Just when you didn’t think Logan Philhower couldn’t lower the bar any farther, he did.

Last year, Philhower set the school record for ERA at 1.20, becoming Bureau Valley’s first player to receive first-team All-State honors

For an encore, the Storm ace lowered his school ERA record to 0.84 this season, going 4-2 with 89 strikeouts. He has set virtually every school single-season and career pitching record.

A dual threat, Philhower also led the Storm at the plate with a .361 average, 33 runs, seven doubles and 19 RBIs. He set the Storm’s career runs record (83) and tied John King’s career hits record with 99.

He was named first-team Lincoln Trail East All-Conference this season, earning ILHSBCA Class 1A All-State Honorable Mention.

For his accomplishments, Philhower has been named as the 2026 BCR Player of the Year. He is the first Storm named Player of the Year since 2008 and eighth in school history.

“Logan had a fantastic year last year and was deserving of the All-State recognition as a junior,” Storm skipper Ryan Schisler said. “Knowing how Logan goes about preparing himself and his arm in the offseason, that’s something he’s pretty dedicated to, so yeah, we felt like he had just scratched the surface in terms of his ability there.

“He went out and delivered on the mound and it was really neat to see him continue to evolve. I’ll look forward to seeing him continue to grow at SWIC.”

Philhower even surprised himself how far he dropped his ERA.

“It is kind of crazy. I didn’t think I’d get that low,” he said. “I could definitely tell my stuff got better. My sophomore year, I wasn’t the (No.) 1 guy, I struggled a little bit. And then junior year, I started filling in the shoes being the guy. I got a little more comfortable pitching against better competition and continued to develop.

“And then my senior year, that’s how some of my numbers got even lower, just growing into that role being the guy. Pretty hard to follow up last season, I just wanted to pretty much leave it all out for my last season. I’m pretty proud how my season went.”

Schisler moved Philhower to the leadoff role this year to give him more at-bats and jump-start the Storm offense.

“Honestly, I loved it. It was great being a spark for the team,” he said. “Really just trying to set the tone early and get everybody hyped up first at-bat of the game. I loved it. Trying to get me and Drake (Taylor) at 1-2, trying to get the most at-bats, getting on base early, trying to steal some bags and get into scoring positions for (Blake) Foster and (Reid) Maynard to hit us in.”

So does he consider himself a good pitcher first who also hits well, or a good hitter, who also pitches?

“I’ve always been a pitcher first,” he said. “I have enjoyed hitting as well. I think hitting is very rewarding, but I’ve always been a pitcher first since I was very young. I definitely love hitting for sure.”

Philhower will make his pitch as a full-time pitcher for Southwest Illinois College, a highly regarded junior college program in Belleville coached by former Putnam County High School coach Dave Garcia.

“I’ve been hearing great things about their program and that’s the place to develop their pitchers. Hoping to be an important piece of their team as a freshman and continue to get better,” Philhower said. “They had 12-14 guys go D-1 from SWIC and the majority of these guys are pitchers. I hope to be one of them in the future.”

Philhower has been giving a lot more thought lately about the Storm’s 5-1 regional semifinal loss to Putnam County. He came about five feet from hitting a game-tying grand slam in the fourth inning with the Storm trailing 4-0.

“Oh yeah, I’ve been thinking about that for a while. I still think we could have beat them if a couple things go different. We played them pretty much to their closest game they’ve had (before state),” he said.

The last Storm named as Player of the Year was John King in 2008. Kevin Thomas was named in 2006 with the Storm’s Brett Monson (2007), Nick Davis (2004), Jeff Egan (1999), Axel Dunn (1998) and John Watson (1997) each named as co-Players of the Year.