Published: November 20, 2008 10:39 am      

Thunder lefty signs with SIU at Edwardsville

SAVANNA, Ill. — Being in the right place at the right time can sometimes be a life-altering thing.

Just ask Luke Ingersoll.

The West Carroll High School senior recently signed a national letter of intent to continue his baseball career at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, but how the coaches discovered him was purely incidental.

Ingersoll was on a Fulton Legion team over this past summer and drew the attention of scouts from SIU at Edwardsville in a game against Libertyville.

“They were actually there scouting a kid from Libertyville,” Ingersoll said. “They saw me pitch and liked what they saw. That’s how I came in contact with them.”

What they saw was a 6-foot 4-inch left-handed pitcher throwing the ball 86 miles per hour. As part of the Fulton Legion team, Ingersoll compiled a 4-2 record and struck out 39 in 36 and two thirds innings of work.

Before settling on SIU, Luke also considered attending Northern Iowa, Minnesota State or going to a junior college in hopes of landing at a major Division I school.

“I chose SIU because of their strength of schedule,” Ingersoll said in a phone interview. “All their coaches were great and I really like their pitching coach Tony Stoecklin. He played minor league baseball for three seasons so he has got a really good philosophy when it comes to pitching.”

Stoecklin was a farm hand in the Atlanta Braves organization for three years from 1992-94.

Stoecklin and head coach Gary Collins are telling Ingersoll to expect to challenge for innings as a freshman.

“They think that I can get in the starting rotation next year,” Ingersoll said. “I don’t think they have a lot of guys coming back, so we will be real young.”

Ingersoll was also impressed with the campus.

“The campus is real nice,” Ingersoll said. “The stadium is amazing as are their facilities.”

With the decision out of the way, the West Carroll senior is hoping to end his high school career on a high note.

“I just want to help my team win some ball games and hopefully we can have another good season,” Luke said. “It’s a big relief to get this decision out of the way. It feels good, it’s pretty exciting.”

Ingersoll plans on majoring in kinesiology to become a sports trainer in his time in Edwardsville, but hopes to one day get paid to pitch.

“I’m hoping to get drafted,” Ingersoll said. “I have had scouts say that I project as a low to mid round prospect.”

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, but in Luke Ingersoll’s case he is both.