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When Brett Chappell was his kid brother’s age, he’d just finished watching the Rock Falls Rockets qualify for the 2002 Class A state tournament.
“I was around every day,” Brett said. “I remember coming here every day before my game started. I’d play my game, come back, and then I’d take more ground balls.
“The best experience of my life has been to grow up around this.”
Thursday afternoon, the Rock Falls senior played catch with Chase, 9, along the edge of the outfield during practice. After three seasons and no regional-level wins, Chappell and Co. are two steps away from returning to state.
“When we won regionals, it was a relief, because I’d never won a regional game, period,” Brett said minutes before trotting out of the dugout with Chase. “It took a lot of pressure off for me and Mitch [Giddings] and all the guys who have been here.”
His dad, Donnie, has called the shots for the Rockets since 1999. In 2008, his club was the state’s runner-up in Class 3A. In the three seasons that followed, untimely injuries were among the factors that hamstrung the Rockets in the postseason.
Needless to say, it pulled on Donnie’s heartstrings when Brett and Co. rattled off back-to-back run-rule victories on their home diamond last week.
“It gets to me a little too much,” Donnie says. “He’s watched people win every year he’s been here. For him to not have the chance to enjoy that? I really wanted him to. That was the main thing.”
God made two of ’em
Donnie and Brett readily admit they’re best friends.
“We do everything together,” Donnie said. “We golf together, play video games together.”
“A lot of people I know can’t say they know their dad, or they’re never home to see him,” Brett said. “I like to stay home just to hang out with my dad. We’re pretty much the exact the same person.”
Remember the best bud you had as a kid? You’d fight like dogs, only to be super chummy against just minutes later?
That’s why Brett has no issue accepting the tough love he receives. Butting heads is tradition.
“Every year, the first half of the year is really, really bad,” Donnie said. “We get to the point where we’ll have this really big fight. It’s usually my fault. Then we’re pretty good the rest of the year.”
Coaching your son is a thin line, he admits.
“I’m usually on the wrong side of it,” Donnie said. “I don’t get too excited until it comes to him. With the other kids, I’ll pull them aside and talk to them to explain things. With him, I’ll yell and scream at him all the time.”
“He’s not as bad as he says he is,” said Brett, who will play ball at Northern Illinois University. “He makes me a better player, and I play baseball to make him proud. I want to do something that makes him stand out.”
It’s a two-way street
Brett also has no qualms giving it to his coach straight.
He refused to give up the ball in a number of outings this season, including a Big Northern West-clinching 13-5 victory over Byron on May 10 in which he threw 147 pitches.
Donnie would not admit defeat if he was trying to pry the ball away from any of his other hurlers.
“It would never happen. Never happen,” he said. “I’ve always been very protective with my pitchers. And if his arm gets hurt, I guess I can’t blame the coach.”
Hardly a concern. With them being tied at the hip, Donnie knows exactly what his boy is up to and limits his bullpen sessions to offset the heavy in-game workload.
While Donnie enjoys watching his prodigy gut out complete games, it’s a different scenario for mom and sis. Shelley and Jordan, respectfully, were beside themselves in the late innings of the Rockets’ win Wednesday, hoping the manager wouldn’t go to the righty.
“Shelley hates when he pitches,” Donnie said. “Her favorite line is, ‘If he’s struggling, you’re going to get him out, right?’
“Probably not.”
Doing the two-step
Two steps from state. The first is the 2A Morrison sectional final against a Richmond-Burton squad that flat throttled Morrison 12-0 in five innings right before the Rockets dispatched Winnebago on Wednesday.
Brett was up until 4 a.m. after that victory, as he couldn’t get visions of state to stop dancing through his head
“I just can’t wait for Saturday,” he said.
He jokes that he’ll try to hit the hay at 6 p.m. on Friday with hopes to be asleep at a reasonable hour. It might be a good thing the game was moved back from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
While Donnie’s likely just as anxious, he’s diplomatic in his outlook.
“From here on out, whatever happens happens,” Donnie said. “If you win again? Great. If you don’t, you had a great season.”
Long before the Rockets (26-12) got hot – they’ve won six of seven – Brett called the team the most talented he’s played on.
“We’re humble, but we want more,” he said. “We want that state title. A lot of people might not think we’ll be able to get it. We’re the underdogs on Saturday, which is what we want. We want people to doubt us, because we believe we can do so much.”
Clearly, Brett’s not ready to focus on his golf game. But when the time comes, he’ll have the perfect partner.
“We never have any fun golfing together – I’ll hit a bad shot and I’m mad, he hits a bad shot and he’s mad,” Donnie said. “So we play 18 holes of golf and nobody talks to each other. We’ll get done and I’ll tell him, ‘You’re no fun to golf with.’ He goes, ‘You aren’t either. Wanna go tomorrow?’ ”
Brett Chappell’s stats
Hitting
59-for-123 (.480 average), 40 BB (.635 OBP), 49 R, 22 SB
Pitching
8-2, 1.90 ERA, 78K in 49 IP