Baseball: Mundelein's Murphy has warm feelings about his college choice

Now that Brendan Murphy is officially committed to Arizona State University's baseball team, he can officially retire his snow shovel.

Well, once the Mundelein senior gets through this winter anyway.

"I'm looking forward to (no snow)," Murphy said Wednesday after signing his letter of intent in front of smiling schoolmates and MHS administrators.

When he was younger, Murphy and his buddy Nick Stricker, a fellow Mustangs baseball player, used to put on their snow boots, heavy coats and gloves and shovel neighbors' driveways.

The two boys loved it.

"We'd split the money at the end," Murphy said. "I hate sitting in the house. It was a way for me to get out."

That was then.

"I just sleep now," Murphy joked. "I wait until it's done (snowing). Then I'll go out and (shovel) it."

Now, more than ever, fun for Murphy is playing baseball. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound lefty verbally committed to ASU in September of last year. Last spring, he led Mundelein to its first state appearance since 2002. Murphy went 10-2 with a 1.12 ERA and 110 strikeouts (just 28 walks) in 69 innings and also hit .433 with 20 extra-base hits and 34 RBI, as the Mustangs finished second in state.

The 2016 captain of the Daily Herald Lake County All-Area team, he was all smiles Wednesday. Ever since attending the College World Series as an 11-year-old and getting to meet Arizona State players, it was his dream to one day become an ASU Sun Devil himself.

"I realize all the hard work - waking up early, going to bed late - paid off," said Murphy, whose fastball sits between 88-91 mph and touched 92 this fall. "I'm proud of myself, but I think I still have more in store."

A Cubs fan, Murphy is ready to embrace the target, to borrow a Joe Maddon saying, and help Mundelein have another strong season. He's been the Mustangs' ace the last two springs.

"I'm just going to go out there and have all the confidence in the world, like I did the last two years," Murphy said. "With our state run last year, I think we're a little more confident in what we're able to do. We'll have 6-7 returning starters so I think we're going to make another good run and have a good year."

Throwing baseballs will be better than throwing snow.