Columbia celebrates anniversary of two state championships
Thirty years ago they were the “Columbia Lumber Company,” a hard-hitting, fun-loving talented bunch of baseball players on the way to the 1987 Class A state championship.
Several 1987 team members gathered Saturday to be honored for the 30th anniversary of their state championship, which was followed up 20 years later by Columbia’s second state baseball championship in 2007.
Both teams were celebrated Saturday as players, parents and coaches gathered at the Eagles’ current field behind Eagleview Elementary School. The players were joined by Betsy Stuart, widow of longtime Columbia baseball coach Jim Stuart, and her children, Steve Stuart and Kelly Stuart.
Also on hand were 2007 varsity coach Dustin Nail and longtime Columbia baseball assistants Doug Rose and Barry Krizan. Both state title trophies were there along with vintage jerseys and the “Columbia Lumber Company” bat signed by the 1987 players.
Current Columbia coach Neal O’Donnell was an assistant on the 2007 squad along with Keith Jany and Jared Marshall.
“We just can’t believe 30 years went by so quick,” said Dave Kossina, the top starter on the 1987 team and winning pitchers in two of the three games at the state tournament. “Now our kids are playing college ball. No disrespect for the teams up at state that year, but it was harder for us to get out of our regional and sectional.”
In the sectional, Columbia knocked off Carlyle and future St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bryan Eversgerd and also beat defending state champs and Cahokia Conference rival Marissa.
The “Columbia Lumber Company” nickname came from a lineup that produced a .365 team batting average and numerous extra base hits and home runs.
“Definitely our hitting made us what we were, but what carried us all the way was our pitching,” Landgraf, citing top pitchers Kossina, future Cardinals and Oakland Athletics pitcher T.J. Mathews and Brett Crawford. “We knew we could hit up and down the lineup, but when you’ve got guys that you can put out on the pitching mound like that you’re going to be pretty good.”
Kossina pitched the first game at state and threw a complete game in the quarterfinals, a 7-4 win over Rochester. Mathews got the win in the 6-1 semifinal victory Saturday over Manito Forman, then Kossina tossed all five innings in a dominant 12-1 win over previously unbeaten Cobden in the state championship game Saturday night.
“It was awesome just to get back together and to tell baseball stories that were 30 years old,” Kossina said.
For a small-school team, the 1987 Eagles had large-school talent.
Mathews eventually pitched for eight seasons in the major leagues after pitching at Meramec and UNLV. Brothers Kevin Krizan and Kyle Krizan both played for Evansville, Eric Baldridge played for Saint Louis University, Kossina played at McKendree, Landgraf played for Kaskaskia and Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Crawford played at Rend Lake and SIUE, Doug Taake played for Belleville Area College (now SWIC) and McKendree and Jerry May played at Freed-Hardeman.
Twenty years later the Eagles experienced another magical run to a state championship.
Columbia defeated Reed-Custer 4-2 in eight innings in the quarterfinals, knocked off Beardstown 4-1 in the semifinals and then beat Pinckneyville 3-1 to win the 2007 Class A state title.
Columbia’s 2007 pitcher Trent Blank starred at Baylor and spent three seasons in the Colorado Rockies organization. Another pitching standout, Josh Mueller, pitched at Eastern Illinois University and was also drafted by the Colorado Rockies before spending six seasons in the minor leagues.
Other college baseball players on the 2007 club included Ben Thoma (Eastern Illinois), Joel Greatting (SIUE), Sheldon Johns (Quincy) and Aaron Floarke (SWIC).
This story was originally published April 17, 2017 at 8:42 PM with the headline "Columbia celebrates anniversary of two state championships."