CHICAGO — Every time he takes the mound, Iowa pitcher Blake Hickman wants to represent the best of Englewood — and all of Chicago.
"I'm representing my family and my city," said Hickman, an Englewood native and Simeon Career Academy graduate. "I get tweets and parents commenting that their kids look up to me. That drives me to be better than I am. I want to keep putting a better name not only for Englewood, but for Chicago, because of the negative things that are going on."
The Hawkeyes beat Oregon 2-1 in 11 innings Sunday in an NCAA regional elimination game before losing to top-seeded Missouri State 3-2 later Sunday to end their season. Earlier in the regional, they topped Oregon for their first NCAA tournament victory since 1972.
Hickman, 21, has been playing baseball since he was 5 years old in various youth leagues on the South Side. From age 12 to 17, Hickman was part of the White Sox Amateur City Elite travel program, which has placed several inner-city players in Division I universities and professional organizations.
"Blake is a great kid on and off the field," said Kevin Coe, the director of the White Sox program and a McKinley Park resident. "His preparation is relentless. No one is going to out work him. It is great for the White Sox ACE program that one of the pioneers is doing very well in college. Everyone from the White Sox organization is extremely proud and we wish him best of luck."
Hickman was an all-state catcher at Simeon and a member of the 2011 city runner-up team. He also played the position at Iowa — and was drafted in the 20th round by the Cubs in 2012 — before switching to a full-time pitcher this season.
He changed roles from the backstop to the mound because Iowa's coaches thought he'd have a better professional future as a pitcher.
Hickman, a hard-throwing, 6-foot-5 righty, is 9-2 with a 2.99 earned run average and 52 strikeouts in 84 1/3 innings this season. He's hoping to be picked in the top five rounds of the June 8-10 MLB draft this year (college players can be drafted in multiple years if they decide to stay in school).
He said the most difficult part of the move has been not being able to see the field every day.
"Not playing every day, it's very weird," Hickman said.
Hickman is hoping to join his former Simeon teammates — