Holst is next man up in Lakes' baseball family

The keys to Lakes' baseball program that Bob Holst holds aren't his first set.

Heck, when he was the head coach at his high school alma mater, Wilmot Union, just across the border in Wisconsin, he revved the bus engine. Then, with his team aboard, the ex-pitcher gave it the ol' gas.

"When I coached at Wilmot, I even had to drive the bus," Holst said. "I had a bus license."

Buckle up, Lakes baseball fans. Fresh off a lengthy postseason run last spring, the Eagles have a new driver.

This past week, Lakes' school board officially approved Holst's hiring as Ray Gialo's replacement. The week following the Eagles' Class 3A sectional final loss to host St. Viator last June, Gialo, who has three young children and also serves as an assistant varsity football coach, resigned.

"He did an amazing job," Lakes athletic director Kurt Rowells said. "We respect his decision (to step down), but we're definitely excited to have a guy who was on Ray's staff take over the program."

When Gialo resigned, Holst, who had been a volunteer assistant coach the last three years, was an obvious candidate to take over. He grew up in unincorporated Trevor, which is just north of Antioch in Kenosha County.

"I was a little bit shocked," Holst said of Gialo's resignation after six seasons, which included a pair of regional titles. "We just had a great season. I really enjoyed working for Ray. He's a good head coach, good with the kids and ran a good program."

In hiring Holst, Lakes appears to have knocked one out of the park. A three-sport athlete at Wilmot Union, the lefty pitcher was a preferred walk-on at Iowa. He led the staff in ERA as a junior, was named a team captain his senior year and along the way earned an athletic scholarship.

After playing a year of pro ball in the Frontier League, he returned to Wilmot Union and ended up serving as head baseball coach from 1999-2004. He posted a 90-31 record and won five conference championships. He ran summer programs and youth camps.

"I know what it's like to practice in the morning, practice at night," Holst said, "and have your schedule change at 2 o'clock in the afternoon (due to weather)."

At Lakes, presumably, he won't be asked to drive the bus. Not that he would probably mind.

Holst, 41, is eager for his new adventure. He knows the routine as well as the route that got Lakes' program to where it is today. For the last four years, he's also worked at Triple Play Academy in Antioch as a pitching and hitting instructor.

Holst has two young kids himself, baseball-playing boys who are 10 and 7. His wife, Rebecca, is an assistant principal at Lakes, where she's taught since a year after the school opened in 2005.

Talk about a family environment at Lakes. Holst's kids and Gialo's kids attended the same day-care facility.

"We met each other (a few years ago) and started talking," Holst said. "He brought the (Lakes) team to Triple Play one time and we just started talking. I got my juices going for baseball again."

Holst works full-time as a product manager for Uline - a family-owned business that is a leading distributor of shipping, industrial and packaging materials to businesses throughout North America. But he has new guys to skipper now.

How many days until those baseball bus rides in the spring?

"To be the head coach," Holst said, "I love it."

He's behind the wheel again, after all.

jaguilar@dailyherald.com

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