'Just amazing': One baseball family a big part of small-town team's run to state title game

PEORIA — The Rowe boys are part of a high school baseball team that has become larger than life in Henry.

They know the history, know who Brian Allard was, know how the town's athletic teams have fared and know they are making their own history now in the tiny town of 2,300 about 35 miles north of Peoria.

Junior left fielder Preston Rowe and his brother, freshman shortstop Carson Rowe, drove off with their uncle — Henry first-year assistant coach Teddy Rowe — on the team bus Friday morning.

Then they helped walk off Sterling Newman, 2-1, in the IHSA Class 1A state baseball semifinals before 1,996 at Dozer Park, a sea of red-clad fellow townspeople celebrating atop the dugout behind them as Carson Rowe came home with the game-winner.

2023 IHSA baseball brackets: Peoria-area postseason schedules, scores and pairings

"The impact of all this, it's just amazing," said assistant coach Rowe. "I can't put it into words. When we left the high school, the town was there, kids were running alongside our bus as we left. It's small-town at its finest.

"This is the first time ever a team from Henry has won a state trophy in any sport. It's huge for us."

Who was Brian Allard?

Henry's baseball teams in 1979 and 1993 both made the IHSA Elite Eight.

"We haven't gotten past that yet, until now," Ted Rowe said. "Not in baseball. Not in anything. Our only player ever to be drafted by MLB was Brian Allard."

Allard was a pitcher for Henry drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 1976 MLB Draft. He made his big-league debut in 1979 and played for Texas and Seattle.

Carson and Preston Rowe know that well.

"We live in a part of Henry called the Allard Addition," Preston Rowe said. "It's named after him."

Maybe there's going to be a Rowe Region in the future.

Growing up in Henry baseball

Teddy Rowe was born in Henry. He moved with his family to Dunlap, though, where he became an elite pitcher in high school.

"It was there that I was on the mound for Dunlap and we beat Henry, knocked them out of the state playoffs," Rowe said. "That has bothered me for years, honestly. So today is sweet for me, to be part of this."

Rowe went on to play at Illinois and then in independent ball with the Gateway Grizzlies and Florence Y'alls of the Frontier League, where he earned Reliever of the Year honors.

Preston and Carson Rowe's father, Larry, was a terrific baseball player, and went on to be a boxer at Western Illinois University.

Who's going to win? Predicting the Class 1A and 2A Illinois baseball state finals

"But my dad and my grandfather led me to baseball," Preston Rowe said. "They loved it."

Grandfather Rowe was also named Larry. And his love for the game, and Henry sports, and the athletic family was on Teddy Rowe's mind as the Mallards went into state playoff weekend.

"He died seven years ago," Rowe said. "He loved this so much, was so proud of these boys playing baseball, talked about it all the time. He would have loved this.

"It made me sad a little, to be honest, because being here this weekend made me think of him, miss him. I wish he could have seen this."

The path to glory

Henry is 23-6 now, and will face 23-14 Waterloo Gibault for the state championship at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday in Dozer Park. Henry knocked off Newman in a pitching duel Friday to get there.

Newman righty Kyle Wolfe needed only 63 pitches to work two outs into the seventh before it ended. Henry lefty Mason Johnson gutted out 110 pitches in a five-hit complete-game effort.

Henry broke a scoreless tie in the second inning when Johnson reached on an error and stole second base.

Freshman Carson Rowe then ripped a single to left to chase home Johnson with the game's first run.

Newman shortstop Garret Matznick delivered an RBI single in the third inning to tie it.

Background: Henry baseball team makes history with trip to Class 1A state finals in Peoria

The game sat frozen at 1-1 until the final frame, which opened with two quick outs by Henry in the bottom half.

One out away from extra innings, Carson Rowe singled sharply to center field. He moved up to second on an opposite-field single to short right by third baseman Zach Barnes.

With two outs, freshman right fielder Jacob Miller drove a 2-0 pitch into center field. Rowe zoomed around third and scored and the little town of Henry launched a big celebration.

"I couldn't breathe," said Carson Henry, grinning, after going 2-for-3 and driving in one run while scoring the winner. "It was surreal. My grandfather was a big influence on me getting into baseball at the start.

"And it helped a lot having my brother there as we played."

Said Henry coach Max Kirbach: "Our freshmen have been with the varsity playing all season. So this isn't new to them. The freshmen are ready to play, and they won it.

"We've been pretty mellow about taking one game at a time. There's just a lot of heart on this team and I'm proud of them."

A family tradition

The Rowes have a cousin who played basketball at Eureka College. They have a cousin, Aaron Rowe, who played on Henry's 1993 state baseball team. Another cousin, Colton Williams, was the catcher for Henry on Friday.

"It's an athletic family, everyone plays," Teddy Rowe said.

Carson Henry grew up playing with his brother and older kids all the time. So he was not the slightest bit intimidated on a big state stage Friday.

"Watching him, I wasn't nervous about him at all," Preston Rowe said. "Whenever I think about the situation he faces in a game, I just remember that he comes from the same place I do, the same T-ball league, the same coaches, the same town.

"And I know everything will be just fine."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

Class 1A baseball state finals

At Dozer Park — Peoria

Friday's semifinals

• Waterloo Gibault 7, Goreville 6

• Henry 2, Sterling Newman 1

Saturday's finals

• Third - Goreville vs. Sterling Newman, 9 a.m.

• Title - Gibault vs. Henry, 11:30 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Teddy Rowe of Dunlap, nephews part of Henry run to IHSA baseball title game