers that were recruited by several colleges.

“Grant was a sneaky left-hander who had a knee-buckling curveball and excellent command of his pitches. Bill was a big hard-throwing right-hander that topped 92 mph in the State Tournament. At times, Bill had a little wild streak that worked to his advantage because batters were hesitant to dig in the box against him.

“Jay Kyle could play anywhere on the field but was forced to catch his senior year. His catching hand was always bruised from our pitchers’ fastballs. Pat played third base and was a solid hitter and RBI guy. I played first base.

“Three junior starters were shortstop Joey Ohnesorge who later went on to coach area baseball teams, second baseman Doug Giles and the hard-hitting Jess Vincent. Rich Ohnesorge started right field.”

“It was a typical small school situation where we had 14 players out freshman through senior for the team,’ said Beals. “Jay was lead-off and our catcher and had great speed. Joey batted second and played shortstop and pitched. One highlight that stands out in my mind about Joey was when he hit four home runs over the fence against Shelbyville. I batted third, pitched and played centerfield.

“Pat batted fourth, played third base and hit well over .400. Bill pitched and played centerfield. He was a strong country boy who played extremely hard and was effectively wild and that put the fear in batters. Jess played left field and catcher. He was a powerful hitter. Larry played a gold glove first base. He was a winner and would do whatever it takes to get the job done.

“Doug played second base and was super quick on the bases. Rich played left field and came through with clutch hits. We had pitching depth with Bill throwing key games, Pat, Joey O. and myself.

“Going off memory, other players were Dave Seiler, Tim Wade, Ed Levitt, Todd Young, Kevin Moore and Joe Wills who were also key players on the team.”

When asked about any problems on the team, Coach Markwell had a story to tell. 

“Along with being the coach I was also the athletic director and the superintendent asked me how many games I had on my schedule. You could play 35 games and I told him I thought I had about 60. He said, ‘I hope you can drive the bus’ and I said, ‘I would be willing to.’ and I drove the bus until two years ago. I drove us to State and I drove us everywhere.

“The kids I trusted enough on the bus, no problem because I told them how it was going to be and that was that.  But with that crew you didn’t know what would go on. I told them no picking on the freshmen and all of a sudden riding back from a game, I saw a baseball hat go flying out of the bus window.

“I thought, ought-oh, here we go. I pulled the bus over and asked whose hat that was. The kid, a freshman, said it blew off his head and I said, ‘right, which one of you threw it off his head?’

“I told them, someone is going to have to go get that hat because I have no more at the school to give this kid. They went and got it. I said ‘now we’re going to sit here until I find out who threw the hat out the window.’ I said, “I don’t care how long we sit here, I don’t have to be at school until the morning and I’ll just sit right here all night long.’

“Finally someone fessed up, I can’t remember who, I told them, ‘guys just leave the younger players alone. I don’t mind you having fun on the bus, but just don’t throw stuff out the windows.’ I think we sat there at least a half hour.”

“We got labeled as just a bunch of ‘farm boys’, said Beals. “What they didn’t know is we were a bunch of farm boys who could hit it a ‘country mile!’

“When we arrived in Springfield for the State Tournament, the press dubbed us the ‘Farm Boys’, said Lilly. ” There was just a two class system at the time and I think the cut off was 750 high school students. At the time, our school had 127 students and it was reported we were the smallest school to play for a State championship in baseball.  I guess it was the baseball version of the movie, “Hoosiers.” And, most of us did come from small farms, so I guess the name fit.”

The National Trail Conference is and has always been a tough baseball conference. Beals and Lilly talked about the tougher teams they faced that year.

“The other really good area team that year was Stew-Stras,” said Lilly. “Our good buddy, Roger Friese, was a burly hard-throwing right-hander and was always tough on us. Roger and the Comets defeated us earlier in the season and were seeded ahead of us in the regional. Fortunately, we came to play in that opening round of the regional and beat them that day.”

“The NTC was strong that year going into the regional,” said Beals. “St. Anthony was the top seed, Stew-Stras was second, we were third and Teutopolis was fourth. All of them tough and with good pitching. We also played teams like Charleston, Newton, etc., that were bigger enrollments and that toughened us up.”The Eagles made their way through the regional, beating St. Anthony in the championship game.

“We came from behind to win in 11 innings,” said Lilly. “Other than the State Tournament games, that is the one that stands out in my memory. Craig Kabbes pitched most of that game for St. Anthony. We had faced him many times over the years and knew he would be tough that day and as usual, he was.

“When I compare that St. Anthony team to those we faced in the State Tournament, it was better than any team we faced that year other than Aurora Central Catholic that beat us in the State championship.”

“There were several key games and the regional championship against St. Anthony stands out,” said Beals. “We got down early but came back and won in extra innings. Also, the sectional game against a good St. Teresa team. That game was close but we defeated them.”
“I never scouted games,” said Coach Markwell. “The only thing we played a lot of the same teams in the fall so I knew them when spring came.

“I told the players to go out, play the best you can possibly play and if you win you win, if you lose you lose. It’s no disgrace to lose if you play hard. No laziness, no loafing but I wanted them to play to their capabilities because you don’t know if a scout will be sitting in the stands.”

