High fives all around: Raiders use Tollerton’s inspiration to power past Saints and reach Class 2A state final four

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Jake Schisler smiled and shrugged as he uncupped his left hand to reveal the baseball he had hit into the Monday twilight.

He couldn’t be certain it was the actual home run ball because someone would have had to dig it out of the trees beyond the left-field fence at Lincoln Land Community College’s Claude Kracik Field, but that was an immaterial detail.

This was a scuffed-up, game-used baseball that is now a forever treasure.

The two-run shot Schisler hit in the bottom of the fourth inning of the Class 2A Springfield Super-Sectional punctuated the Quincy Notre Dame baseball team’s 13-1 victory over Bloomington Central Catholic, sending the Raiders to the state final four for just the third time in program history.

And it honored Tucker Tollerton in a way Hollywood script writers wish they could create.

It was Schisler’s fifth home run of the season. It gave him five RBIs. It enabled the Raiders to end the game in five innings. And it secured their fifth victory this postseason.

All of it happened with the Raiders holding No. 5 close to their hearts.

“Losing one of the core members of our team, our center fielder, our No. 2 hole hitter, man, that’s tough,” Schisler said less than 48 hours after the 18-year-old Tollerton was killed in a single-vehicle accident outside of Hannibal, Mo. “He was special to this team. It might seem like we lost one Tucker Tollerton in our lineup, but I really think we gained eight.

“He was there in all of us today.”

Tollerton will be there in spirit and in soul when the Raiders continue their pursuit of a state championship.

QND (35-1) will face Joliet Catholic (24-8-1) at 5 p.m. Friday in the second Class 2A semifinal at Dozer Park in Peoria. Columbia will face DePaul College Prep in the 3 p.m. semifinal. The championship game will be played at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

“Job’s not finished,” senior first baseman Dalton Miller said.

A title is what the Raiders want, so they insist they’re not done yet.

“Absolutely not,” senior right-handed pitcher Tyler Dance said. “We have two more wins on our mind, and we’re going to go do something that this program has never done.”

The 1952 and 2004 teams both finished second at the state tournament, so the opportunity to win the first state title exists.

That kept the Raiders focused even when it felt like the world was crumbling around them.

“It was pretty simple for us because we have one goal in mind,” Dance said. “We had to get locked in. From the moment we got on the bus in Quincy, we were ready to go. We were playing for someone special who is a major part of our program.”

The reminders of Tollerton were everywhere, from his jersey and batting helmet in the dugout to the “5” ironed onto the sleeve of the Raiders’ jerseys to the pregame moment of silence to starting the game with center field vacant for the first pitch.

The Raiders grasped onto the emotion of it all and used it to their advantage.

“If you couldn’t feel that, you better check your pulse,” Miller said. “That was an absolutely electric environment. We have a great family behind us. Our family is always there to support us. It’s really something special to be a part of.”

So was the offensive attack the Raiders unleashed.

An infield single, an error and a pair of sacrifices led to a run for the Saints in the top of the first inning, and although the Raiders didn’t answer in the bottom of the frame, they took aggressive approaches at the plate and hit the ball hard.

It suggested good things lie ahead.

In the second inning, they did. Senior catcher Michael Stupavsky led off with a double to center field, Nolan Robb singled to left field and Evan Kenning followed with an RBI double to left field. Colin Kurk singled to drive in two runs, and Schisler’s sacrifice fly scored another.

“After seeing that solid contact, I knew this offense was going to get going,” Dance said.

In the third inning, the Raiders exploded for seven runs, highlighted by Schisler’s two-run single with the bases loaded and Miller’s two-run double to right-center field.

The Raiders finished with 13 hits with the bottom four hitters in order going a combined 8 of 11 with six RBIs and eight runs scored.

“Kenning hasn’t hit a curveball all year and he finds two barrels off curveballs,” Schisler said with a chuckle. “Everyone was locked in.”

Especially Schisler, who hit a long flyball to center field in the first inning but left no doubt with his shot to left field in the fourth.

“I really didn’t believe it as I hit it,” Schisler said. “I thought it had a chance, but I was still going to run it out. I had already hit one that I thought had a chance, and it didn’t go. But I saw that one go over and I was just … I was just … I don’t know.”

Floating maybe?

“I’m not sure if I touched the bases or not,” Schisler said. “I think I might have just floated.”

As he crossed home plate, Schisler pointed to the sky and to his fallen brother.

This one was for Tuck.

“We made room for him out there in our celebration,” Schisler said after the Raiders took their plaque and went to center field for team pictures and a prayer involving all QND students in attendance. “He’s always going to be with us.”