Last week, the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association (IHSBCA) announced their class 1A and 2A all-state teams. This week, the organization announced their class 3A and 4A all-state teams. Recent Galesburg High School graduate Grant Aten was named to the 3A squad. Grant’s older brother Connor Aten was named to the 2019 IHSBCA 3A All-State team.
It’s a great comeback story for Grant. He lost his sophomore season for the Silver Streaks to the covid-shutdown season 2020. The coronavirus pandemic also had a factor in his junior season. With the IHSA football season pushed to the spring of 2021, He sustained a torn ACL in his left knee while playing quarterback for the Silver Streak football team. That forced Grant to miss his entire junior year of baseball, which was played immediately following the shortened football season.
Grant will follow his brother’s footsteps and will play baseball at Heartland College, a Division II NJCAA school in Normal. Heartland finished (49-10) this past spring, making an appearance at the NJCAA Division II World Series. The Hawks won their first game, but would fall in the next two contests in the double elimination tournament. Connor Aten was (3-1) in ten pitching appearances, including five starts for the Hawks. Also seeing success this past spring, Grant was 1st in the Western Big Six Conference in batting average at .471, 4th in rbis and 2nd in the conference in runs scored. On the pitching mound, Grant was 6th in the league in strikeouts. He ended the season being selected to the Western Big Six Conference’s All-Conference First Team.
