Illinois junior colleges tap into Indiana baseball talent

By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Illinois junior college baseball has long been a destination for Indiana players.
Many have used the two-year institutions to springboard into a four-year school or the professional ranks.
Our neighbors to the west sport 41 National Junior College Athletic Association programs in Division I, II and III (Regions 4 or 24).
There is a difference between divisions.
NJCAA Divisions I and II can offer up to 24 athletic scholarships. Division III schools do not. Most (but not all) junior colleges have other scholarship and financial aid options.
Illinois’ NJCAA D-I teams include Frontier Community College (Fairfield), John A. Logan College (Carterville), Kakaskia College (Centralia), Kishwaukee College (Malta), Lake Land College (Mattoon), Lincoln Trail College (Robinson), Olive-Harvey College (Chicago), Olney Central College (Olney), Rend Lake College (Ina), Shawnee CC (Ullin), South Suburban College (South Holland), Southeastern Illinois College (Harrisburg), Southwestern Illinois College (Swansea), Triton College (River Grove) and Wabash Valley College (Mount Carmel).
Wabash Valley went 59-9 and qualified for the 2022 NJCAA D-I World Series in Grand Junction, Colo.
“We’ve been very fortunate,” says Wabash Valley coach Aaron Biddle, who is in his eighth season with the Warriors and first as head coach in 2023. “We’ve had some very good Indiana kids over the years. We’re just right across the border form Princeton, Ind. Getting into Evansville and going up to Indianapolis are great recruiting sources for us.
“Our conference is real competitive.”
John A. Logan, Kakaskia, Lake Land, Lincoln Trail, Olney Central, Rend Lake, Shawnee, Southeastern Illinois, Southwestern Illinois and Wabash Valley is in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference.
WVC plays mostly D-I schools with a few D-II’s sprinkled in.
“The more D-I opponents you have on your schedule the better it is for your (RPI) rankings,” says Biddle.
What does “JUCO Bandit” means to Biddle, who started his college playing career at former NJCAA D-III St. Catharine in Kentucky and finished at NCAA D-II Kentucky Wesleyan.
“Maybe he’s not be getting the offers he wants at (NCAA) D-I or a big school and he’s going to bet on himself and he’s going to go the JUCO route, grind for two years and get better everyday and definitely get that offer he’s not getting right now,” says Biddle. “We get to spend a lot of time with our guys. We get to be with them almost every single day. There’s not a lot of restrictions on how much practice time we have.
“The big things is that in the fall, we get to play 14 dates. We get to play every weekend. Guys are getting all those extra innings and they’re getting to compete. That’s a big thing for us.
“In baseball you’ve got to play to get better.”
Biddle says the funnest aspect of his job is seeing players land at their dream school.
South Suburban posted a 42-19 record in 2022.
Kevin Bowers has been head coach at Lincoln Trail since the 2010 season. That was the sophomore season of Justin Hancock (who went on to pitch in the big leagues and is now an Indiana State University assistant).
Bowers was on the LTC staff since 2001 and was an assistant to then-Statesmen head coach Mitch Hannahs (who is now head coach at Indiana State).
Bowers coached at ISU for the 2000 season. Lincoln Trail is about 10 miles from the Indiana line and 40 miles from ISU.
“The talent level is just off the chart,” says Bowers. “I’m certainly not knocking the state of Illinois. We’ve had a great deal of success with kids out of Indiana.”
Bowers has a take on “JUCO Bandit.”
“We develop an ‘ask no quarter, take no quarter’ mentality,” says Bowers. “We don’t want for a lot. We don’t need a lot. But we try to get a lot done.
“’Bandit has that negative connotation to it. When you go to junior college your mindset is that you’re foregoing the 100,000-seat football stadium. There’s not a lot of nightlife. Campus activities are geared around the athletics. You develop a worker’s mentality.
“There’s not a lot of thrills, but the talent at this level is crazy good.”
Bowers said there was a time when junior college baseball was battling the perception that their players had got booted from another school or could not make grades.
“Our guys are getting it done in the classroom and they’re getting it done on the field,” says Bowers, whose program earned a 2021-22 American Baseball Coaches Association Team Excellence Award for posting a grade-point average of 3.0 or above. “It’s a situation where academically you’re not going to lose ground.”
Illinois’ NJCAA D-II squads are Black Hawk-Moline College (Moline), Carl Sandburg College (Galesburg), Danville Area CC (Danville), Elgin CC (Elgin), Heartland CC (Normal), Highland College (Freeport), Illinois Central College (East Peoria), Illinois Valley CC (Oglesby), John Wood CC (Quincy), Kankakee CC (Kankakee), College of Lake County (Grayslake), Lewis & Clark CC (Godfrey), Lincoln Land CC (Springfield), McHenry County College (Crystal Lake), Moraine Valley CC (Palos Heights), Morton College (Cicero), Parkland College (Champaign), Prairie State College (Chicago Heights), Sauk Valley CC (Dixon) and Spoon River College (Canton).
Heartland (49-10) played in the 2022 NJCAA D-II World Series in Enid, Okla.
The Mid-West Athletic Conference features Heartland, Danville Area, Illinois Central, John Wood, Lewis & Clark, Lincoln Land, Parkland and Spoon River plus Vincennes (Ind.) University.
Also in 2022, Kankakee went 43-17, McHenry 40-18, Black Hawk-Moline 35-20, Lake County 32-20 and Morton 32-20.
Illinois’ NJCAA D-III features College of DuPage (Glen Ellyn), Harper College (Palatine), Joliet Junior College (Joliet), Oakton CC (Skokie), Rock Valley College (Rockport) and Waubonsee CC (Sugar Grove).
The Arrowhead Conference is made up of Black Hawk-Moline, Carl Sandburg, Highland, Illinois Valley, Kishwaukee and Sauk Valley.
Oakton (34-28-1) competed in the 2022 NJCAA D-III World Series in Greenville, Tenn.
Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference includes Lake County, Elgin, McHenry County, Moraine Valley, Morton, Oakton, Prairie State and Waubonsee.
Since 1993, Triton is a two-time D-I World Series runner-up (1993 and 1994).
D-II World Series titles were earned by Kishwaukee (1999), Lincoln Land (2000), Parkland (2002 and 2009) and Kankakee (2017). Parkland was also a runner-up in 2018.
Joliet earned D-III World Series championships in 1994, 2008 and 2012 and placed second in 1995 and 2015. Oakton reigned in D-III in 2018 and Waubonsee was runner-up in 1996.

