Lyons’ Rodemoyer to walk on for Redbirds

Updated: June 10, 2011 10:03PM

Hard work and a huge senior season finally paid off for Lyons’ Brian Rodemoyer.

The slugging first baseman from Western Springs never received the scholarship offer he was looking for to play college basebalL, but Illinois State made an offer Rodemoyer couldn’t refuse earlier this spring.

Rodemoyer will play for the Redbirds as a preferred walk-on, but will be given an opportunity to earn a scholarship his sophomore season. Given the type of numbers Rodemoyer compiled this season, he could be considered one of the top unsigned seniors in the Chicago area.

“[Illinois State] is really exciting,” Rodemoyer said. “I’ve been waiting forever. It was a stressful situation. They came in suddenly and I had no prior knowledge they were interested. When they came in, I was extremely excited. I didn’t know what to think.”

Entering the Class 4A state semifinals, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Rodemoyer led Lyons with 10 home runs and 43 RBI and tied for second on the team with a .400 batting averaged. He ranked third with 43 hits. Rodemoyer was the only Lyons player to have more than one hit off Mount Carmel’s John Kravetz as Lyons defeated the Caravan 4-1 Friday at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.

Rodemoyer and Kravetz are teammates on the same summer travel team, the Lake County-based Top Tier 18-U team.

In a matchup between the top two teams in YourSeason.com’s rankings, No. 1 Providence (37-3) will play No. 2 Lyons (36-4) in the state final at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Rodemoyer (2-for-3) reached base in each of his plate appearances Friday. His grounder to second baseman Beau Filkins was misplayed in the first inning. The error allowed leadoff hitter Spencer Mahoney to score the game’s first run.

Rodemoyer, who hopes to study molecular biology at ISU, will become college teammates with former West Suburban Silver rival Matt Anderson, a shortstop from Hinsdale Central. Anderson committed to ISU in February 2010.

Rodemoyer committed to the Redbirds April 29 and Rodemoyer and Anderson talked about their ISU futures in their final game of the season May 2 between Lyons and Hinsdale Central.

“It’s going to be fun,” Anderson said. “We have a history of playing against each other. When we finally play with each other, we’ll break our rivalries.”

Anderson left Monday to spend this summer in New York City. He is playing for the Queens-based Bay Side Yankees, a travel team he joined for a tournament last summer. Anderson is staying with three other teammates at a coach’s apartment and will play in nearly 50-60 games this summer.

Bay Side will play in tournaments in South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and perhaps the National tournament in New Mexico.

After Saturday’s state final, Rodemoyer will rejoin Top Tier for the Ohio Valley Classic in Cincinnati June 16-19. Some of Rodemoyer’s teammates at Top Tier include Hinsdale South’s Chris Massimilian, Nazareth’s Ryan Powers and Addison Trail’s Anthony Milazzo.

The Top Tier team will play tournaments this summer in DeKalb, Atlanta, Bloomington, Battle Creek, Mich., and the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, N.M.

In the fall, Rodemoyer won the USA Labor Day Cup with Top Tier in North Carolina.

He chose Illinois State over Western Michigan, but also considered Columbia, Miami, Ohio, and Bradley.

“I loved the [ISU] campus,” Rodemoyer said. “It felt like where I wanted to be. It’s the same distance [as Western Michigan], but the tuition is lower.”

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