Huntley’s Brayden Bakes put up numbers in his junior baseball season that made him an easier sell the second time around with Indiana.
Bakes, a senior who committed to Wichita State a year ago, decommitted last month when Shockers coach Eric Wedge resigned for health reasons.
Bakes’ advisor reached out to some schools informing them that Bakes was back on the market. Indiana coach Jeff Mercer and his staff were interested and made Bakes an offer. Bakes committed and will sign his National Letter of Intent, along with several of his teammates at the high school Wednesday.
The NCAA signing period for Divisions I and II schools for sports besides football starts Wednesday and runs through Wednesday, Nov. 16.
Huntley will have Bakes, his twin Ryan (South Carolina), second baseman Ryan Quinlan (Eastern Illinois) and pitchers Andrew Ressler (SIU-Edwardsville) and Parker Schuring (Northern Illinois) all signing, along with several other Red Raiders who are headed to colleges at other levels or junior colleges.
Bakes was a Northwest Herald All-Area first-team selection after hitting .444 with 10 homers and 38 RBIs for the 31-5 Red Raiders, who won the Fox Valley Conference title. He batted leadoff and played center field.
“Before I committed they were talking to me, but I didn’t have my greatest spring, and summer my sophomore year, I batted like .299,” said Bakes, who had no homers and drove in 16 runs. “[Indiana] wasn’t fully invested. I had my season last year and they kind of jumped aboard.”
Wedge, a former major leaguer and the 2007 AL Manager of the Year with Cleveland, played at Wichita State and was hired as coach in 2019. He stepped down on Oct. 20 and Bakes sought out another school.
“I called Wichita since I was verbally committed,” Bakes said. “I was like ‘I don’t know if this is the right fit.’ I had my advisor reach out to some schools and Indiana was one of them. Indiana was the place I wanted. It has a great business school I want to get into.”
The Bakes twins have been parts of two 30-plus-win teams at Huntley, both of which won FVC and Class 4A regional titles. They started playing baseball at age 6 in T-ball and really got serious with the sport around age 13.
“When I was little, I wasn’t that great of a baseball player,” Brayden Bakes said. “I would bat last in the order. And it just randomly flipped a switch and I started loving it when I was around 13 years old.”
Brayden and Ryan Bakes played in the summer with the GRB Rays travel team, based out of McHenry. Ryan committed to South Carolina early in his sophomore year.
They both played football, along with baseball, when they were younger. Now, they concentrate on baseball and working out, usually together.
“It’s helped me a lot,” Ryan Bakes said. “We always have a competition against each other, and he pushes me better. We like to do the same things. That’s helped along the way.”
Ryan Bakes hit .469 with five homers and 14 RBIs in 11 games, with a 1.655 OPS last season before suffering a right shoulder tear that ended his season. He came back for the fall season and is playing without pain and says his strength has returned.
Ryan was an All-Area first-team selection as a sophomore when he led off and hit .378 for the Raiders, with five homers and 29 RBIs.
“We’ll go to the gym every day,” Brayden Bakes said. “We have a hitting cage in our garage where we toss to each other. He’ll hit, I’ll hit. We’ll hit and listen to music for like an hour.”
Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski became aware of the Bakeses the summer after they were in the seventh grade.
“They came to summer camp. Right off the bat you knew they were very talented,” Jakubowski said. “The ball just came off the bat of both of them with a different sound. You knew that they were people we should take a look at when they got to high school.
“They have athleticism, strength, coachability, they’re good teammates and they play the game very, very hard.”
Jakubowski, who played at D-I Northeastern Illinois, is happy for all of his players who are headed to play college ball after next season.
“I always tell our kids when we have our first meeting of the year why I got into this was to see as many guys move onto the next level and use baseball as an education like I did,” he said. ” It’s awesome that we have so many guys, not only at the Division I level, but juco and NAIA levels as well. We feel very proud for our guys getting this opportunity to continue to play.”
NCAA SIGNING DAY
Wednesday is the first day of a week-long period during which NCAA Divisions I and II athletes can sign their National Letters of Intent for every sport except football. Here is a list of local athletes (some of which are signing at schools other than D-I or D-II) who can sign on Wednesday.