Former Carmel sidearmer Campbell now at three-quarter overhand and pitching in Reds system

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Ryan Campbell has experienced variety as a top-notch baseball pitcher.

At Carmel (Ind.) High School, the right-hander delivered from a low arm slot as a three-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference honoree.

That attracted the attention of the University of Pittsburgh and he hurled for the Panthers in 2015, going 1-0, striking out seven and walking three in 16 innings (all in relief). Pitt’s head coach was Joe Jordano with Jerry Oakes as pitching Coach.

Wishing to change his delivery to more of a three-quarter overhand, Campbell transferred to Wabash Valley College in Mount Carmel, Ill., where his head coach was Rob Fournier.

His 2016 performance at the junior college — 4-3 with five saves, 2.52 earned run average, 37 strikeouts and 11 walks and 35 2/3 innings in 25 games (all out of the bullpen) — got Campbell a spot back at the NCAA Division I level with the University of Illinois-Chicago.

With the UIC Flames, Campbell made 16 mound appearances (14 in relief) and went 1-1 with a 3.00 earned run average, 17 strikeouts and 11 walks in 24 innings in 2017.

Working with head coach/pitching coach Mike Dee, Campbell was a starter in all 13 of his 2018 games and went 7-3 with a 1.53 ERA, 68 strikeouts and 19 walks in 94 innings as the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year.

He was also honored as NCBWA/Rawlings Third-Team All-America and ABCA All-Mideast Region.

“Soup” Campbell was selected in the fifth round of the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Cincinnati Reds and is now with the Billings (Mont.) Mustangs of the Short Season Class-A Pioneer League. So far, he’s made four appearances — three in relief.

Jay Lehr has been working with Campbell for eight years — all four as Carmel pitching coach and with the Indiana Mustangs travel organization and since then at Power Alley Baseball Academy in Noblesville, Ind.

“He’s so strong and has the endurance,” says Lehr, who was Carmel head coach during Campbell’s sophomore year and pitching coach under Dan Roman during his junior and senior campaigns. “You don’t see a lot of sidearmers start, but he has that workhorse mentality. He has a very loose arm so he’s able to (move his release point around).”

Why the change to a higher release?

“I just didn’t feel confident in my stuff when I was down low,” says Campbell, a 6-foot-3, 220-pounder. “Over the last three years, I’ve found this arm slot and gotten more consistent with it.”

Campbell, 22, throws a two-seam fastball that sinks and runs and gets up to 95 mph, a slider and a “Vulcan” change-up. The ball is held with his middle finger and ring finger to the side of the ball and the index finger toward the top and pronates at release to give it that heavy sink.

Big league pitchers Lance Lynn and Drew Storen also train at Power Alley in the off-season and served as mentors for Campbell.

“It’s been nice for him to get that quality information before he got drafted — what to focus on and not to focus on,” says Lehr. “Ryan has a tremendous work ethic and great support at home.

Ryan’s parents are Bruce and Lora Campbell. His four older siblings are Andrew Campbell, Sean Campbell and Brent Baker.

“As a pitcher, he has short memory when it comes to putting things behind him,” says Lehr. “He doesn’t let stuff get to him. He moves on.”

A two-time scholar athlete at Carmel, Campbell was an information decision sciences in college.

To say there’s a lot of travel in the Pioneer League is an understatement. For Billings, it’s 519 miles to Ogden, Utah, 592 to Orem, Utah, and 659 to Grand Junction, Colo.

The closest trips are 219 miles to Great Falls, Mont., 240 to Helena, Mont., 343 to Missoula, Mont., and 345 to Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Reds affiliates above Billings are Low Class-A Dayton (Ohio) Dragons, High-A Daytona (Fla.) Tortugas, Double-A Pensacola (Fla.) Blue Wahoos and Triple-A Louisville (Ky.) Bats.

Ryan Campbell, a 2014 Carmel High School graduate, is now in the Cincinnati Reds organization with the Billings (Mont.) Mustangs. He is a right-handed pitcher. (Billings Mustangs Photo)