44 runs, 1 game: Remembering Springfield Southeast baseball's historic rout from 1988
It was Troy Vilayhong’s birthday.
His mother, Rae, surprised the Southeast baseball player that morning with the finest aluminum bat on the market: Easton’s Black Magic.
That alone elicited unbridled joy. It also kickstarted an unforgettable day that wound up in the history books.
On March 26, 1988, Vilayhong and the Southeast baseball team set what were then multiple state records in a 44-8 drubbing of Peoria Manual. That was just the first game of a doubleheader at Chamberlain Park, where Dale Dunavan compounded the Rams’ woes that frigid and gusty Saturday with a no-hitter to complete the sweep, 10-0.
“At the time, we were like, 'Wow,’” Vilayhong recalled. “It just didn't hit us until the next couple of days when we really officially found out. It just gave us a great jumpstart for a season and we really did have a decent season that year.”
One for the ages
Earlier this season, Sacred Heart-Griffin nearly matched that many runs in its 42-0 Central State Eight Conference rout over Decatur Eisenhower. That vaulted the Cyclones into a tie for sixth place with Bement South Piatt in Illinois High School Association history for most runs scored by a team.
The 1988 Southeast team hovers just above at No. 5 in that particular category. The Spartans also still hold a couple of state records, including most walks by a team in a game (21) and inning (12).
Here’s how the other Southeast records currently stand:
No. 2 for most hits by a team in a game (36) and No. 10 in an inning (13)
No. 6 for most runs combined in a game (52) and No. 8 in an inning (24)
No. 6 for most runs by a team in an inning (24)
“It was just one of those days,” former player Joby Crum said.
Crazy third inning
Southeast trailed 6-0 after the top of the first inning in that 1988 contest. The Spartans, then coached by Larry Chaney, answered immediately. They rallied ahead 11-6 after one and extended their lead 18-6 after two.
“I said, 'You know, we haven't had a chance to bat yet. Let's get the sticks going,' and they did,” Chaney recalled. “After the ball game, I said, 'I think we just made history,' and we did. Just amazing what history was involved in that ball game.”
That can be primarily attributed to the ghastly third inning. Southeast chalked up 24 runs, 13 hits, and 12 walks in a one-hour stretch.
Jim Wildrick's column in The State Journal-Register underscored that Rick Seiders went 3-for-3 in the frame.
There were other quirks.
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Dunavan added two doubles and was hit by a pitch, while Crum recorded three walks in the sequence. Dunavan, Seiders, Crum, Kevin Van Houten and Stanton Moore each scored three runs as well.
“We had a really good offensive team, so when we started hitting it was just how we were hitting, but then there were pop flies that probably should have been caught but because of the wind they were dropping,” Van Houten said. “Towards the end of that inning, players were being taken out and other players were being put in.”
Chaney eventually left his post at third base to go to the bathroom as Southeast continued to tack on runs. Junior outfielder Tony Webster served in the interim.
Chaney, who is now retired and lives in Georgia, said it seemed like forever.
“I don't think I ever gave a sign during the whole ball game because they just came up, took their walks, hit their pitches and just kept on going from there,” Chaney said.
According to Wildrick, the third inning looked something like this: Walk; single; double; walk; walk; single; single; walk; walk; single; walk; hit by pitch; walk; walk; single; pop-out to second; single; single; single; walk; double; pop-out to second; walk; walk; single; walk; single; single and short-to-second force-out.
“One of the biggest problems I had was our scorekeeper was sick that day so he didn't come with us,” Chaney said. “I had kids on the bench doing the scorebook and so that got passed around a lot because by the second inning I had 15 or 16 kids in the ball game and of course back then you could reenter kids. We got everybody in early and they just kept hitting and had a good eye for the ball. We did take a lot of walks that ball game.
“It just kept going and going.”
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Springfield High coach Jim Steinwart loitered nearby. His Senators had their own doubleheader against Peoria Woodruff later that afternoon.
“I just remember it was gray,” said Steinwart, currently in his 35th season at SHS. “As impressive as it was, it was frustrating knowing we still had to play two more games when we're waiting forever to play. I think that our scheduled start time was 2 (p.m.), which wasn't realistic. We had to have started around 4.
“We just had to sit around and wait for a long time, so to us it was kind of miserable. It's like, 'Let's go, let's get this over with so we can get going.'”
