1998 Varsity Boys Baseball Team

Achieved an unofficial 26-5 record, winning their first 9 games, 17 of the first 19, then were required to later forfeit 7 games, including 4 conference games, for the use of an ineligible reserve. They proceeded to battle back from the adversity to win 5 of the last 7 games to close the season, then won the Regional Title, Sectional Title, and advanced to the IHSA State Tournament. This was both the first ever OTHS Sectional baseball title, as well as the first berth in the IHSA Class AA State baseball tournament. Three starting pitchers, Travis Harth, Bobby Torres, and Brandon Canada, had a combined record of 20-1. In the Galesburg Sectional the Pirates defeated the Quad City powerhouse Moline, then trailed 8-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning, with one out, to Peoria Notre Dame in the title game. They claimed the title, however, with 6 runs, including a 2-run double, and a two-out, two-run walk-off homer to win the game. In the State Quarterfinals the Pirates fell 7-1 to eventual runner-up Tinley Park Andrew. The Team first row: Cory Newman, Nick Vessell, Brent Heaberlin, Ben Newell, Carl Hortega; second row: Bob Torres, Brandon Canada, Jim Mitchell, Rob Smeets, Mark Loudon-Brown, B.J. Olson, B.J. Parrott; third row: Darren Bragg, Eric Katrein, Pete Hoffmann, Doug Shumway, Eric Farmer; fourth row: Assistant Coach Mark Andrews, Head Coach Randy Bretag, Travis Harth, Assistant Coach Craig Mueller, Mitch Hetelle, Ryan Lowery, Assistant Coach Don Heaberlin.