Baseball Hall of Fame

Front Row (from left) Todd Ummel, Kirk Ummel, bat boy Tony Millard, bat boy David McDonald, Tom King, Jeff Berta.

Middle Row (from left) Rich Melton, Mike Albers, Larry Lomelino, TIm Taylor, Steve Bruso, Sam Kent.

Back Row (from left) John Hostetler, John Summer, Doug Sluser, Mitch Ingold, Assistant coach Jeff Millard, Head coach Mike McDonald, Keith Dullard, Scott Stone, Ron Yoder, Assistant coach Mike McMillan.

No team that won a state high school baseball championship swung its bats with more authority than the 1984 Morton squad. Coached by Mike McDonald, the Potters made a stunning impact on the Illinois High School Association baseball record book, setting or tying 99 team and individual records for both the overall two-class tournament and the Class AA division that it won.

Finishing 18-11 in the regular season, a year that started with a loss and ended with a pair of losses, Morton then used its offensive power to sweep through the Morton regional and the Limestone sectional.

It then whipped Belleville West, 16-5, and Taylorville, 20-8, before edging Burbank-Reavis, 9-7, for the state title. Morton's 45 runs and 46 hits were tournament records, as well as its 15 extra base hits and .474 average.

First baseman Kirk Ummel was named tournament Most Valuable Player, while the all-tournament team included Ummel and outfielders Todd Ummel and Keith Dullard.

Kirk Ummel set records with eight runs batted in and three home runs, while Ron Yoder had nine hits and hit .692 on a 9-for-13 performance. Yoder also had six consecutive hits.

ON THE ROAD TO STATE

Regional: Morton 13, Olympia 0

Morton 3, Pekln 2

Morton 2, Macomb 0

Sectional: Morton 7, Rock Island 4

Morton 15, Washington 8 

State: Morton 16, Belleville West 5

Morton 20, Taylorville 8

Morton 9, Burbank-Reavis 7