CHICAGO – Chicago State University (CSU) baseball announces the recent addition of junior college transfer Tony Sanchez (Plainfield, IL/Heartland CC) (Plainfield, Ill.) to the Cougars beginning with the 2010-11 season.
The 5-10, 220-pound Sanchez tallied a .315 batting average during his sophomore year as a catcher/designated hitter for Heartland Community College in Normal, Ill., this past spring. He also recorded nine doubles and seven home runs in addition to driving in 34 runs and producing a .991 fielding percentage while helping the Hawks captured their first-ever Mid-West Athletic Conference title and advance to the NJCAA Region 24 championship game for the second consecutive year.
“Tony is going to be a big addition for us behind the plate and with the bat,” stated CSU assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Neal Frendling. “I wanted a catcher that can be a field general and I think I found that in Tony. On top of that, he will help mold the biggest recruiting class of pitchers we've had in my time at CSU.”
As a freshman, Sanchez batted .417 with five doubles, a triple and a home run to go along with a .986 fielding percentage and a .538 on-base percentage for Heartland, who finished fourth in the NJCAA Division II final poll and competed for the Region 24 title.
One of the factors that helped Sanchez choose CSU was that his coach at Plainfield South High School was former Cougar baseball standout Tony Folino as he told www.gocsucougars.com in a recent interview.
“Heading into the fall season (of my sophomore year at Heartland), I had no looks from four-year colleges and I talked with Coach Folino about possibly coming to Chicago State and eventually met up with the coaching staff,” said Sanchez. “CSU was close to home for me, it had my major (Criminal Justice) and I wanted to play at NCAA Division I program. I liked everything around here after visiting the campus, including the area.”
Sanchez was a three-year letterwinner for Plainfield South as a catcher and first baseman after moving up to the varsity team as a freshman in 2005. He earned All-State, All-Area and All-Southwest Prairie Conference honors as a junior in 2007 after hitting .436 with six homers and 40-plus RBI while leading the Cougars to the Southwest Prairie Conference title and IHSA Class AA Plainfield South Regional championship.
Sanchez will join David Sindewald (Lansing, Ill.), Dylan Sterrett (Chalmers, Ind./Frontier) (Frontier, Ind.) and Gavin Trevino (Jenison, MI/East Kentwood) (East Kentwood, Mich.) as newcomers to the team this fall. He is looking forward to the jump from junior college baseball to playing Division I in the spring of 2011 after spending the last two seasons at Heartland.
“I think it will be a big jump from the JUCO level to the Division I level and to see the increase in game speed as the pitchers get better and hitters get better. Everyone gets better at the D-I level and you have to pay more attention at the higher level,” stated Sanchez.
~CSU~
