Aurora Christian’s Kuntzendorf commits to NIU

Updated: July 22, 2011 6:58PM

And then there were two.

Bobby Kuntzendorf, The Beacon-News 2011 Baseball Player of the Year, has become the second player from the Aurora Christian baseball team to commit to a NCAA Division I program. The left-handed pitcher/outfielder announced this week he plans to sign for a partial scholarship with coach Ed Mathey and Northern Illinois University.

“I had a couple offers from some schools that were interested,” Kuntzendorf said. “(NIU associate head coach and Oswego native Steve) Joslyn called me after July 1st and asked me to make a visit. I took a tour and really liked the staff and facilities. They offered me and I took a couple weeks to think about it and make my decision.”

Kuntzendorf also had offers from Valparaiso, Illinois State and NCAA Division II Lewis University.

Earlier this month, his batterymate since both were 10 years old, Jake Hanson, committed to Valparaiso. Hanson will play in the Summit League, Kuntzendorf in the Mid-American Conference.

Mathey’s Huskies are coming off a 30-27 season that ended with a 12-11 loss to Eastern Michigan three games into the MAC Tournament, where the team was seeded fourth.

It’s the fourth time in school history Northern has won 30 or more games. They had four players earn all-MAC honors, including league freshman of the year from Andrew, DH Jeff Zimmerman.

The talented Kuntzendorf was a complete player for coach Andy Zorger this past spring, helping lead the 29-7 Eagles to a Class 2A sectional final where they dropped a one-run decision (5-4) to Walther Lutheran.

It was only the second time all season the talented southpaw with an outstanding curveball allowed two or more runs in a game. He finished 9-1 on the mound with a 1.26 ERA with 128 strikeouts in 77⅔ innings pitched.

Kuntzendorf also anchored the Eagles’ outfield in center when he wasn’t on the mound and put up strong offensive numbers. He hit .381 with eight home runs and 37 RBI.

“I’m just going to pitch. That’s the only thing I want to do in college,” said Kuntzendorf, who hit it off with Mathey and is looking forward to working with pitching coach Ray Napientek.

The other attraction is Northern’s acclaimed school of business, which will be his major.

“I wanted to get this out of the way before school started for my senior year,” Kuntzendorf said. “Now, we can focus on winning state.”

This summer, he and Hanson are playing for the Northern Illinois Reds, a travel team coached by Hanson’s father and Aurora Christian’s basketball coach, Steve Hanson. It includes two of Kuntzendorf’s future NIU teammates: pitcher Brett Chappell of Rock Falls and middle infielder Ryan Olson of Sterling Newman.

“Brett committed a while back and Ryan just committed last week,” Kuntzendorf said.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.