’89 huh?......yeesh…
That was part of the reply I received from Jeff Swigris, the shortstop on our 1989 Quincy College team, in response to the text I sent him in February 2024,
During a three-week period, I contacted most of my players from that squad from 35 years ago. There were a few guys who I had communicated with occasionally through Facebook or a rare phone conversation. Mike Egenes and Lance Marshall, two freshmen from the 1989 squad, were the only two I had seen in the last 30 years.
Most had fallen into the same category as Swigris. I hadn’t seen them since my coaching years at Quincy College which ended after the 1991 season.
Although they didn’t use the exact same expression as Jeff, I knew that most of them would wonder “Why do you want to write something about us?”
I wanted to make sure I could ease anyone’s curiosity or angst as quickly as possible and assure them that my ambition was very sincere.
I said, “Everything I write about you and the team will be positive. That’s easy because I have honestly felt that way about all of you and that year. Finally, I think it’s an inspiring tale and an emotional story and coincidentally it happens to be 35 years after we played our last game as a team.”
They could call it an anniversary if they wanted to, but that was not the impetus for writing.
The four months spent coaching that ’89 squad may be the most significant time I ever spent in baseball. Twenty years of coaching youth leagues, collegiately and professionally added to 25 years of professional scouting has certainly been memorable, but I don’t think any year of baseball has felt more purposeful than 1989.
I have always felt that what these players experienced, if not unprecedented, has thankfully been few and far between in college baseball history.
There have been teams that had worse seasonal records than 6-40, losing streaks longer than 25 games, and lost a game 32-0 (or worse), but the wins and losses of that year is only a fragmented look at the entire picture.
The 1989 team kept a collegiate baseball program standing when baffling decisions had threatened to, if not completely disassemble the program, never allowing it to compete at a true Division 2 level again.
Sophomore Chad Gooding, astutely speaking about this writing, “It’s about the tumultuous season that birthed the future of the program for Quincy University, which is something we never contemplated in the presence of the moment.”
Jim Wissel, Derek Van, Jim Cerneka, Chad Gooding, Brian Mullen, Lance Marshall, Brian Allen, Dave Schuering, John Cassidy, Matt Baalman, and Mike Egenes were players whose contributions pushed the baseball program forward. Their against-all-odds actions allowed their ’89 colleagues: Elvis Turkovich, Dave Mikolaczak, Don Hargis, Tony Preall, Jeff Swigris, Mark Trapp, and Joe Nardi an opportunity to play a major role on the 1990 team.
That 1990 team went 25-17 and the 1991 club went 25-15-2 and started a chain of eight successive winning seasons. There is no doubt that the efforts of the ’89 squad led directly to the success of the ’90 team which led to the success of the ’91 club, and it goes on with no assured way to measure how long the 1989 team’s endeavors continued to have an impact on QU baseball.
After the 1989 season, the QU collegiate baseball program has played 36 seasons. They’ve had only two losing seasons, two .500 marks, and 32 years of winning campaigns.
QU baseball has won 30 or more games 18 times and six of those 30 or more-winning seasons, saw the Hawks win 40 or more.
In the last 17 years, QU has put together stalwart seasons that have included ten GLVC (Great Lakes Valley Conference) conference titles and/or NCAA appearances. The Hawks joined the GLVC in 1994.
The Hawks’ baseball program has flourished because of outstanding coaches and players through the last three decades.
Well-deserved congratulations to the QU players and the five head baseball coaches of the last 30 years: Pat Atwell, Greg McVey, Brian Unger, Josh Rabe, and Matt Schissel. Their work has made the Quincy University Baseball Hawks one of the premier Division 2 baseball programs in the Midwest.
We made sure that after missing the 1988 fall season to have a superb 1989 September and October autumn, setting the stage for the ‘90 season. It was a fall season that began with a 25 man addition of freshman and junior college players plus several ex-players from the 1988 team who came back to the program after a one-year hiatus.
The 1990 team was able to create a junior varsity program for those young players who needed some experience at a higher level than they had in their high school year
1989 was over. Coming back from the depths of complete disregard for the players and the program was inexcusable, but the 1989 team opened the door for future QC/QU clubs who, to their credit, took full advantage of what the Hawks' team had produced going through the quagmire of that season.
For me, in terms of wins and losses, it was a most difficult year, but it was not the most disappointing year I’ve ever had in my baseball career. Maybe that ‘89 season becomes a bit more gratifying as the years add up.
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