.

The 1962 Taylorville Tornadoes Baseball Team under the guidance of veteran coach Edward “Red” Bland; the first Taylorville baseball team to reach the state tournament semi finals, will be inducted into the Taylorville High School Sports Hall of Fame at a banquet, in the auditorium at St Vincent Memorial Hospital, Saturday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m.

The Tornadoes, who finished the season with a 19-3 record, were also Mid-State Conference Champions, District Champions, Regional Champions and Sectional Champions. 

Coach Bland relied on the experience of four key seniors, the skills of  eight  juniors and the support of  five sophomores to mold an offense that averaged more than 9 runs a game and a defense that allowed only two and a half runs. During the regular season the Tornadoes only losses were a 3-2 duel to Hillsboro and a 5-4 setback against Springfield Griffen.  Completing the conference season with a  11-1 record, the Tornadoes won district and regional tiltes by outscoring their  four opponents 65 –11.  In sectional play, Taylorville  defeated Belleville 2-1 and Wood River 9-4.  In the state quarter-finals,  Ken Everett shut out Centralia  3-0.

In the semi-final loss to La Grange, Everett again took the mound and allowed only one  run through four innings, but got tagged for seven runs in the fifth to seal the Tonadoes fate.

were lead by senior right-hander, Ken Everett, who won 14 games without a defeat, including one no-hitter, until giving up eight runs in the semi-final loss to LaGrange High School.  Everett also lead the team I hitting with .403 batting average including  seven home runs.  

Senior Larry Vaughan and junior left-hander Marv Beamer also contributed strong pitching performances that added the other four wins to the Tornadoes ledger.

The regular infield was made up of junior first baseman, John Jones, who was selected to the All- State tournament First Team, Senior Dan McCormick played second, juniors Rich Shaw and Phil Clark were at short and third and senior Gary Moss was the catcher.  

The outfield was anchored by senior Larry Vaughn and juniors Dave Belangee and Bill Kelley.  Also seeing plenty of playing time were juniors Dave Wright, Bill Lykins,  and sophomore Jim Long.  Other players who contributed throughout the season and were selected to the tournament team were Juniors George Ortman, Bill Clark, and Leroy Barger along with sophomores Al Morris, Dennis Phillips, Alan Birdsell, and Bob Stephenson.