St. Viator's Kay commits to Houston

Cory Kay found the University of Houston to be a perfect fit for his college baseball career.

But it didn't necessarily sound as if the St. Viator senior catcher really fit in deep in the heart of Texas.

“All of the players were awesome and they want to win,” said Kay, who made a verbal commitment to Houston earlier this week. “They're excited about the new coaches coming in and they made fun about the way I talked.”

Kay laughed about the “language barrier,” but he also figures to fit in pretty quickly at Houston. The Daily Herald All-Area pick hit .402 with 8 homers, 10 doubles and 47 RBI for Viator's Class 3A sectional semifinalist and is considered the top catching prospect in the state by The Prep Baseball Report.

But schools such as Houston don't just regularly come to Illinois looking for players. Kay plays on a travel team for former Pirates scout and minor-league coach Tom Barnard, who had a connection with new Houston assistant and recruiting coordinator Trip Couch.

Houston was looking for a high school catcher, so Couch came up and watched Kay work out for three days and play in a game about three weeks ago. After a campus visit two weeks ago, Kay chose Houston over scholarship offers from Missouri, St. Louis and Creighton.

“It was awesome,” Kay said. “As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas and the stadium and weight room are huge.”

There were two other big factors in Kay's choice. New head coach Todd Whitting and Couch were assistants at Houston when it played in three NCAA regionals and a super regional from 1995-2000.

And Kay said he could have an opportunity to play right away since Houston's current starting catcher is a likely draft choice in June.

“I didn't want to go somewhere and sit down for two years and not have a chance,” Kay said.