Prep Zone: Huntley's Lyman will play baseball at Louisville

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Colin Lyman has been ahead of the curve for a while, so perhaps it’s fitting that he made his college commitment a year early.

The Huntley junior center fielder told Louisville head baseball coach Dan McDonnell on Thursday he would become a Cardinal for the 2014 season.

“I really liked Louisville. It’s a top school and I had a good offer and didn’t want to risk losing it,” Lyman said.

Lyman will not sign his NCAA national letter of intent until November. Most high school players don’t make their decisions until the summers before their senior year. Jacobs pitcher Henry Gigeous did something similar a year ago when he committed to Oregon.

Lyman, a left-handed hitter, played on Huntley’s varsity team as a freshman. The Red Raiders were fourth in the IHSA Class 4A State Tournament that season.

Last year, Lyman was a Northwest Herald All-Area first-team selection after hitting .448 with four home runs and 30 RBIs. He also scored 34 runs and stole 10 bases.

When Lyman was 13 with the Crystal Lake Bombers, he played with the program’s 14U team and has kept playing up since joining the Illinois Sparks, based in Orland Park. He started travel baseball with the Lake in the Hills Thunder when he was 10.

Louisville saw Lyman with the Sparks last summer and he made several unofficial visits to schools, since players cannot make official visits until after they complete their junior year.

Lyman, who is 6-foot-1, 155 pounds, also made unofficial visits to Illinois, Kansas State, Ball State, Cincinnati and Notre Dame, and he attended a camp at Vanderbilt.

“He’s very excited the whole process is over with,” Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. “We leave it up to the players what they want to do. He did it the right way. He did his homework and knew Louisville was the right place. He’s a very good student and got a nice academic-athletic package [in the offer].”

Lyman also is different from many high school players in another way.

He doesn’t have a hitting coach he works with, doing most of his training on his own. He says his father, Tim, and Jakubowski helped him a lot.

“It’s just kind of natural,” Lyman said. “I tweak a couple things here and there, but I haven’t really had any problems with my swing. I do situational hitting and just hit all the time. I just did it the way it felt right.”

Jakubowski thinks Lyman is adept at soaking in any coaching he receives.

“He has a lot of natural ability,” Jakubowski said. “He’s had great coaching growing up with the teams he’s played for, and I think he’s taken a little bit from everybody and molded it into what’s best for him.”

Lyman texted Jakubowski on Thursday informing the coach he would be late for their voluntary training session. Lyman had to call the other schools to let them know of his decision.

“He’s a very humble kid,” Jakubowski said. “He wanted to tell [third baseman] Bryce Only and [catcher] Tyler Albright because he’s close to them. Then, we got everybody together and I made an announcement. He had a smile from ear-to-ear.”

• Joe Stevenson is a senior sports writer for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached by email at joestevenson@shawmedia.com. You also can follow him on twitter@nwh_JoePrepZone.