2020 Quincy Notre Dame Hall of Fame Inductee: 1985 Baseball Team

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2020 and 2021 classes are being inducted into the Quincy Notre Dame Hall of Fame together this year.  The 1985 baseball team will be inducted on Friday, Nov. 26 before QND’s boys basketball game.)

The 1985 boys baseball team is one of only three teams in school history to reach the semifinals in the state tournament, but because no third- or fourth-place trophies were given at the time, this team has no hardware to show for their excellence.

The Raiders relied on two solid starters — Todd Friye, who had a 10-1 record and 1.31 earned run average, and Eric Zanger, who had a 6-5 record and a 3.10 earned run average — to lead the pitching staff. They handled more than two-thirds of the innings pitched that season. Offensively, Eric Zanger and his brother, Jeff, both hit .467. Eric led the team in runs scored with 46, and Jeff led the team with 12 doubles, five homers and 46 runs batted in.

QND finished with a 26-8 record and a 5-3 mark in the Greater Midwestern Conference. After winning the regional, the Raiders knocked off Havana 10-0 on Eric Zanger’s one-hitter in the sectional semifinal, then defeated Southeastern 5-1 in the sectional final on Friye’s two-hitter. The Raiders beat Warren 5-1 at Springfield’s Lanphier Park in the state quarterfinals, then lost 7-4 to Braidwood Reed-Custer in the semifinals.