Scoring dilemma
The game mercifully ended after 4 ½ innings.
The Spartans didn’t know it yet at the time, but they had set a few state records. That included most runs by a team in a game, most hits by a team in a game and most walks by a team in a game and inning.
“It's one of those things that you experience it and it never will happen again and you don't know the magnitude of it while it's happening,” Webster said.
Manual, led by coach Bob Nelson, faced a long bus ride home after the doubleheader, Chaney said.
“I really felt bad for the coaches after the games were over with,” Chaney said. “He was anxious to get on the bus. We talked a little bit and I said, 'Sorry about that. I didn't know you guys were that weak.' He said, 'I don't think we are. You guys are just pretty dang good.'”
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What else was there to do in that situation?
“You don't want them to make an out,” Chaney said. “You teach and coach them all year long to hit the ball and field the ball and throw the ball and play the game right until the three outs are made. We just kept playing baseball.”
Manual at least got some small measure of vengeance in 1990. Its seven stolen bases against Southeast ranks seventh in IHSA history.
“We were just playing,” Webster said. “I mean, they throw the ball, you hit the ball. It's more disrespectful to lay down for somebody in that situation than go ahead and play from my perspective. You just play.”
Vilayhong agreed.
“If you get an opportunity to play, just go out there and play,” Vilayhong said. “As a coach right now (at Lutheran), that's what I tell my kids. If the opportunity is there, just play it through.”
Springboard to success
Southeast’s bizarre home opener augured things to come.
The Spartans won the Mid-State 10 Conference with a 13-5 league mark and set other school records along the way.
Van Houten, for starters, still holds the benchmark for most home runs (6) and RBIs (44) from that season. Seiders additionally has the most hits in a season (56) from ‘88 and triples (7) from ‘87. Dunavan and Jim Matulis both formerly had the most strikeouts in a game (14) in ‘88 until it was toppled by Eddie Saner’s 15 in 2019.
Crum’s 90 strikeouts in the ‘91 season remains the most in school history, as well.
“I had a lot RBIs for that season,” Van Houten said. “That's probably going to stay up there for a while, but it feels good. A lot of kids ask me about it every day about the records that I have. It's just fun to talk about it.”
Where did they go?
A number of those players later helped Lincoln Land Community College to its first 40-win season in 1990. That included Van Houten, Seiders, Vilayhong and Dunavan to name a few.
Van Houten and Seiders eventually reunited as teammates at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Crum, the present boys basketball coach at SHS, also landed at LLCC before going to Centenary.
“That's how it was back then,” Van Houten said. “We grew up playing together. That's why you're good because you've played together your whole lives and then you end up playing in high school.
"Teams that are usually good are the kids that have played together for a long time. They know each other's habits. They know how to play together.”
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Webster took the football route and played at Illinois State. He’s on the Southeast coaching staff.
“That team per person was probably the most talented team in Springfield at the time or throughout the years, especially the '80s and '90s,” Webster said. “I don't know who had per team that much talent.”
A bygone era
Defending Class AA state champion Griffin, however, dispatched the Spartans 4-2 in the regional semifinal in 1988 and handed Dunavan (8-1) his first loss of the season.
It encapsulated the city’s parity at the time. Southeast won conference, but SHS took the City Series while Griffin returned to state for a second consecutive season despite finishing the regular season under .500.
Each tallied at least 20 wins after all was said and done: Southeast (24-10), Lanphier (23-10), SHS (23-14) and Griffin (20-20).
In an interesting footnote, SHS split its doubleheader against the same Peoria Manual team. The Senators dropped the first game 8-7 before thumping the Rams 12-1.
“You know, every City game was basically an all-star game,” Webster said. “You just had a tremendous amount of talent out there. Not just pitching but you had fielders, hitters, everything. It was just ultra-competitive.”
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Chaney subsequently won two more Mid-State titles in ‘92 and ‘93 and stepped down the following season to become the athletic director. The Spartans haven’t won a league crown since that time in the CS8 and Chaney retired from the school in 2002.
Chamberlain Park lurks unattended like a forgotten relic and even the City Series has recently been discontinued. That ball game — not to mention Chamberlain’s prodigious dormant lights and forlorn mystique — evokes memories past.
“Those were some good times,” Webster said. “I played with some good people and lifelong friends. It was a blast.”
Contact Bill Welt: (217) 788-1545, bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA baseball: Southeast once set state record for most runs in a game
