Prairieview-Ogden registered the highest IESA state finish in baseball in school history on Monday (Oct. 4).

The Mustangs finished as the Class 1A state runners-up, dropping a 6-3 title-game decision to once-beaten Lexington in the finals. The game was delayed by 48 hours due to rain on Saturday at the East Side Centre, in East Peoria.

PVO scored all of its runs in the third inning and carried a 3-1 lead into the fourth inning. Lexington (23-1) went ahead to stay with a three-run fifth inning.

The PVO offense combined for seven hits, including two apiece from Graham Ray and Kodey McKinney. Ray, McKinney and Parker Fitch scored the Mustangs’ runs.

Hayes and Dalton York shared the pitching duties. Hayes worked 5 1/3 innings, giving up five hits while striking out six batters.

In 1 2/3 innings, York recorded three strikeouts.

In school history, four PVO teams have played for IESA state championships and wound up in second place. Sharing recognition as the highest state placers in school history with the 2021 baseball team are the 2020 boys’ basketball team, the 2015 girls’ volleyball team and the 2009 boys’ basketball team.

“Very proud of the team for all they accomplished this year,” said PVO coach Greg Immke, whose 20-4 squad established a school mark for single-season wins.

“We fell one game short of what our goal was that we set the first day of practice.”

PVO had 21 athletes playing baseball this year. The five eighth-graders were: Coy Hayes, Parker Fitch, Vance McComas, Kodey McKinney and Graham Ray.

“We’ve had some strong hitting all season and it was a close game (4-3 score in the title game until the seventh inning),” Immke said. “I feel terrible for the kids, the community and the school.

“As a coach, will learn from this run at the state tournament and try to improve moving forward.”

Two PVO players had hits in all three tournament games: Fitch and Lane McKinney.

Hayes was the catalyst in an 8-2 semifinal triumph over Mount Pulaski on Saturday (Oct. 2). Mount Pulaski finished its season with an 18-3 record and a fourth-place finish.

Hayes slugged a pair of three-run home runs. His first blast helped PVO build a 3-2 lead in the third inning against Mount Pulaski. His second shot was part of a five-run sixth inning, which concluded the game’s scoring.

Winning pitcher Lane McKinney hurled a complete game, striking out nine and permitting four hits.

Kodey McKinney joined Hayes with two hits in the game. One of his hits was a double.

On Friday (Oct. 1), Prairieview Ogden broke a 5-5 tie with a two-run sixth inning and clinched an IESA semifinal berth in baseball for the first time in school history.

In the Class 1A quarterfinals, PVO edged Effingham Sacred Heart, 7-5.

Fitch and McComas each laced two hits against Sacred Heart. One of Fitch’s hits was a home run.

Other teammates to register hits in their state debuts were York, Lane McKinney and Kaden Wedig.

PVO outhit its opponent, 7-5, for its fifth consecutive victory.

Fitch pitched the first 4 1/3 innings, striking out seven and yielding four hits. Hayes finished on the mound and earned the win, allowing one hit in his stint.

Effingham Sacred Heart ended its season with a 14-4 record.

For the season, PVO registered five shutouts, four by Fitch and one by Hayes.

Other squad members with pitching wins this season were Jemesen Ehler, Lane McKinney, Ray and York.

Ten of the PVO wins this season were by margins of at least 10 runs.

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Parker Fitch turned in a dominating performance for the Prairieview Ogden baseball team on Saturday (Sept. 25) as the Mustangs advanced to the Class 1A IESA baseball state tournament for the second time in four years.

PVO also qualified in 2018.

Fitch pitched 6 2/3 innings in the sectional finals against Gifford, a 7-1 win for the Mustangs. He permitted two hits, walked two batters and fanned 15.

Coy Hayes finished the game, retiring one batter without permitting a hit.

PVO scored single runs in each of the first two innings and never trailed.

Kodey McKinney and Dalton York each produced three hits for the Mustangs.

York scored three runs. McKinney drove in two runs and also scored twice. Finishing with two RBI was Lane McKinney.

Fitch has won seven straight decisions and hasn’t allowed more than one run in any of those outings.

PVO (17-3) returns to action in the 9:30 a.m. quarterfinal game on Friday (Oct. 1) against Effingham Sacred Heart (14-3). The state tournament is being held at the Eastside Centre, in East Peoria.

