VIDEO: How to nominate Athlete of the Week for Battle Creek Enquirer
VIDEO: How to nominate Athlete of the Week for Battle Creek Enquirer
BATTLE CREEK – When Jake Kucharczyk graduated from Lakeview High School in 2024, he was one of the top baseball players in the state. However, the Division I offers didn’t come flooding in.
So, he chose to stay local and play at Kellogg Community College, believing that his dreams of playing at the Division I level would come later. Now, his dream has come true.
Kucharczyk has committed to play college baseball at Penn State University in the Big Ten.
MORE: After being ‘on the outside looking in’, Kellogg CC heading back to World Series again
“Penn State is a dream school for anybody in the Midwest,” Kucharczyk said. “It is a great place to play in a prestigious conference. This is huge, definitely an accomplishment and I’m excited to go and play there.”
Kucharczyk, an outfielder, was a multiple-year all-state player for Lakeview and a key member of state-ranked teams throughout his time with the Spartans. As a senior, Kucharczyk was named to the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Dream Team. He finished in the top 10 in in the school record books in several all-time career and season categories at Lakeview.
Kucharczyk played his freshman season at KCC last spring and was named as an National Junior College Athletic Association All-American.
“We are thrilled for Jake. Excited for him to be going to a school like Penn State. It’s a credit to him and all the hard work he has put in,” said KCC baseball coach Eric Laskovy
Kucharczyk and his twin brother Zach both played at KCC last year and will again this spring, before each goes to the next level. Zach is expected to continue his recruiting journey into the spring and is expected to sign at a four-year school at that point.
“The first thing Coach Laskovy said to me was that it was his main goal to get us to a place that fits our ability to play baseball at the highest level we could,” Jake Kucharczyk said. “I couldn’t have done this, get this chance at Penn State, without Kellogg and Coach Laskovy. They gave me the opportunity to play at Kellogg and now I have the opportunity to play beyond Kellogg… This is the best outcome I could have had for sure all the way around.”
Other Kellogg CC baseball players who have verbally committed to play at four-year schools after finishing with the Bruins this spring, include pitcher Caleb Kidd, who is set to go to Western Michigan University, and pitcher Jake Strickler, who will attend Davenport.
Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.