Naperville Central expected to land talented transfer

Updated: July 21, 2011 12:30PM

A spring removed from winning the 2010 Class 4A state baseball title, the lack of solid pitching depth proved to be an issue for stretches of the 2011 season for Naperville Central.

Despite failing to find consistent depth behind the now departed Dan Ludwig, the 2011 Naperville Sun Prep Baseball Player of the Year, and junior right-hander Ian Lewandowski, the Redhawks still managed to win 21 games before losing to Downers Grove South in the 2011 Class 4A Hinsdale Central Regional final, marking the first time since 2008 that the program didn’t win a regional title.

To that end, a big reinforcement is on the way via Lake Orion, Mich.

After spending his first two years of high school about 40 minutes outside of Detroit at Lake Orion High School, Cody Campbell, a right-handed pitcher and right fielder, will be joining the Redhawks for the 2012 spring season with two years of eligibility remaining.

“He’s got a really lively fastball, a nice 12-to-6 breaking ball,” Lake Orion coach Andy Schramek said. “His changeup is very good, too. He’s got a nice idea about how to pitch. He loves the pressure situations and that was impressive for us because he’s still such a young kid.”

Helping the Dragons to a 25-7 campaign in 2011 as one of five sophomores, at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, Campbell went 5-2 with a 2.12 ERA while fanning 44 in 36 1/3 innings, the majority of which came out of the bullpen.

Touching 90 mph on the radar gun with his fastball at times, Schramek added that his former pupil could very well translate into a staff ace by the time his senior year rolls around in 2013, when he should be joined in the rotation by fellow classmates Jim Nashert and Jeff Schank.

“I think that’s a pretty good call,” said Schramek, who has led the Lake Orion program since 1999. “He probably was our second best (pitcher). We had a really nice pitching staff this year. Two of our pitchers were sophomores. … The other sophomore is a legit (Division I) kid, too. So between the two of those sophomores, we were anticipating, had Cody stayed, probably having one of the best 1-2 punches in the state of Michigan in a couple years.” Campbell, named to the Illinois team that will compete in Prep Baseball Report’s Midwest Future Games Aug. 6-7 at Benedictine, should provide immediate dividends to a staff that has little varsity experience behind Lewandowski, who went 8-3 with a 1.49 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 61 innings as a junior in 2011.

Nashert and Schank, the two who own the most varsity experience after Lewandowski, combined to go 2-5 while posting a 5.29 ERA in 41 innings as sophomores this past spring.

Because Campbell can’t officially enroll as a student at Naperville Central until next month, new Redhawks coach Mike Stock, taking over for Bill Seiple, couldn’t comment when reached on his cell phone last Saturday.

“You’re getting a kid that’s a very good baseball player,” Schramek said. “He has the potential to be a Division I pitcher, I don’t think there’s any question about that. What he’s going to be is a great kid. He’s going to do very well in school.

“People are going to like him and I think he’ll be a great teammate. He’s very unassuming, he’s very humble. Naperville’s getting a great kid.”

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