By Drew Locascio & Chris Jelinek
Illinois Scouting Staff

The early signing period has now concluded for the 2017 class, a class in which we have seen most of these players since the start of their freshman year. The 2017 class currently has an astounding 82 Division I commits and 43 division II signees.

For sake of consistencies from year to year our numbers will only breakdown Division I and II commits (NCAA Division I and Division II prospects are the only ones to sign early NLI's at this point).

The high-end talent in this class is clear by the level of commitments, 10 of Illinois’ top prospects have committed to top 25 programs in the country (according to D1Baseball.com's 2016 final rankings).

No. 3 TCU (2) - LHP Ryan Eiermann (Naperville Central), OF Brad Czerniejewski (Lake Forest)

No. 4 Texas Tech (2) - 3B/OF KC Simonich (Lemont), RHP Ryan Sublette (Lemont)

No. 11 Louisville (4) - RHP Bobby Miller (McHenry) RHP Glenn Albanese (Batavia), LHP Reid Detmers (Chatham-Glenwood), SS Tom Josten (Fremd)

No. 13 South Carolina (1) - LHP Tyler Mettetal (St. Charles North)

No. 22 Vanderbilt (1) - RHP Erik Kaiser (Waterloo)

Also, all five of the NCAA power conferences have nabbed Illinois high school prospects this year. Here is a look at the conference breakdown of early commits.

Power 5 conferences: (33 Total)

*Big Ten - 14
*SEC - 6
*Big 12 - 6
*ACC - 5
*Pac 12 - 2

Other Division I conferences: (49 Total)

Missouri Valley - 14
MAC - 6
Big East - 5
Horizon - 5
Summit - 5
Ohio Valley - 4
Patriot - 3
Atlantic 10 - 2
Big West - 1
Mountain West - 1
American - 1
WAC - 1
Ivy - 1

D1 IN STATE: 31
D1 OUT OF STATE: 51

 With Illinois being in the heart of Big 10 and Missouri Valley country it's no surprise to see the most commits within those two conferences, but one interesting trend is the amount of Division I programs outside of Illinois coming into the state to fill their rosters. Illinois schools lead the way by a large margin but 23 other states went into Illinois for players. Here's a look at the geographic breakdown of early Division I commits.

Illinois - 31
Kentucky - 6
Texas - 5
Indiana - 5
Missouri - 5
Pennsylvania - 4
Tennessee - 3
Michigan - 3
Ohio - 2
Arizona - 2
D.C. - 2
Wisconsin - 2
Colorado - 1
Arkansas- 1
New York - 1
California - 1
Iowa - 1
Kansas - 1
Maryland - 1
Minnesota - 1
Nebraska - 1
New Mexico - 1
South Carolina - 1
North Carolina  - 1

 