Athlete, High School………………………College (level)
BASEBALL
James Allie, Crystal Lake South…..McHenry County College (Juco)
Brayden Bakes, Huntley…………………..Indiana (D-I)
Ryan Bakes, Huntley………………………South Carolina (D-I)
Landon Banaszynski, Johnsburg….Elmhurst (D-III)
Ian Boal, Johnsburg………………….McHenry County College (Juco)
Peter Conneen, Cary-Grove……….Wis.-Oshkosh (D-III)
Nate Crick, Cary-Grove………………Carroll (D-III)
Michael Dabe, Huntley……………………Dubuque (D-III)
Cooper Cohn, McHenry……………………Illinois-Springfield (D-II)
Anthony Edge, Jacobs…………………….Bradley (D-I)
Derek Huber, Huntley……………………..Rock Valley College (Juco)
Christian Graves, Jacobs-*…………….Bradley (D-I)
Lleyton Grubich, McHenry……..McHenry County College (Juco)
Nicholas Gottfried, Jacobs…………….McHenry County College (Juco)
Kyler Kennen, Jacobs……………………..Wisconsin-Parkside (D-II)
Colin Miller, Hampshire………………Illinois State (D-I)
Ryan Quinlan, Huntley…………………….Eastern Illinois (D-I)
Dillon Putty, Huntley…………McHenry County College (Juco)
Andrew Ressler, Huntley…………………..SIU-Edwardsville (D-I)
Ethan Schoeps, Richmond-Burton……….Wis. Lutheran (D-III)
Parker Schuring, Huntley…………………..Northern Illinois (D-I)
Ryan Skwarek, Crystal Lake South…..McHenry County College (Juco)
Trace Vrbancic, Prairie Ridge…………….Wisconsin-LaCrosse (D-III)
Aiden Zimmerman, Huntley……………….Judson (NAIA)
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Cooper LePage, Crystal Lake South………..N. Michigan (D-II)
Drew Scharnowski, Burlington Central……..Belmont (D-I)
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Hudson Fisher, Huntley………………………Milligan (D-III)
MEN’S LACROSSE
Connor Ardell, Huntley………………………Rockhurst (D-II)
Andrew Baumley, Huntley…………………..Lewis (D-II)
MEN’S SOCCER
Tyler Fink, Woodstock North……Kansas Wesleyan (NAIA)
MEN’S SWIMMING
Ben Rocks, Huntley………………………………IUPUI (D-I)
MEN’S TENNIS
Kyle McNally, Jacobs……………………………Dayton (D-I)
MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
Ryne Salas, Crystal Lake South………………Wis.-Oshkosh (D-III)
SOFTBALL
Maddy Christopher, Marengo………………Morehead State (D-I)
Taylor Davison, Richmond-Burton……………Syracuse (D-I)
CiCi Di Silvio, Jacobs……………………………Wis.-Parkside (D-II)
Brooke Klosowicz, Johnsburg…………….Penn State (D-I)
Katie Mitchell, Huntley…………………………Loyola (D-I)
Norah Mungle, Woodstock North…………….Wis.-Platteville (D-III)
Lyndsay Regnier, Richmond-Burton………….Rock Valley (Juco)
Alyssa Roos, Huntley……………………………Clarke (D-III)
Madi Smith, Huntley…………………………Heartland (Juco)
VOLLEYBALL
Juliana Chapman, Cary-Grove…………….UC Davis (D-I)
Avary DeBlieck, Huntley……………………….Miami, Fla. (D-I)
Maggie Duyos, Huntley…………………………Austin Peay (D-I)
Ciera Fletcher, Huntley…………………………Eckerd (D-II)
Tricia Kennedy, Cary-Grove…………………Michigan Tech (D-II)
Maddie Moran, Huntley……………………………Central, Iowa (D-III)
Kaitlyn Mullen, Marian Central…………….West Virginia State (D-II)
Ally Panzloff, Huntley…………………………..Brown (D-I)
Gabrielle Peter, Hampshire…….Illinois-Chicago (D-I)
Kylie Schulze, Woodstock North………………Loyola (D-I)
Ella Wicker, Woodstock……………Flagler, Fla. College (D-II)
Emily Willis, Huntley……………….McHenry County College (Juco)
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Sammi Campanelli, Huntley…………………..Lewis (D-II)
Jessie Ozzauto, Huntley………………………Lehigh (D-I)
WOMEN’S COMPETITIVE CHEERLEADING
Riley O’Mara, Huntley………………………..Davenport, Mich. (D-II)
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
Breanna Burak, Huntley-**………………….Illinois State (D-I)
Brittney Burak, Huntley-**………………….Indiana State (D-I)
Rachel Soukup, Prairie Ridge-**…………………….Belmont (D-I)
WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS
Sydney Jelen, Dundee-Crown…………Utah State (D-I)
Reese Samuelson, Marengo…………………..Western Michigan (D-I)
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
Jaidyn Britt, Crystal Lake Central………St. Cloud State (D-II)
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
Maddi Lieflander, Crystal Lake South…….Ala.-Huntsville (D-II)
Kennedy O’Brien, McHenry…………………Lewis (D-II)
WOMEN’S ROWING
Scarlett Quinn, Crystal Lake Central…………Notre Dame (D-I)
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Grace Apgar, Cary-Grove……………Missouri Western (D-II)
Eva Boer, Burlington Central….Southern Indiana (D-I)
Alexis Celentano, Prairie Ridge………………Concordia University, Minn. (D-II)
Reese Frericks, Richmond-Burton…………..Southern Indiana (D-I)
Abby Forester, Woodstock North……………Dordt (NAIA)
Alyssa Hamann, Cary-Grove…………Indiana Wesleyan (NAIA)
Kylie Hanson, Dundee-Crown………West Liberty, W. Va. (D-II)
Haley Lindquist, Burlington Central……Austin Peay (D-I)
Maddie Zilm, Crystal Lake South…………….Viterbo (NAIA)
WOMEN’S SWIMMING
Tessa Jones, Marian Central…………………IUPUI (D-I)
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Chloe Siegfort, Jacobs…………………………Sioux Falls (D-II)
WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
Angelina Gersch, Richmond-Burton….Carthage (D-III)
Rylee Lydon, Prairie Ridge………………………….Texas A&M (D-I)
WRESTLING
Chris Moore, McHenry……………………………..Illinois (D-I)
*-Preferred walk-on.
**-Includes track and field.
Note: If there are athletes who do not appear on this list, contact @NWHPreps on Twitter or email to sports@nwherald.com and the list will be updated.
Source: The Daily Chronicle
Be First to Comment