Clary catching on with UI-S

PRINCETON — Reid Clary is getting in on the ground floor with the University of Illinois-Springfield baseball program.

The Princeton senior catcher is one of six players in the initial recruiting class signed by the fledgling Division II UIS baseball program which will begin play in the spring of 2011.

UIS is in its first season as a NCAA Division II institution and as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

“I’m really excited to go down there,” Clary said. “It will be nice to play in the very first game in school history. I’m looking forward to it. They play in one of top D-2 conferences in the country and it’s really high competitive.”

UIS coach Brian Grunzke, who was hired in August, believes the Prairie Stars landed a big catch in Clary, who was the BCR Player of the Year in 2009 and a first-team NCIC Lincoln All-Conference pick.

“Reid is a good receiver who has natural strength,” Grunzke said. “An outstanding athlete, we think he will get better and better as he concentrates on baseball once he arrives at UIS.”

Clary, who has started his senior year of basketball this week, was ranked among the Top 125 players in the state of Illinois by Prep Baseball Report after hitting .460 with 37 RBI and 15 doubles for the Tigers.

Clary said he spoke to Grunzke for the first time about three months and met with some of his future teammates.

“Coach Grunzke definitely wants to get a winning record right off the block. He was real straight forward with his expectations,” Clary said.

Clary plans to major in business management.

UIS’ first recruiting class includes Barry Arnett of Bartonville Limestone, Nate Blessman of Lincoln College, Matt Cmiel of Naperville Central, Hayden Cosby of Lincoln and Marshall Escue of Washington.

• While Clary has signed on with UIS, PHS teammate Brik Wedekind is exploring his options with recent recruiting trips to Monmouth College and Illinois State for football. He has also been contacted by Luther College (Decorah, Iowa), Western Michigan and Western Illinois.

The smaller schools are interested in Wedekind as a quarterback and he could be able to continue to pitch in baseball, too.