Friday’s winner will play in a 10 a.m. semifinal game on Saturday (Oct. 2). The trophy games will be played later in the day.

The Mustangs, coached by Greg Immke, have won 13 of their last 14 games. The 17 wins is a single-season school record.

“The most important thing that PVO has going on is that the culture of baseball is strong,” Immke said. “When I started (coaching), we had 11 kids that went out.

“This year we had 21. We have kids this year not starting that any other year would be a starter. We are strong one through nine (in the batting order) with several good pitchers.

“At the state tournament, it’s all about matchups and we will try to put our best foot forward and see what happens.”

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St. Joseph Softball

With a win in its final regular-season game, St. Joseph carries a 14-4 record into the postseason, which starts today at home with a regional game against Rantoul.

Coach Larry Sparks is pleased by the way his players have handled a schedule with a lot of games in a short amount of time.

“The girls continue to battle through game stacked upon game,” Sparks said. “That process is hard enough for a veteran high school team, but is extremely hard on middle school players when there are no days to practice.”

Team leaders have included eighth-graders Chloe Harper, Addison Frick, Addy Martinie, Halle Brazelton, Peyton Williams, Sadie Erickson and Madison Stevens as well as seventh-graders Thea Smith and Chayse Palmer.

Prairieview Ogden Baseball

The Mustangs (9-4) extended their winning streak to six games on Tuesday with a 9-6 victory over the Gifford Eagles.

The PVO nine-hit attack was led by Coy Taylor, Mitchell Wright and Hayden Williams, each of whom collected at least two hits. Taylor finished 3-for-4.

Caleb Ochs’ two-run double highlighted a three-run fourth inning when PVO went ahead to stay.

“The boys are playing well,” said coach Greg Immke, whose squad played error-free ball against Gifford.

The Mustangs are averaging 12.5 runs during the past seven games.

Tuesday’s game was the team’s home finale and the seven PVO eighth-graders were recognized: Gabe Carter, Talen Miller, Caleb Ochs, Cole Pruitt, Colin Wayland, Hayden Williams and Mitchell Wright.

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Greg Immke has been working to touch the lives of young men and women through baseball and softball programs for more than a decade.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re here.”

In a room filled with families, baseball players who have gone on to participate at the collegiate level and four baseball teams of nine-and 10-year old boys, Greg Immke, founder of the Bandits Baseball organization, gently grabs a boy by the arm, makes eye contact with him and says, “Hey, I’m glad you’re here.”

A high school standout at St. Joseph-Ogden, a pitcher for Parkland College and in the Eastern Illinois Baseball League, baseball is no longer about what he can do as an athlete, but rather, touching the lives of young men and women though baseball and softball programs.

Putting aside personal accolades, Immke refocused his mission from striking out batters to providing opportunities that allowed a community of baseball or softball lovers to work hard in order to find personal and team success.

“I tell people all the time, I don’t know much in life: I know grass and baseball,” Immke, who also owns S&G Custom Mowing, said. “That’s the only two things I know. So, what little I know, I put a lot of effort into. I tell kids all the time, whatever you choose to do in life, do it the best you can.

“Everyone is going to struggle, so you just try to impress upon the kids that whatever you do, do it 100 percent.”

After coaching his oldest children, Shelby, Abby and Brock, in rec ball, Immke got involved with coaching the Fast Pitch Cruisers softball program and then developed the Bandits Baseball program in the St. Joseph area when Brock was nine-years old.

With a mission to provide local opportunities for local children to have a quality baseball education, Immke saw Brock and the Bandit teammates through graduation. He also coached his youngest son, Isaiah’s Bandit baseball team before it dispersed.

Until three years ago, Immke used his lawn care storage shed as a batting facility for local players. Today, youth baseball programs near St. Joseph rent out a baseball practice facility on his rural property to give their players access to pitching, hitting and batting opportunities in the winter months.

Immke stepped aside from coaching the Bandits after his son, Brock, graduated from the program in 2014.

Alongside an established business that employs nine lawn care professionals, Immke now spends his time giving back to the baseball and softball community through coaching his daughter Shane’s year-round travel softball team in Peoria while also coaching the Prairieview-Ogden Junior High baseball and the Heritage High School softball teams.

