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Sports

GCHS Grad to Play Ball at Eastern Illinois

Record-setting Kristian Meehan will take the talents he learned with Grayslake Central High School to the D1 university.

Patience paid off for graduating catcher Kristian Meehan of .  Meehan, who helped lead the Rams to a 30 win season that culminated in the Rams 3rd trip to the Super Sectional in the past 6 years, will be playing baseball this coming season with the Eastern Illinois Panthers.  The D1 school plays out of the Ohio Valley Conference and made a trip to the NCAA Regionals just 3 years ago.

Meehan put up numbers in 2012 that don’t come along very often.  He set a school record and led the area in RBI’s with 57, also hitting 4 home runs, with a batting average of 360.  He also clubbed 14 doubles.  Defensively, few teams ran on him, yet these numbers prompted a few, but not many offers.  In fact, Meehan was set to head to a junior college when Eastern came calling once again.

“I’m really happen for Kristian and his family,” said Rams coach Troy Whalen.  “This is a young man who should be playing high level baseball somewhere and his dream has come true.  It just goes to show you how important timing is in this game. There were a lot of moving parts and Kristian remained patient, put up some unbelievable numbers this spring and he is being rewarded.”

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Eastern’s head coach, Jim Schmitz, also believes they are being rewarded in getting a player the caliber of Meehan. “Kristian is a guy that Coach Meade saw at a Parkland camp a year ago, and was awed with his power at the plate and potential because of his size.  He is sculpted and could truly be a late steal for us.  He will vie for time behind the dish, but with the juice in his bat he may get time really early in his career,” said Schmitz.

-Submitted by Grayslake High School District 127

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