The 1989 Silver Streaks made Galesburg baseball’s third straight trip to State. Only three other teams in IHSA history ever made three trips in a row to State- Limestone, Belleville East, and Springfield Griffin.
After winning the State Championship in 1988, the ‘89 team’s goal was not to just make it to State. Only one other team had won back to back State Championships in IHSA history, Maine West in 1957-8.
1989 Season Preview
After winning the State Championship in 1988, the Streaks had lost key players to graduation. The 4 of the top 5 hitters from ‘88 (Goodman, Stanley, Davis, and Taylor) were all gone, with on Doug Sholtis returning.
On the mound, the top two starters (Stanley and Libby) both graduated.
After two consecutive trips to the State Tourney, the returning players still had high expectations for the ‘89 season. Lance Aten, Jeremy Kleine, Al Satunas, Eric Gillenwater, and Doug Sholtis had played major roles for the Streaks in 1988.
Trip to Missouri
After the success of 1987 and 1988, Coach Bruington set up an early season trip to Springfield, Missouri in the spring. The hope was that there would be a little better weather farther south and a schedule of top teams in Missouri. The Streaks did not great weather but they got great competition.
Unfortunately on the trip, several of the players were suspended so the Streaks were short handed. Galesburg went 1-2 on the trip, including a loss to Missouri’s defending State Champs, Hillcrest.
11 Game Winning Streak
When the Streaks returned, they had an 11 game winning streak with an asterisk. They won 8 games in a row, had a tie with Quincy, then won 3 more games in a row. This set the Streaks at mid-season at 12-2.
The ‘89 Streaks were not as explosive offensively but featured timely hitting. In 3 thru 7 in the batting order, Galesburg featured Doug Sholtis, Lance Aten, Al Satunas, Dusty Rhoades, and Frank Johnson.
From #3 thru #7, the batting averages were .387, .447, .357, .371, and .372. In the regular season, Aten hit .447 with 7 homers and 16 stolen bases.
At the top of the order there was Jeremy Kleine with a .595 on base percentage, and Brad Cosgrove hitting .390.
The batting order for most of the year was- 1- Kleine 2B, 2- Brad Cosgrove SS, 3- Sholtis DH, 4- Aten CF, 5- Satunas 1B, 6- Rhoades RF, 7-Frank Johnson 3B, 8- Joe Schwab C, 9- Sergio Interial LF.
The pitching staff was deep. It featured starters Doug Sholtis, Eric Gillenwater, and Lance Aten. The new kid for Galesburg was 6’7” Dusty Foster, who was throwing an overpowering fastball that was around 90mph.
Mid-Season Slump
The Streaks hit bump in the road, going 2-4 in the middle of the season. It included two losses to Rock Island (5-1, 6-4), one loss each to Alleman (10-6) and Peoria ND (2-1).
Another Winning Streak
The mid-season slump dropped the Streaks record to 14-6. Galesburg was not to lose another regular season game, finished the regular season with a record of 22-6.
Galesburg with Rock Island for the WB6 Conference championship. The Streaks placed 5 players on the All-Conference list- Dusty Rhoades (OF), Lance Aten (OF), Doug Sholtis (P, DH), Eric Gillenwater (P), and Brad Cosgrove (SS).
Regional Move
For the first time since Sundberg Field was built in 1974, Galesburg did not host the IHSA Regional tourney. Instead the Regional was at Rock Island.
Galesburg faced Moline (14-12) in the semi-finals. Doug Sholtis pitched the opening game, bringing in his 7-1 record, 2.00era, and having struck out 66 batters in 38 innings. GHS needs a 2 out hit by Joe Schwab in the 7th inning to win the game.
The host Rocks were the opponents in the Regional championship. Galesburg had lost to them twice in the regular season. Streak’s batters wasted no time, scoring four runs in the first before anyone was put out. The first inning featured a 3-run homer by Lance Aten. Eric Gillenwater moved his record to 6-0, and kept his ERA under 1.00.
Back to Limestone
For the third year in a row, Galesburg was sent to the Limestone Sectional. In a low scoring game, the Streaks beat Pekin 3-1. Doug Sholtis went 5 innnings, and left with the Streaks up 2-1. He was relieved by Dusty Foster who pitched 2 innings of perfect baseball. Galesburg scored in the first on two out singles by Aten and Rhoades, and then picked up an insurance run on a Lance Aten homer (#9 on the season).
The championship game was Galesburg vs Peoria Central. Eric Gillenwater pushed his record to 7-0 and his ERA to 0.76 as GHS won 6-1.
3-Peat Trip to State
Galesburg opened up in the Elite 8 vs Lisle Benet (29-7). As was becoming normal, the Streaks scored 3 first inning runs on their way to an 11-0 win. Doug Sholtis pitched the full 5 innings (10 run rule), and did not give up a hit until the 4th inning. Lance Aten stole 4 bases in the game.
In the semi-finals, Galesburg faced Harrisburg (30-1). The Streaks were up 2-1 after four innings, and Eric Gillenwater was sailing along. In the fifth the Streaks failed to defend a suicide bunt and then later made two errors in the inning which led to a 5-3 loss.
Galesburg came back to win the third place game over Clemente 13-3 to take third in State.
Great Run
Galesburg came within one game (the semi-final loss) of winning back to back State titles. At that time, only one other team had ever been able to go back to back.
The Streaks were only the fourth team to ever go back to back to back with trips to the baseball state tourney. During this three year period, Galesburg had an unbelievable tourney record (Regional/Sectional/State) of 17-2.
The 1989 Streaks finished at 28-7 and third in State. They are one of only two GHS baseball teams to receive a State trophy. Living in the shadows of the ‘88 team, the ‘89 probably never got the recognition that they deserved.
Regular Season
The Silver Streaks had a great regular season, including earning Co-Champs of the Western Big Six Conference.
State Tourney Program
State Tourney Run
Reading the previews of the IHSA Tourney series, it would appear that the players and coaches were not intent on “going to State.” After two trips to State and winning a State Championship, it appears the goal of the ‘89 Silver Streaks was to bring back another State Championship.
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