Kolakowski fits with Illinois

Zack Kolakowski initially caught the interest of the Illinois baseball program when he played in an American Legion tournament in Champaign between his sophomore and junior years at Fremd.

Then he made a return trip recently where his Athletic Barn fall team played in a tournament attended by Illinois coaches.

“Once I played in front of them it picked up again a lot,” Kolakowski said of Illinois’ interest. “We stayed in contact and it all fell into place from there.”

And earlier this month, the Fremd shortstop made a verbal commitment to accept a partial scholarship to play for the Fighting Illini. Kolakowski hit .342 last spring with 8 doubles, 22 RBI, 10 stolen bases and only 10 strikeouts in 120 at-bats.

“I thought it was a really great opportunity for me to be successful and play baseball at the next level at a Division I school,” Kolakowski said. “It has great academics and a great baseball program. On my visit I loved everything about the school.”

Illinois won Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles and reached the championship game of the NCAA Fullerton Regional in the spring in its sixth season under coach Dan Hartleb. Kolakowski said the coaching staff sees him as a middle infielder.

“This has been my favorite sport my whole life and it was always a goal to play at a high level, especially to play in college at a good school,” Kolakowski said. “This takes the pressure off you going into the season, but it also just kind of happened.

“When they made the offer I didn’t feel I needed to wait. It was the right thing to do and the best fit for me.”

Kolakowski, who has a 3.2 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, said he plans to study business or an education-related major.

Kolakowski’s big wish would be to have Illinois resume a series with Illinois-Chicago, where his brother Zenon is a redshirt freshman outfielder and is close to a full recovery from Tommy John surgery.

“My parents are glad they’ll be able to go to both of our games since we won’t be too far away,” Zack said.

Glove award winners: UIC outfielder Nick Addison (Fremd) and Illinois State shortstop Brett Kay (St. Viator) received 2011 Rawlings “Finest in the Field” awards from the Northwoods League, a wood-bat collegiate summer league.

Addison committed only 1 error and fielded .990 for the Eau Claire (Wis.) Express. Kay had a .969 fielding percentage for the Thunder Bay Border Cats in Ontario, Canada.