Last year, Immke rekindled the Bandits program when St. Joseph resident Josh Jones asked him to host a new group of young young baseball hopefuls.

Jones not only wanted a local travel team option for his son, but also wanted to give a new generation the opportunity to find the same success that Bandits players knew years ago.

In 2018, the Bandits fielded two local teams from the St. Joseph, Ogden and Royal areas. The 2019 season will include four teams made up of regional players.

“The goal isn’t to be huge,” Immke said. “That isn’t what we are trying to do at all. We are trying to teach the kids lessons through baseball.”

Immke mentors the young coaches that are guiding the next generation of Bandits.

Players who work alongside the Bandits organization learn lessons about accountability, responsibility and work ethic. Immke passes out T-shirts at the beginning of each season with “no excuses” written on the back.

“I see a lot of kids through here,” he said. “They might have an excuse or reason why they didn’t do it or why it didn’t work, and in baseball as in life, excuses don’t go very far.

“I’ve got nine employees with my business. We’ve got five children, and it’s the same concept, there’s not a lot of excuses that build anything.”

Immke also makes sure that players, coaches and parents know that they are representing an organization that is built upon good character.

“How do they act at the diamond? How do they act towards the umpire? The other team? How do parents act?” he said, emphasizing that each is a point of importance.

Immke said he wants to live by the standard he asks his teams to follow.

“I coach all the time;” he said. “I don’t ever get mad at umpires. Ever.”

Unlike some other youth organizations across the nation, the Bandits pride themselves on inclusivity with youngsters who want to hone their skills and become better players. The organization does not hold tryouts, and when possible, makes sure everyone bats.

Knowing that athletes develop at different stages as children, Immke has seen how this philosophy has benefited players, including his own son.

When Immke’s son, Brock, was 9 years old, the Bandits team set goals for the players. When they went into junior high school, the goal, if the player so chose, was to start on the junior high baseball team.

“All eight Bandits that were from St. Joseph started in seventh grade,” Immke said.

As the boys aged, their next goal was to get a varsity uniform at their respective high schools as a freshmen.

“Everybody got a varsity uniform except my kid, Brock,” he said. “Both of my boys were late bloomers.

“He was disappointed, but as a coach, I’m telling him how he has to approach this,” Greg Immke said.

“Fast forward to his senior year, he didn’t lose a game pitching. He was the team MVP, he was the Pitcher of the Year and he was All-State. And he was the only one who didn’t get a varsity uniform (as a freshmen).”

Brock is now a fifth-year senior, pitching at the University of Illinois Springfield.

“Don’t put those kids where you think they are going to be because you never know when they get older,” Greg Immke added.

Jones said that his Bandits’ team follows the leadership of Immke by not talking about wins and loses.

“It’s keep getting better, it’s work hard and try to improve,” he said.

“It’s a culture that we are trying to teach them,” Immke said. “And the parents, too. If you have a parent who is only about wins and loses, this isn’t the place.”

The product of this framework has led to roughly 30 baseball and softball players receiving scholarships to play at the collegiate level.

St. Joseph-Ogden graduate and Purdue University pitcher Dalton Parker said that the Bandits organization really helped him, and others, to find success.

“They instilled hard work, and just being able to care,” Parker said. “We are a small, close knit group of guys in a small town of best friends. We had one goal and we could carry that throughout school, baseball, travel team, just working hard toward common goals.”

Professional baseball player Cole Taylor (from Salt Fork), who currently plays for an affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels, the Inland Empire 66ers, said being a part of the organization led to more than just success on the field, though.

“You become a family over travel ball,” he said. You have a bond with the guys you spent the entire summer with, whether it’s one, two, three, four years. It’s just nice to come back and see guys you haven’t seen in a while.”

For Greg Immke, this is a great reward for years of hard work.

In that same room that held 9 and 10-year old Bandit hopefuls, six former Bandit players, including Taylor, Parker and Brock Immke, gathered in the winter practice facility during their time away from school to talk to the boys about how the Bandit program helped shape their lives.

Immke lit up as each athlete walked through the door.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he said.

The post Someone to Know Near SJO: Greg Immke first appeared on SJO Daily.