St. Viator's Sipiora headed for baseball at Illinois State
Julian Sipiora watched as most of his St. Viator senior classmates made their college decisions.
Sipiora had to wait until late June to get his plans finalized. But now they are as the 2010 Daily Herald Cook County Male Athlete of the Year will be heading to Illinois State to play baseball.
"My whole senior year people wanted to know what I was doing," said Sipiora, a two-time all-area baseball pick who also made the all-area football team as a senior. "It's finally nice to be able to give them an answer."
Sipiora said he won't get any athletic scholarship money right away but was guaranteed a roster spot after a workout for Illinois State coach Mark Kingston. Tom Barnard, who has scouted for and coached in the Pirates organization and owns The Athletic Barn Sports and Fitness Center in Mount Prospect, called Illinois State and Penn State about Sipiora.
"I sat down with (Kingston) and my dad (Dan) and decided it was the right thing to do," Sipiora said. "(Any scholarship) will be based on how well I do but this late in the game I can't complain about anything. It's really all I can ask for."
Sipiora said Illinois State, which is coming off its first NCAA tournament trip in 16 years and first tourney win since 1976, is looking at him as a catcher or outfielder.
Sipiora hit .390 with 8 homers and 30 RBI and stole 11 bases this spring as Viator made it to the Class 3A sectional semifinals.
Even heads to Delta State: Former Leyden all-area infielder Anthony Even earned a scholarship to Division II Delta State in Mississippi.
Even was the MVP in his sophomore year at Kaskaskia Community College this spring after hitting .388 with 18 doubles, 4 homers and 27 RBI. As a freshman, Even was a second-team NJCAA All-American.
FootballFort Wayne's world for Rolling Meadows: A scheduling snafu had Rolling Meadows scrambling this spring for a football season opener.Meadows coach Doug Millsaps was at a coaches clinic at Illinois when a coach from Indiana told him Wayne High School from Fort Wayne might have an open date.So, the Mustangs will have a 200-plus miles road trip of four hours to face Wayne on Saturday, Aug. 28 at 4 p.m."We got a hold of them and they said they couldn't travel, but if we were willing to go out there we'd play them," Millsaps said. "It will be like a small-time college trip where you go and play. We'll have a quick lunch on the way and get some pizza delivered on the way home."Millsaps thought Meadows would be playing Dyett again from the Chicago Public League. But Millsaps said the school forgot to let Meadows know it had picked up Clemente for its opener.Fort Wayne Wayne, which was 7-5 last year, will have already played a game since Indiana starts its season a week earlier with every school in the state making the playoffs.This will be a one-year deal with Meadows opening with York in 2011.MSL/CSL 7-on-7 football Tuesday: The annual Mid-Suburban League vs. Central Suburban League 7-on-7 passing event will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Maine West.