1977 Stephen Decatur Baseball Team

State Semi-Finalist

Head Coach Mickey Buttz

Inducted 1/28/2022

It wasn’t a great start for Stephen Decatur baseball. In fact, it was looking a little like a lost season at 2-6.
Even after the Runnin’ Reds started putting together some wins, no one was thinking about the state at any point during the regular season.
“If anyone would have told me we would be among the final four when we had a 6-8 record, I would have told them they were crazy,” Stephen Decatur coach Mickey Buttz said in the June 3, 1977 H&R.
But that’s exactly what happened. After that 2-6 start, Stephen Decatur won six straight and 13 of 16 to reach the Class AA state tournament semifinals. Tim McQuality caught fire in the postseason, collecting hits in eight of his first nine at-bats. McQuality was hitting .257 when the postseason started and ended the season with a .363 average.
Pitcher Kyle Bean also caught fire late, winning his last five games, including the state quarterfinals against Nokomis, and finishing with a 7-3 record.
The team’s two rocks were Steve Lake and Tim Ganley. Lake led the team with a .375 batting average and helped deliver the state quarterfinals win with two hits, a double and three RBIs. Ganley hit .342 for the Runnin’ Reds — “He’s the best ballplayer in the city, as far as I’m concerned,” said Buttz, whose team ended the season 15-10.