Illinois Valley ‘extremely excited’ to represent District 20 in region tournament

Growing up in Spring Valley, Mike Argubright never had the opportunity to play in the Senior League Baseball Central Region Tournament, but he fondly recalls attending.

“I’ve gone almost every year,” Argubright said. “I’ve always enjoyed watching it, especially when I was younger watching the bigger kids who seemed like giants back then.”

Now, Argubright is leading a team, including his son, Geno, into the Central Region Tournament as the coach of the Illinois Valley Baseball League team that will represent District 20.

The tournament begins with opening ceremonies at 6 p.m. Friday at Washington Park with games beginning Saturday.

The championship game is 10 a.m. Thursday, July 17.

“We’re extremely excited to represent the district,” Mike Argubright said. “I hope all the kids on my team and in our district understand how lucky we are to host such a prestigious event. We are very lucky. I wish all kids in the district would battle to make their respective teams with the goal of representing their district and community.”

Illinois Valley is made up of players from La Salle, Peru, Oglesby and Utica and consists of seven sophomores and eight freshmen with 14 players from La Salle-Peru and one from St. Bede.

“We’re young and ambitious,” Mike Argubright said.

The Illinois Valley team in the region tournament is a combination of players from the two Illinois Valley teams that played during the season.

Illinois Valley earned an automatic berth in the region tournament since no other area league had a team for a district tournament.

“As an all-star team, we’ve played zero games,” Mike Argubright said. “We had two Senior League teams for Illinois Valley this year with 13 kids apiece. We pretty much played each other, and we each played Spring Valley one time, so it was a very condensed season for Senior League.”

Illinois Valley plays in the tournament’s first game at 9 a.m. Saturday against Wisconsin. The winner advances to play Illinois at 1 p.m. Sunday. Illinois is represented by Burbank American, which has won the tournament three years in a row.

The loser of the first game will play at 11 a.m. Sunday against the loser between Nebraska and Iowa.

Pitcher Geno Argubright is the likely starter for Illinois Valley for the opener.

“He brings a lot of different pitches, so we’re going to try to keep the Wisconsin team off balance,” Mike Argubright said. “

Will Gende, Zach Pescetto and Kam Fransen will also log innings for Illinois Valley.

Espen McFadden and Brock Pikul are expected to be some of the team’s top offensive weapons.

“I expect a lot out of Espen McFadden,” Mike Argubright said. “He’s got a lot of power and speed and a lot of drive. Brock Pikul has hit the ball really hard for us.”

Rounding out the roster are Kaden Bertuli, Caleb Plut, Hunter Sale, Nicholas Campbell, Griffin Kellett, Emmitt Olsen, Aiden Dziarnowski, Adan Pantoja and Trenton Schinkey.

“The keys to success are minimizing free bases with walks,” Mike Argubright said. “That’s super important. We need our pitchers to throw strikes. We need to play good defense in the infield. I’m really happy with our outfield right now. We just need some good performances out of the infield to make the routine plays, and I think we should do OK.”