Prep Baseball: Three Indians sign with SIC

While Major League baseball teams are getting settled in at Arizona and Florida and countless college and university baseball teams are doing their tour of the south, Southeastern Illinois Community College baseball coach Jeremy Irlbeck pulled off a feat almost as rare as a triple play.

The SIC skipper recently signed a trio of players and all three came from the same school.

Johnston City High School is responsible for producing three future Falcons, Hunter Zeigler, Allen Montgomery and Luke McCormick, who signed a National Letter of Intent to continue their baseball careers at the Saline County junior college.

Irlbeck agreed it was something he's not done before in his coaching career.

"It's a good get for us and I'm very excited for the SIC baseball program," Irlbeck said. "They're all good kids, good students are going to be quality individuals for us.

"I want to bring in as many local guys as I can, but at the same time, it's a slippery slope when you're talking about bringing in guys that can't come in and compete.

I think these guys should all be able to come in and compete for significant innings early."

Irlbeck signed two pitchers in Zeigler and Montgomery.

Zeigler is a left handed pitcher, who last year finished 8-3 with a 1.31 ERA. He pitched 64 innings and allowed 21 runs (12 earned), while giving up 45 hits. Zeigler struck out 71 and walked 23.

"Hunter is a left handed pitcher that competes in the zone and works down," Irlbeck said. "You can never have enough arms from the left side. He's a very good outfielder as well and has a short, compact swing at the plate. He's a guy that we expect to come in and compete."

Montgomery went 2-0 a year ago, with wins over Dongola and Meridian. Montgomery worked 15 innings, finishing with a 1.40 ERA, striking out 20 and walking just eight.

He gave up five runs (three earned) on four hits.

"Allen is a guy that we expect to fill out a little bit more," Irlbeck said. "He's a tall guy that has good arm action. His ball seems to have some good movement on it and has he continues to get bigger and stronger, he's got a lot of upside on the bump."

Finally, McCormick who mans the middle infield for the Indians, hit .379 a season ago, scoring 25 runs and driving in the same amount. He had an on-base percentage of .423 and a slugging percentage of .484.

McCormick struck out just 10 times in 104 plate appearances and stole eight bases.

"Luke is a solid infielder, has good hands, but he also has to get used to the speed of the game at the college level, especially up the middle, he should be a guy that could come in and compete," Irlbeck said.

Irlbeck cited that all three Indians will be coming in and filling a need, therefore, Irlbeck expects nothing less than for them to come in and compete right away.

"I think if Hunter was a little bit bigger, I'm not sure he's a guy we could get. Allen, in my opinion, flew under the radar a little bit and I think Luke got over shadowed by another high school teammate with the talent that is here at Johnston City."

As for their senior campaign, Irlbeck stressed the importance of simple fundamentals to help prepare the three for their time at SIC.

"The biggest is just learning to play at a higher level than they're used too," he said. "Sometimes, in this area, high school baseball can get very bad. Some of it is good, but some of it can be poor. The one thing I have talked to them about is not letting bad habits come in to their play and bring consistent approaches to the plate and to the mound."

Michael Dann can be reached at mdann@dailyregister.com. Follow him on twitter: @spydieshooter.