Division I Early Commits

Name	School	Pos.	Commitment	Conference
Nate Styles	Warren	RHP	Air Force	Mountain West
Brady Corrigan	Plainfield North	RHP	Arizona State	Pac 12*
Brendan Murphy	Mundelein	LHP	Arizona State	Pac 12*
Chad Cwik	Oak Lawn	LHP	Arkansas	SEC*
Jack McCullough	Warren	LHP	Army	Patriot
Jaxon Herchenbach	Hinsdale South	RHP	Austin Peay	Ohio Valley
Billy Mote	University	SS	Baylor	Big 12*
Keaton Rice	Geneseo	C	Bradley	Missouri Valley
Brooks Gosswein	Barrington	LHP	Bradley	Missouri Valley
Austin Waeghe	Neuqua Valley	RHP	Butler	Big East
James Gargano	Neuqua Valley	SS	Butler	Big East
Connor Gurnik	Naperville Central	2B	Cal Poly	Big West
Wyell Woods	Marian Catholic	OF	Eastern Illinois	Ohio Valley
Austin Ruesch	Edwardsville	RHP	Evansville	Missouri Valley
Michael Stupinski	Fenwick	RHP	Georgetown	Big East
Alex Gamache	Lake Forest Academy	C	Georgetown	Big East
Ryan Kutt	Brother Rice	RHP	Illinois	Big Ten*
Jimmy Burnette	St. Laurence	OF	Illinois	Big Ten*
Kellen Sarver	Champaign Centennial	C	Illinois	Big Ten*
Dylan Jones	Oswego East	OF	Illinois	Big Ten*
Jake McCaw	Normal Community	3B	Illinois State	Missouri Valley
Connor Peplow	Plainfield North	RHP	Illinois State	Missouri Valley
Johnny Ray	Quincy Notre Dame	RHP	Illinois State	Missouri Valley
Donivan Williams	Richards	3B	Illinois State	Missouri Valley
Justin Diaz	Lake View	SS	Illinois State	Missouri Valley
Jake Pomykalski	Lincoln-Way East	RHP	Illinois-Chicago	Horizon
Ryan Lin-Peistrup	Loyola Academy	SS	Illinois-Chicago	Horizon
Thomas Farrell	St. Laurence	OF	Illinois-Chicago	Horizon
Jack Guzek	Brother Rice	RHP	Indiana State	Missouri Valley
Zion Pettigrew	Mount Carmel	SS	Iowa	Big Ten*
Steven Washilewski	St. Rita	LHP	Kansas	Big 12*
Austin Marozas	Plainfield South	RHP	Kentucky	SEC*
Michael Dunn	Benet	RHP	Lafayette	Patriot
Matt Svanson	Lake Zurich	RHP	Lehigh	Patriot
Bobby Miller	McHenry West	RHP	Louisville	ACC*
Glenn Albanese	Batavia	RHP	Louisville	ACC*
Tom Josten	Fremd	SS	Louisville	ACC*
Reid Detmers	Chatham-Glenwood	LHP	Louisville	ACC*
Mark DiLuia	Marian Catholic	RHP	Maryland	Big Ten*
Zach Mettetal	St. Charles North	SS	Memphis	American
Logan Schmitt	Plainfield East	RHP	Miami (OH)	MAC
Joe Donovan	Westmont	C	Michigan	Big Ten*
Angelo Smith	Richards	LHP	Michigan	Big Ten*
Ryan King	Brother Rice	SS	Michigan State	Big Ten*
Easton Bertrand	Manteno	OF	Minnesota	Big Ten*
Gavin Lovesky	Lockport	3B	Missouri	SEC*
Konnor Ash	Plainfield South	RHP	Missouri	SEC*
Sam Faith	St. Charles North	SS	Missouri State	Missouri Valley
Jake Jones	Oak Forest	RHP	Murray State	Ohio Valley
Mike Addante	Jacobs	OF	Nebraska	Big Ten*
Jeffrey Zack	Romeoville	RHP	New Mexico State	WAC
Tommy Washington	Harlan	SS	Northern Illinois	MAC
Kyle Seebach	Rochelle	LHP	Northern Illinois	MAC
Mike Fuentes	Bremen	RHP	Northern Illinois	MAC
Matthew McCumber	Cary Grove	RHP	Northern Illinois	MAC
Michael Lasiewicz	McHenry West	RHP	Northern Illinois	MAC
Charlie Bourbon	Stevenson	RHP	Northwestern	Big Ten*
Casey O'Laughlin	Fenwick	OF	Northwestern	Big Ten*
Jackson Petersen	Libertyville	C	Pennsylvania	Ivy
Bo Hofstra	Illiana Christian	RHP	Purdue	Big Ten*
Brian Vance	Loyola	C	Loyola	Atlantic 10
Tyler Mettetal	St. Charles North	LHP	South Carolina	SEC*
Gabe Schimpf	Zeigler-Royalton	OF	Southeast Missouri State	Ohio Valley
Noah Farmer	Massac County	RHP	Southern Illinois	Missouri Valley
JT Weber	Massac County	3B	Southern Illinois	Missouri Valley
Stephen Mogged	Lakes Community	OF	Southern Illinois	Missouri Valley
Michael Bieterman	Aurora Central Catholic	C	Southern Illinois	Missouri Valley
Zach Frieling	Chicago Christian	SS	St. Louis	A-10
Brad Czerniejewski	Lake Forest	OF	Texas Christian	Big 12*
Ryan Eiermann	Naperville Central	LHP	Texas Christian	Big 12*
Ryan Sublette	Lemont	RHP	Texas Tech	Big 12*
KC Simonich	Lemont	3B	Texas Tech	Big 12*
Erik Kaiser	Waterloo	RHP	Vanderbilt	SEC*
Bobby Seymour	Mount Carmel	1B	Wake Forest	ACC*
Jace Warkentien	Winnebago	LHP	Western Illinois	Summit
Caleb Jacobs	Normal West	OF	Western Illinois	Summit
Jack Carberry	Shepard	RHP	Western Illinois	Summit
Jordan Mikel	Plainfield South	RHP	Western Illinois	Summit
Justin Foy	Rockridge	RHP	Western Illinois	Summit
Mike Edwards	Oak Forest	RHP	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Horizon
Kevin Lane	Sandburg	RHP	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Horizon
Ryan Altenberger	Morton	SS	Xavier	Big East

