Jacobs' Addante will play baseball at Nebraska

Who better to guide a left-handed center fielder on the path to success than a left-handed center fielder who enjoyed a 14-year big-league career?

That's the way Jacobs junior Mike Addante figured it when he committed Friday to play college baseball for Nebraska and coach Darin Erstad, a former Major Leaguer cut from the same mold.

"That had a big role in it because he knows everything about the position I play and can make me the best I can be," Addante said Saturday morning while on his second visit to the Lincoln, Neb., campus. "I'm excited. I fell in love with the entire coaching staff and Lincoln."

A 17-year-old Algonquin resident who plays travel ball for Elite Baseball Training of Chicago, Addante hit near the top of the order last spring for a Jacobs team that went 29-11 and tied for third in the 2015 Class 4A state tournament.

As a sophomore he hit .250 (26-for-104) with 4 doubles and a triple. He led the Golden Eagles with 2 home runs, tied for second with 16 RBI and was third in runs scored (22).

Addante first caught the eye of the Cornhusker coaching staff during a summer tournament with Elite. Nebraska reached out last fall and stayed in touch over the winter. That led to an invite-only, on-campus showcase on Jan. 23, which Addante attended with his father, Jeff.

Nebraska offered "a few days later" but Addante said he wanted his mom, Deb, to tour the campus and baseball facilities before making a decision. She traveled with Jeff and Mike this weekend to Lincoln and gave the Big Ten school a thumbs-up.

"She said she wanted to become a student-athlete here, too," said Addante, who runs 60 yards in 6.6 seconds and scoots from home to first base in 3.8 seconds.

Addante selected Nebraska over Northwestern.

"They were my top two, but I decided Nebraska is a better fit for me," he said. "I liked it here and everything just felt right."