Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Tri-State area

QUINCY, ILL. -- It is post-season play for the Quincy Gems.

Monday night, they battle the Terre Haute Rex for the Western Division title.

Whoever wins Monday night's game plays for the championship of the Prospect League on Wednesday night.

Of course the Gems would like to win, but the General Manager already tells me it's been a winning season for the Quincy Gems.

Rob Ebbing says, "Quincy Gems, the entire season, was rated one of the top 25 teams in the nation for summer baseball. Most of that time, we were in the top 15, we ended up somewhere in the top 10."

General Manager Rob Ebbing says that speaks mountains about the coaches and staff that lead the team. It also says a lot about the team in general. Ebbing says when colleges send their players to play during the summer, they want them to go to winning teams. By recruiting good players, it brings more people out to the ballpark.

Ebbing says, "We had larger attendance through the gate which means they were buying more refreshments and eating more food."

It's still a little early to see if the Gems turned a profit yet for the 2011 season, but Ebbing thinks things are pointing in the right direction.

Ebbing says, "We think so. We haven't taken the time to crunch the numbers. We're still trying to take care of the day to day business on the field, and we haven't had time to get the auditors to sit down and look at everything."

This season, the Gems added several new promotions that Ebbing says looked to have been effective. Most notably, teaming up with County Market for Sunday night Family night. There were also more fireworks nights this year, that typically draws more crowds. And one other thing happened that really no one can control.

Ebbing says, "The weather really cooperated a lot more this year. We only had one game that was rained out the entire season. We did have the heat at the end of July which slowed things down."

But it looks like everything else has picked back up.

Monday night, the Bash for Cash Homer Hole is up again.

If a Gems player hits a homerun through a 24 inch hole, everyone in the stands splits 50 thousand dollars.

If the Gems win Monday night, the championship game will be in Quincy, and the Homer Hole will be up again on Wednesday night.