Chad Opel was a hard-hitting middle infielder who played one season for the Baltimore Orioles’ minor league farm club in the Gulf Coast League in 2002. Prior to that, Opel earned American Legion Player of the Year honors in 1998 after his Edwardsville Post 199 team won the American Legion championship. That same year, he played infield on the Edwardsville High School state championship team which posted a perfect 40-0 record. Opel also played shortstop for the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars, leading his team to a fifth-place finish at the 2001 College World Series. That year he was named an All-American Shortstop by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. From 1999 to 2001, Opel was a standout second baseman and shortstop for the Bluff City Bombers in the Central Illinois Collegiate League. The Bombers were a very successful team based in Alton, Illinois from 1998 to 2004. In 2001, Opel was named Player of the Year in the CICL. Opel was a head coach of the Bethalto American Legion team and spent three seasons coaching the Alton Indians in the Metro Collegiate League. In 2008, his Indians team advanced to the Sumer Collegiate World Series in Toledo, Ohio.