Working on a chain gang: Raiders use unique home run celebration to inject energy into state championship pursuit

QUINCY — Mason Winking’s employee discount probably saved him $3 or $4 on the welded galvanized steel chain he purchased at Farm & Home Supply.

Yet, the real value of those 35 gold-painted links is immeasurable.

That chain is part of what links the Quincy Notre Dame baseball players so strongly together. It stands for passion and power, energy and enthusiasm, camaraderie and colossal moments, and is put around the neck of each player who hits a home run.

Those who get to wear it understand they have done something significant to help the cause.

“It’s an honor,” senior first baseman Dalton Miller said. “You really have to be a part of it to understand.”

Miller has worn the home run chain the most, with his eight home runs tops on the team as the Raiders head to Dozer Park in Peoria for the Class 2A final four. QND (35-1) faces defending state champion Joliet Catholic (24-8-1) at 5 p.m. Friday in the state semifinals. Columbia (33-4) and DePaul College Prep (23-14) square off in the 3 p.m. semifinal.

QND has hit 44 home runs this season, while according to season stats provided by the IHSA, the other three semifinalists have combined for 42 home runs.

And the Raiders have celebrated 43 of those bombs with the chain celebration.

The one they didn’t was Monday’s two-run blast to left field by Jake Schisler that punctuated the 13-1 victory over Bloomington Central Catholic in the Class 2A Springfield Super-Sectional. Instead of putting the chain around his neck, his teammates draped Tucker Tollerton’s No. 5 jersey over his shoulder.

“I think that was more of a blessing than anything,” Schisler said of the fact the Raiders left the chain behind. “I like what we had a little bit more.”

Tollerton, the Raiders’ starting center fielder, was killed in an automobile accident last Saturday night on a roadway south of Hannibal, Mo. The Raiders chose to play less than 48 hours after his death because they knew he’d want them to forge ahead.

They also know he’d want his shot at the chain, something he wore five times his senior season.

In fact, everyone wants a crack at wearing it.

“It caps off a great moment,” said senior shortstop Jack Linenfelser, who has worn it twice this season. “It feels great coming in and meeting the team with someone ready to give you the chain.”

There’s nothing easy about the way you receive it either.

“It’s kind of thrown on you,” Linenfelser said. “But you really don’t care at that moment because it feels so good.”

The weight of the chain is inconsequential, too.

“When you put it around your neck, it is not light,” senior third baseman Brady Kindhart said. “You can definitely feel it bring your neck down a little bit, but to be honest, you don’t really realize it. You’re so pumped up.”

The chain’s origin comes from a QND campus visit by college recruiters, who handed out beaded necklaces in the cafeteria one day during the 2022 season.

“We gathered about 10 or 12 of them, and we put them on for one game,” Kindhart said. “And then we were like, ‘You know what, we’re going to be hitting a lot more home runs this year. We might as well get a real chain.’”

Since Winking worked at Farm & Home Supply, he handled that.

The rest has become home run history.

“It’s the best,” senior catcher Michael Stupavsky said of the celebration. “Most teams, especially not in high school, are going to have a celebration on that par. It’s something special to us and it’s our identity.”

The Raiders haven’t seen anyone else mimic it or duplicate it.

“Not a lot of high schools you see do that,” Miller said. “It has that trademark on it. Having that kind of iconic celebration is special to our program.”

It’s special to every player who wears the chain.

“It’s just an awesome feeling to know you’re contributing,” Kindhart said. “It’s a relief to have that celebration there after rounding the bases. It gives you a nice kick of motivation and keeps you going.”

And with those who introduced the chain celebration leaving at season’s end, it will be up to the underclassmen to carry it forward.

“We’ve started a tradition with the QND baseball program,” Schisler said. “Obviously, hitting a home run is great, but you get to have fun afterwards as well. That’s what playing baseball is all about.”