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Seated second from right, St. Henry senior Lucas Clune signed a national letter of intent to pitch at Schoolcraft College. With him from left are brother Everett, mother Dana and father Ron Clune, and standing in back are St. Henry coach Mike Gast, Schoolcraft head coach Rob Fay and assistant coach George Kontos.
ST. HENRY - St. Henry pitcher Lucas Clune signed a national letter of intent Wednesday to play baseball at Schoolcraft College next year.
In addition to its proximity to home - Schoolcraft, in Livonia, Michigan, is about half an hour closer than Walsh, the other school Clune considered - refining his game at a junior college was a path that appealed to him.
"I think JUCOs are a growing route at the next level," he said. "You see a lot of guys transferring using the portal and stuff. I think it's kind of a trending route, the second step in baseball."
Clune's Redskins career started with a varsity cameo his sophomore year, pitching 15-20 innings. Last year, in 37 1/3 innings, he posted a 3.75 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP while striking out 52 batters.
More importantly for St. Henry, he emerged as a No. 2 starter behind Devin Delzeith, pitching 10 1/3 innings in winning the district final and regional semifinal as the Redskins made a run to the state tournament in Akron.
Coach Mike Gast said Clune grew more confident as a pitcher in the second half of last year, which translated to sharper stuff.
"When he trusts his stuff and he's confident in his stuff, he's our best pitcher: velocity-wise, and his breaking ball's nice and sharp," Gast said. "When he's confident in it and he trusts it, he's really good, and that started to come along at the end of the year."
Clune came to the attention of Schoolcraft coach Rob Fay when Gregg Beemer, the director of player development for Dayton Classics Baseball, brought a group of players up to the college for a workout and campus tour.
"I think the way that he was able to take coaching was important for us, because at the college level things are different," Fay said. "And then talent-wise, I think he's just scratching the surface of what he can become. Being a junior college, that's kind of our main thing - we get guys in to further develop them and move them on to four-year colleges and universities. So from that standpoint, he was a perfect fit for what we do."
Being a two-year school, Fay noted that all their pitchers get innings from the start and have a chance to carve out a role for themselves.
"It's important to us to put the guys on the field and really see what they can do," Fay said, "as well as give them the opportunity to understand different roles, so when they move on to a four-year, they've been in that spot before."
Last year, Schoolcraft went 26-25 and 13-12 in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association. The Ocelots had eight pitchers make double-digit appearances and seven threw at least 20 innings, while 13 pitchers started at least one game.
"I know I'm going to get to play, I know I'm going to get actual game reps," Clune said. "I think that's going to be monumental for me to grow as an athlete and as a person."
Although the 6-4 Clune has the size to play at the college level, Fay noted that he wants to see him continue improving his quickness and athleticism to move faster down the mound in his delivery.
In the meantime, Clune still has his senior season at St. Henry in the spring. Delzeith pitched over 80 innings and started 11 of St. Henry's 31 games last season, and Gast said he hopes to shift some of that workload to Clune this year.
"Hopefully, make it right back to Akron," Clune said of his goals. "I mean, we obviously have to take it one step at a time. Another MAC championship would be awesome too. But hopefully we can get back to Akron, and hopefully we can come back with a trophy this time, not leave empty-handed."
