The Illinois high school baseball season kicks off on March 16, opening day for regular season action under IHSA regulations. Over the next several weeks, leading up to opening day, we’ll be publishing our team previews ahead of the 2020 spring season, touching on programs spanning all state classifications, leading into a countdown through the official PBR Illinois Preseason Power 25 Rankings.

Perennially, we’ve submitted a Preseason Questionnaire to high school head coaches across the entire state. Their responses have been flooding in and we’re using the detailed insight they’ve provided in our team-by-team preseason analysis.

Our 2020 preseason coverage continues today.

Team: Galesburg
Preseason Rank: On The Bubble
2019 Record: 29-8
Conference: Western Big 6
IHSA Class: 3A
Head Coach: Jeremy Pickrel
Playoff Run: Sectional Finals appearance
2019 Final Rank: On the Bubble
Returning Starters: 6
Returning Pitchers: 4

OUTLOOK

One of the top, under-the-radar pitching staffs of 2019 is back in full in 2020. The Silver Streaks return their four top arms from a season ago, a rotation that helped Galesburg win 29 games.

In 2019, coach Pickrel’s pitching staff maintained a team ERA of 1.66 – that’s as a whole, not just the squad’s four best – while punching out 335 batters against only 88 walks. The rotation is led by several senior ace-types: RHP/OF Connor Aten (Bradley commit), RHP/1B Noah Matheny (SIU-Edwardsville), RHP Mitchel Sampson (Heartland CC), and RHP Ty Harter. Aten operates as the staff No. 1 and went 10-1 last spring with a minute 0.67 ERA with 101 Ks in over 62 innings, and just 20 walks. He’ll also help out offensively; he hit .393 in 2019 with an OPS over 1.000. Matheny is the team’s cleanup hitter and No. 2 arm, he K’d 84 in over 50 frames with an ERA under 1.40. Sampson also wields upper-80s stuff and he was credited with four wins and punched out over 30 himself last year. And Harter groomed an ERA just above 2.00 and walked only two in 30-plus innings of work.

This depth of staff is substantial, and had the Streaks bordering on our Preseason Power 25 ranking, and coach Pickrel believes there’s more offensive depth than the team has had in year’s past as well. Juniors like Camdon Anderson and Reid Stufflebeem are going to help surround the likes of Aten and Matheny in the everyday lineup, and there are a few sophomores that might break into the squad, too, like Aten’s younger brother Grant, who’s an infielder, as well as C Kannon Kleine and INF Thad Morling.

They didn’t lose much from a really competitive team a season ago, which should give them an authentic chance of earning a trip to Joliet for a bid at the 3A title.

VIDEO SPOTLIGHT

Noah Matheny (2/20/19)

Make sure to follow @PBRIllinois on Twitter for the most up-to-date coverage throughout the 2020 season.

Find more information on the 2020 Silver Streaks below:

+ Full Schedule
+ Team Twitter

MORE ON THE BUBBLE