For Hoffman, it's well worth the trip

Chris Hoffman can relate to anyone trying to make the difficult trip these days from the northwest suburbs to downtown Chicago on construction-ridden Interstate 290.

It hasn't been the smoothest ride for Hoffman to get from Conant to the University of Illinois-Chicago baseball program. There have been obstacles, dead ends and detours with more challenges ahead for Hoffman.

But the 6-foot-6 right-handed pitcher finally reached a long-awaited destination when he decided to go to UIC in April even though he still has work to do to earn any scholarship money.

"It just made me realize anything can happen," said Hoffman, who played baseball and basketball at Conant and graduated in 2008. "It proves if you put in the time and put in the work anything can happen."

A lot has happened to Hoffman in pursuit of his dream. First, he had to get through a case of burnout before his junior year at Conant.

A solid season reignited his hopes of playing at a Division I school. But when his senior season didn't go as well as he hoped, Hoffman opted for Division II Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha.

Parkside had won 41 games in 2004 and 45 in 2005. Recently hired head coach Jarvis Brown had a World Series ring as a player with the 1991 Twins.

It didn't take long for Hoffman to figure out this was equivalent to a three-ring circus.

"It took about two weeks to realize this is not how a baseball program needs to be run," Hoffman said. "I would talk to other friends and they all had practice plans (they followed).

"I knew this wasn't the spot for me. It was just the most difficult season I've ever experienced."

In what would be Brown's third and final season, Parkside lost 43 of 49 games. That obviously wasn't conducive to much success for Hoffman as he went 1-8 in 12 starts.

All of the losing led Hoffman to lose his cool one day with teammates who didn't seem to care. But he didn't lose his passion for the game.

"I knew I still wanted to play," Hoffman said. "It never turned me off for not playing any more. I wanted to find a better place where a team wanted to be successful."

Hoffman overcame a couple of rough early starts last summer to become an instrumental part of Elk Grove's American Legion team winning its first Cook County title.

"Once I started to get in some rhythm my confidence skyrocketed after that," Hoffman said. "I knew I was ready to pitch."

Hoffman had two solid junior college options. He passed a full ride to South Suburban for a partial ride with Triton because he had a good feeling about head coach Harry Torgeson.

Torgeson made a couple of mechanical tweaks that increased Hoffman's velocity to a more consistent 86-89 mph and added movement to his pitches.

As a result, he went 5-1 with a 4.47 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 561/3 innings. Hoffman received all-Region IV honors and was named to the Region IV all-star team.

Hoffman said all of Triton's sophomores were required to make a YouTube video. He sent his to UIC and he kept in contact with the program's coaches after they said they would keep him in mind.

They came in February to see Hoffman in a bullpen session. Hoffman was a little disappointed to make only one start during Triton's spring trip to Florida until he got the reason from Torgeson.

"They wanted to see how I acted in a game and how I handled myself and I did fine," Hoffman said. "They were just really glad to see how I handled myself as a player."

Hoffman said UIC asked if he wanted to join the program after his official visit in April. He said he was a "little bummed" at first about not getting any scholarship money but understood he would have to earn it after talking to some of the players there.

"The coaches were very upfront and honest and I can tell they had a lot of confidence in me," said Hoffman, who plans to study communications with a focus of going into public relations.

Hoffman turned down a 92 percent scholarship offer from an NAIA school in Ohio and a chance to be one of the top starters at Division II Lewis. He said UIC is initially looking at him to start midweek nonconference games and pitch some relief on the weekends.

And all of it is a big relief to Hoffman, who won his first five starts with an ERA of 1.50 this summer with the Illinois Longhorns of the Chicago Skyscraper League.

"I'm happy and I'm glad it's over," Hoffman said. "It's been a very stressful process."

It happens with tough trips.

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com