Year in and year out, senior year for many students begins the same way: busy filling out college applications. However, certain seniors have been busy with other applications as well. Lane Baseball players Jason Santana (catcher), Div. 555, Jack Bergren (pitcher), Div. 557, and Thomas Kempf (first base), Div. 556, all officially have agreed to continue playing baseball next year for their respective colleges.

Santana has signed to play for the University of Memphis. However, Memphis was not the only school interested in him. Other schools included the United States Military Academy, Oakland University, and UIC. In the end, it came down to Memphis and the Military Academy, but there was one big factor included if he had decided to choose West Point.

 “West Point has five years in the service and three years inactive. That was a big thing for me,” Santana said.

During his visit to the school, he liked the coaches a lot. In his words, they were very genuine. Opposed to acting like salespeople, they let Santana see the school opposed to them telling him about it. Furthermore, there is a chance for much more playing time for him at Memphis compared to other schools.

“The fact that a lot of their catchers were leaving next year gave me not a for sure spot, but a better chance at starting, which helps me in the long run. Being able to play a lot more than just my senior year was really appealing to me.” he said.

Santana first started getting noticed by schools during his sophomore year. Even though he was several years away from college, Santana said he was actually behind schedule overall. This is because he did not make a recruiting video until his junior year, which plays a huge role in the process.

“A lot of people have videos from their fresh- man year and I just made one (last school year),” he said. Recruitment videos show a player’s skill set.

Each video is different based on the player’s position. Santana, a catcher, included maneuvering behind home plate, blocking balls from getting past him, catching pitches, hitting, and throwing.

In addition to making his video, Santana attended a showcase, which is an event where a player takes part in drills to display his abilities live for colleges. Santana’s club team hosted one of these.

“It was a two weekend event. 30 schools came one day and 30 other schools came the next weekend. That’s where I got noticed mostly. My recruiting video and my junior year summer,” Santana said.

While he officially signed his agreement to play for Memphis in November, Santana actually verbally committed in July. However, there is a difference between the two.

“Verbal is literally a gentlemen’s agreement. It’s when you tell the coach that you can stop looking at other players because I will be coming to your school. Actually committing is signing the national letter of intent like a contract, saying you will be playing for this school. It’s binding,” Santana said.

While he still has time in high school before going on to Memphis, Santana is looking forward to the experience. He has accomplished one of the goals he set for himself: committing to play college baseball.

“I’ve been working for Division I baseball. Every single time I pick a baseball up, that’s what I want to do, play collegiate sports. In the long run, I want to be a major leaguer. But for right now, that was my goal that I wanted to get. After that I still wanted to get a good scholarship and do something that I love,” Santana said.

Thomas Kempf, Div. 556, is also on his way to play college baseball. He will be playing for the University of Dubuque, located in Iowa. He first starting getting recruited this past summer, after his junior year.

Like Santana, numerous schools were interested in Kempf. These schools included University of Dubuque, Illinois Institute of Technology, Benedictine University, and Elmhurst University. The way these schools found Kempf was very simple.

“I set up an account on ncsa.org, which is a recruiting website that took all of my information and a video and pushed it out to many coaches. I also emailed a ton of coaches and then they emailed me back saying they were interested and we went from there,” Kempf said.

Out of all of the schools interested in him, Kempf was most interested in Dubuque and Benedictine. In his opinion, Benedictine has great coaches and facilities. In addition, he likes the area, (Lisle, Illinois), as it is close to home. However, Dubuque left a lasting impression on him.

“The coaches, facilities and campus really struck me as somewhere where I could spend the next four years,” he said.

Because Dubuque is a Division III school, they cannot give athletic scholarships to students. However, Kempf was accepted into the school, qualifying for their highest scholarship in addition to other smaller scholarships. Any money amount he is receiving is based on his grades and test scores.

“There’s not money for baseball. There isn’t any financial aid because I’m playing baseball. If I am in a jam or I need a couple extra dollars, they can maybe work something out. But mainly the money I’m getting is because of my grades,” he said.

As he cannot receive any scholarships for baseball, Kempf will enroll into the school and join the team when he arrives.

“Because it’s a Division III school, I just have to go to the school. I’ve already applied, I’m al- ready accepted. First day of school, I’ll go meet up with the coaches. There’s really no signing or paperwork to do with it. It’s almost an add on to your academics,” Kempf said.

While Santana and Kempf decided on where they are playing during senior year, Jack Bergren, Div. 557, verbally committed to play for the University of Cincinnati.

“First off, I would like to thank my parents and coaches who have all helped me and supported me through the entire process,” he said.

Bergren committed in March, right around the beginning of his junior year season. This is considered early, which gave him no time to fully look at other schools.

“What had happened was I went to a showcase and a couple of schools had contacted me, but Cincinnati was the one that had shown the most interest in me. I went down for a few visits and everything seemed to fit perfectly,” he said.

“Since I committed so early, it didn’t give me time to talk to other schools.”

Even though he did not have the opportunity to talk to other schools, Bergren is more than happy with his decision to choose Cincinnati.

“When I went to Cincinnati, it just felt like home. The coaches were very welcoming, the facilities were second to none, all the players were real cool, and they offer the majors that I’m interested in. Everything just seemed to fit. It seems like a really good place for me,” he said.

How Cincinnati found Bergren was very ironic. He was in Ohio visiting his grandma over Thanksgiving break last year, where a showcase happened to be taking place. Bergren went to it, and a week later, he received an email for Cincinnati. They asked him to send game footage, so he sent them video of him pitching.

“It was actually funny,” he said. “It was all luck.”

Bergren is looking forward to Cincinnati for several reasons. First, he is excited to attend college in general. He believes that the school is the perfect place for him to do well in the classroom and on the field. Also, the baseball program is turning around, which he is excited to be apart of.

“They just turned their program around. They got an entire new coaching staff, and they’re heading in the right direction,” he said. “I’m looking forward to being apart of that, the new direction.”

Likewise, Kempf and Santana are both looking forward to their upcoming experiences as well.

“It’s a once in a lifetime experience to play ball at the college level and now I’m one of the few that can so it’s just an exciting thing. I’ll focus on my senior year now and then get to playing,” Kempf said.

“Not a lot of people get that opportunity to play Division I anything. I just want to try my best and see how far it takes me and get my degree while I’m at it,” Santana said.