Rolling Meadows’ Eric Lowe big on Villanova

Villanova threw Rolling Meadows senior-to-be Eric Lowe a recruiting quick pitch.

Members of the Wildcats’ baseball coaching staff and Lowe connected for the first time less than two weeks ago. On Monday they struck a deal when the Daily Herald All-Area shortstop made a verbal commitment to accept a scholarship from the Big East Conference school.

“I wanted to play in a big conference like the Big Ten or the Big East,” said Lowe, who has already played two seasons of varsity baseball and basketball. “I wasn’t looking to get it done real quickly but when a good fit came I wanted to jump on it. It didn’t matter when that came.”

Lowe said he also had Division I scholarship offers from Valparaiso and Oakland (Mich.). Villanova was looking for middle-infield help and one of the coaches with the Top Tier program said Lowe might be interested.

Lowe worked out for the Villanova coaches at a camp last week at Benet. Even though he hasn’t visited the Philadelphia campus yet he has close relatives, including cousin and former Astros farmhand Dave Kady (2004-06), who live about an hour away in New Jersey.

“I heard from my cousin it’s an absolutely beautiful campus and that was good enough for me,” Lowe said.

Lowe hit .382 this spring with 8 doubles and 15 RBI as Meadows’ leadoff man and was 3-3 with a 2.42 ERA on the mound. As a sophomore he hit .367 with 16 RBI and 13 stolen bases.

Lowe also said the fact Villanova wants him to play shortstop was also appealing. The team was 20-32 last year but has finished at or above .500 seven times in coach Joe Godri’s 10-year tenure.

“Obviously the academics are really highly looked at,” said Lowe, who has a 4.4 grade-point average on a 5.0 scale, scored 24 on the ACT and plans to study sports marketing. “I really enjoyed talking to the coaches and they were a real good group of guys.”

Even though Lowe said he wasn’t in a rush to get his baseball future taken care of there is a sense of relief to have it all in place.

“It’s great not having to worry about who you’re getting looks from,” Lowe said. “Now I can enjoy basketball and baseball.”