SALEM - Lane Rhodes found what he was looking for right in his backyard. And with it, “a lot of stress has left the household.”
The Salem High School senior has committed to Youngstown State, just 30 minutes from his Salem home.
“When recruiting started it was mainly Division II schools I was talking to,” Rhodes reflected. “My goal since I was little was Division I baseball, but I never thought about Youngstown State. But after talking to this one pitcher that goes to YSU who works out at PPA, I thought it was something I could see me doing. Two weeks later YSU reached out.”
Interest began and an offer was not long to follow.
“I had a bullpen the day they reached out and it was the best I’d ever thrown, 87-89,” the 31st-rated 2021 right-handed pitcher in the state said. “They like what they saw.”
There is more that stood out about the 6-3 200-pounder that attracted the Horizon League school.
“They know the coach of my summer team,” Rhodes related. “They like my pitchability. I can throw anything for strikes and anything in any count. They want my velo to go up, and it will get there, but with everything going on, they like that I was available late.”
Admittedly, being an uncommitted senior brought with it some nerves.
“It was definitely weird,” Rhodes said of the change in the recruiting process once the coronavirus hit. “I started to get interest the winter of my junior year and was planning on taking some visits, but with a snap of the finger it didn’t happen. A lot of interest went away.”
The 93rd-ranked 2021 in Ohio did his best to make a positive out of a negative.
“I saw it as a couple more months to continue training,” Rhodes explained. “Everyone had to deal with this, I just kept getting after it.
“Some of the kids on my summer team would get together and find any field we could get on to get live at-bats to stay sharp. You had to be mentally prepared. We all were real competitive people and everyone there used the time to get better.”
Improvement resulted according to Rhodes.
“The summer was the best I ever had,” Rhodes said. “I just had to trust that if I kept working something would happen. Originally, I wanted to know (his college decision) by my birthday in November. But in talking to Ben Simon, he wanted me to ride this out while I was still getting better and see what schools were interested.”
JUCOs such as Lincoln Trail, St. Charles (Mo.) and Rend Lake (Ill.) were on the radar along with Seton Hill and Mercyhurst, a pair of D-II schools in Pennsylvania. But were any the right fit in fulfilling a dream that began in elementary school?
“Around fourth grade baseball separated itself from the other sports I was playing,” Rhodes explained. “I started playing travel baseball and it was like ... wow, if an opportunity presented itself that’s what I wanted to do. But I wasn’t that good so I started working out.
“In ninth grade I became more flexible and my dream was becoming more realistic. Sophom*ore year we had some high-level coaches watch us at Brownlee and six months later coaches started to reach out. Then the pandemic happened and kind of ruined that.”
When Youngstown State came into the picture, the goal of playing college baseball was back on track.
“Being closer to home than the others is nice,” Rhodes said as far as what stood out in choosing YSU. “It’s only 30 minutes away from home if I need anything.
“The coaching staff was great,” Rhodes added. “Everything clicked with coach (Eric) Smith (recruiting coordinator), coach (Shane) Davis (pitching coach) and coach (Dan) Bertolini (head coach). Their philosophies line up with everything I was looking for in a school and a baseball program.”
And the 18-year-old with a 4.0 GPA, who is considering business or finance as a major, was happy to find a college home.
“It’s definitely a big weight off my shoulders with how long the process went,” pointed out Rhodes, who remembers watching a football game at YSU when he was younger before checking out the school a couple days after his commitment. “It’s a relief to know I’m going to be playing college baseball, D-I is just a cherry on the top.
“My family was open to wherever I went, but the fit at YSU was really nice. A lot of stress left the household.”
