Hersey’s Haas picks Valparaiso

Trevor Haas’ work in a championship baseball game for Hersey has led him to another championship program.

Valparaiso University assistant coach Adam Piotrowicz was watching Haas when the senior right-hander came within an out of a complete game as Hersey beat Fremd 3-1 for the Mid-Suburban League title.

Last weekend, Haas committed to play for the Crusaders, who won the Horizon League title and made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 44 years. Haas, who was 5-2 with 1 save, a 2.12 ERA, 56 strikeouts, 7 walks and a 0.78 WHIP (walks and hits to innings pitched) in 62 innings, said he will be a preferred walk-on his first year and then will receive a scholarship.

“I was on their radar all year, but once the schedules worked out and they got to see me things started to heat up,” said Haas, who came back from surgery to remove a blood clot from his right arm last summer. “I had a gut feeling that it was the right place to go. I can’t put it into words but it was a gut feeling.”

Haas said Valparaiso ending its NCAA drought didn’t have much of an impact in his choice over Horizon League runner-up UIC. Haas said he talked primarily with Valpo associate coach and Rolling Meadows graduate Brian Schmack during the recruiting process.

Haas follows in the footsteps of other former MSL players such as Will Hagel (Prospect), who helped the Crusaders match the school record for victories with 35 before they lost to Purdue and Kentucky in the Gary (Ind.) Regional, current Padres minor leaguer Kyle Gaedele (Meadows) and Ryan O’Gara and Steve Godawa (Buffalo Grove).

“I was already looking at them as a school in the first place,” said Haas, who had a 5.1 grade-point average on a 5.0 scale, scored 31 on the ACT and plans to study engineering. “With baseball on top of that it seemed like a perfect fit.”

Haas didn’t have much of a chance to be seen in the offseason because he suffered from Paget-Schroetter Syndrome, a condition where blood clots form in the deep veins of the arms. When Haas’ arm swelled up significantly in July he wound up having surgery and required two hospital stays which totaled 10 days, but he never doubted his ability to pitch again.

“Other pitchers and position players had this and came back,” Haas said. “I’m still young and in good shape and I knew my body could recover from it.”

Haas said he felt he was at 100 percent physically this spring and is looking to compete for innings next spring at Valpo.

“I always wanted to play something in college,” said Haas, who was also a varsity starter in basketball. “I didn’t know until last year if it would be baseball or basketball because I love both sports, but I wanted to go to the highest level I could.”