Prep Baseball: Thompson joins 700 Club with milestone win

It was a picture perfect day at Harrisburg's Doris Heights and the scene was set for one of southern Illinois' best to be put on display.

Harrisburg High School head baseball coach Jay Thompson reached a milestone not met by many as the 29-year-head coach won his 700th game as the Bulldogs beat Herrin 9-3.

Thompson is now 700-204 in his time as Harrisburg's head coach, a career that spans from 1981 to 2015.

Thompson coached from 1981 to 2003 and then returning in 2005 and 2006. He's maintained his position from 2009 to now.

For Thompson, he reflected on the milestone, but scoffed at the notion that it means anything more.

"That's something that someday in the future I'll look at and say, "that was a pretty cool thing." Right now, we won today. We've won a couple of games in a row and we're playing pretty good baseball right now and we got a game tomorrow. We're in the middle of a season, we don't have time to celebrate and act like we've done something. We haven't done anything yet, but we're getting better and I'm happy where we are."

The Bulldogs moved to .500 with the win, improving to 8-8 overall and are now 2-2 in Southern Illinois River-to-River Ohio Division play.

Harrisburg went to work early against Herrin starter Gavin Gosha, plating two runs in the bottom of the first inning when Bryce Emery's 2-run double scored Matthew Phipps and Britton Riden.

The Tigers got one back in the top of the second to cut the deficit and Jake Hartline's base hit knotted the game at two in the top of the third.

Harrisburg rallied for three runs in the bottom of the third as a Austin Hefner walk scored Riden, followed by an Aaron Johnson sacrifice-fly that scored Noah Vallette. Finally, Carson Batts scored Tyler Sullivan on a ground out back to Gosha.

The Bulldogs plated two more runs in the fourth, thanks to a double by Phipps and added a run in the fifth and sixth inning.

Phipps finished up 4-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored to pace the Harrisburg offense that finished with 13 hits on the day.

Emery was 3-for-4 with two RBI, while Sykes Thompson was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Vallette was 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scored, while Hefner (0-for-2) and Johnson (0-for-3) each finished with two RBI.

Harrisburg used three pitchers on the day as Emery got the start and worked four innings, striking out two, while allowing three runs on five hits.

Cooper Patterson worked one inning of relief before giving way to Thompson, who closed the door in the fifth and sixth inning.

Patterson allowed two hits, while striking out one. Thompson stuck out four in the save.

Afterwards, Thompson was recognized to a standing ovation and was joined by his family, including his mother and former players.

The win might resonate with Thompson right now, but will soon fall into the category of just another game.

"I really don't remember any of them," Thompson said. "The only one I remember is the first game I ever coached up at Hamilton County. We won 4-3 and it was pretty exciting. Truthfully, it was a lot more exciting than No. 700!"

Thompson did admit that more than the victory, it was about the kids. Which to him, is why he's still in the business of doing what he does today.

" I was a little nervous before the game just because it's a number and it's an important number. What I told the kids, and I really mean this, you can't think about stuff like that, especially when you're in it as long as I have been. What I told them today was and something that I'm very proud of is 700 times our kids have won today and that's always been our motto.

"Yesterday is yesterday, tomorrow we will see, but we can win today and we've done that over and over. It's been very gratifying."

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.