Not to be left out, but Division II programs from outside states have come into Illinois for players as well, just not quite to the level of the Division I schools. Here's a look at the geographic breakdown of early Division II commits.

D2 IN STATE: 20
D2 OUT OF STATE: 23

Illinois – 20
Missouri – 11
Indiana – 4
Iowa – 3
Michigan – 2
Wisconsin – 2
Alabama – 1

Division II Early Commits

Kade Burns	Edwardsville	SS	Central Missouri
Corey Price	Civic Memorial	OF	Central Missouri
Mike Massaro	Providence Catholic	C	Hillsdale College
Sonny Mentone	Antioch	LHP	Illinois-Springfield
Carter Lawler	Hampshire	RHP	Illinois-Springfield
Brandon Romero	Elmwood Park	LHP	Illinois-Springfield
Jake Armstrong	Normal University	C	Illinois-Springfield
Robert Archbold	Warren	OF	Illinois-Springfield
Ken Brokop	Bradley-Bourbonnais	RHP	Illinois-Springfield
Colton Hale	St. Joseph-Ogden	RHP	Illinois-Springfield
Mason Coon	St. Joseph-Ogden	LHP	Illinois-Springfield
Nick Mayerhofer	Plainfield South	SS	Illinois-Springfield
Eddie Wilkins	Reed Custer	RHP	Illinois-Springfield
John Carpinelli	Buffalo Grove	3B	Indianapolis
Anthony Cavalieri	Fenwick	SS	Lewis University
Max Warren	Yorkville	OF	Lewis University
Matt Verdun	St. Rita	SS	Lewis University
Karson Aherin	Chatham-Glenwood	LHP	Lindenwood University (MO
Dominic Connolly	Lemont	SS	Maryville University
Joseph Vascik	St. Laurence	RHP	Maryville University
Lane Belleville	Teutopolis	RHP	Maryville University
Hayden Schaefer	O'Fallon	OF	McKendree University
Connor McCormick	Manteno	C	McKendree University
Connor Breyer	OFallon	2B	McKendree University
Ty Shylanski	Belleville West	1B	McKendree University
Cody McArthur	Tinley Park	C	Missouri Western State
Nick Wolski	Crystal Lake South	3B	Missouri-St. Louis
A.J. Davis	Mount Zion	SS	Missouri-St. Louis
Hunter Keim	Rock Island	RHP	Quincy University
Joe Roscetti	Williamsville	SS	Quincy University
Brady McAfee	Alton Marquette Catholic	LHP	Quincy University
Daniel Marks	Libertyville	OF	Rockhurst
Ian Taylor	Conant	1B	Saginaw Valley State
Jacob Hartline	Herrin	SS	Southern Indiana
Pat Mayo	Brother Rice	3B	Spring Hill College
Andy Lopez	Brother Rice	C	St. Joseph's (IN)
Scott Garrow	Lyons Township	OF	St. Joseph's (IN)
Noah Schrader	Hampshire	OF	Truman State
Brenden Butler	Oak Lawn	SS	Upper Iowa
Logan DeWulf	Huntley	RHP	Upper Iowa
Breven Daugherity	Joliet West	RHP	Upper Iowa
Tim Hasto	St. Charles North	SS	Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Anthony Alvarez	Taft	C	Wisconsin-Parkside

 

High school baseball, not only in Illinois but the Midwest, is alive and well at the moment. The number of commitments mentioned above only represents a portion of the overall commitments in the 2017 class in Illinois. Division III, NAIA and NJCAA commits were not mentioned above as they do not share the same signing period as Division I and Division II institutions.

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