“Dave was super committed to us and believed in us,” said Beals. “He was a good athlete when he was in high school at Cumberland. He brought his competitive nature with him as a coach.”

“Coach Markwell was a young coach who was probably in his late twenties,” said Lilly. “But he was our only baseball coach in high school. He took a chance on many of us when we were just freshmen. I remember him telling me to stick with it, work hard and that first base job was mine for the next three years. Coach knew the game well and played college baseball at McKendree. He and I still chat a couple of times a year and replay games of the past.”

When the Eagles reached the State Tournament, the town of Beecher City and around the area went nuts.

“They were crazy with enthusiasm,” said Lilly. “I remember listening to a recording of a radio broadcast and the broadcaster commented that the entire Village of Beecher City must be in the stands at Lanphier Park in Springfield. PJ Ryan was and still is the editor of the Beecher City Journal and he did a great job of taking pictures and covering us that spring.”

“The communities of Shumway and Beecher City were so supportive through the State games because it was a big deal,” said Beals. “Pride was being displayed in the town.”

“I talked to my principal and superintendent and asked them if we could practice on Sunday and they said, ‘what?’ I said can I have practice on Sunday to get ready for the State tournament,” said Coach Markwell. “That’s the one time in 35 years we practiced on Sunday. I didn’t make it mandatory. I told them if you go to church, go to church, if your family has plans, don’t worry about it.

“I wanted to get them together instead of having a couple of days off. On our schedule we got rained out the last 15 games before the regionals. I was worried. We just lost those games. We still practiced in the gym and I hated to do it, but I had to get the pitchers throwing, field ground balls off the gym floor. I even had a scout come from the Cincinnati Reds to look at our pitchers. Our workout was indoors. He got to put the radar gun on them and that’s how he put together his scouting report.

“You take a town of 500 people to the State Tournament and if someone wanted to rob the bank, they could take everything they wanted that day. People from Altamont, Effingham, everywhere came up to support us and what a thrill it was, so much fun.”

Beecher City defeated Beardstown, 10-3 in the opening contest then downed Herscher 4-2 to reach the State Tournament championship game. They ran into Aurora Central Catholic and lost 13-0.

“I thought it was so cool to play at Lanphier Park,” said Lilly. “At the time it was a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. We beat Beardstown then the next morning we came from behind to beat Herscher in a hard-fought battle. That afternoon we lost to Aurora Central Catholic and finished as the 1983 Class A runnerup. While that was a terribly lopsided score, it was okay because no one second-guessed themselves over a misplay or a poor at-bat. They were clearly the better team that day and they beat us decisively.”

“We played Beardstown, a team that was at State the year before,” said Markwell. “We beat them handily. We came back to beat Herscher and then we had to turn around and it was really hot and in an hour we had to play in the championship game.

“We went from such a big high to that hour break we got low and we just couldn’t pick it back up. We didn’t play. We were a step slower on everything. I think we made as many errors in that one game as we had the whole season. We made five that game and I think it was six or seven the whole year. And, everything we hit was right at people.”

Markwell is now living in Oakwood and is retired from teaching and coaching.

“I still substitute teach,” said Markwell. “I love it that much. I’ve been retired for 13 years this coming May. I coached the bass fishing team up here and I used to coach wrestling. I got voted into the Coaching Hall of Fame as a wrestling coach.”
Markwell has a son living in Mattoon who is married with two children, 19 and three years old.

“I just lost my wife in December to Covid,” said Markwell. “I’m getting along. Everybody thought I’d move to Greenup but this is home. I’m going to stay up here. These kids check on me about every day. It’s a real good society and good group of people. They just took me in and I’m just one of them.”

“I live in Altamont with my wife Kate,” said Beals. “I work as a professional real estate salesman for Century 21. I have three kids, Brittany, Brent and Bria. Brittany played college basketball and volleyball at Lincoln Christian College and is currently teaching at Brownstown Elementary School. She’s married to

Nate. Brent is a senior at Millikan University and is currently having a great year playing baseball. Bria is in eighth-grade, playing all sports, volleyball, basketball and softball. I am very proud of my kids. God has blessed my life in so many ways.

“I can’t go without mentioning my dad Sam who was very instrumental in developing some of the players on this team in their younger years. His dedication and time given was a big reason why we were talented in our high school days of playing. Wilma Lilly, Larry’s mom, was such a great supporter of our younger years of playing.”

“I am married to my amazing wife, Roxanne,” said Lilly. “My three wonderful stepdaughters, Angie, Kristin and Brie, all work in education. Our son, Alex was a good baseball player and will soon graduate in the aviation technologies program at SIU-Carbondale. We are blessed with six grandchildren.

“Last June 30 I retired after 16 years as superintendent of schools for Mattoon CUSD2. Prior to that I was a middle school principal, high school teacher and JV baseball coach in Mattoon. Currently, I work part time as a leadership coach/mentor for the Eastern Illinois Area of Special Education and the Regional Office of Education #11.”

The thrill of a lifetime came to those Beecher City baseball players and coach in 1982-83 and will long be remembered by Eagles players and fans.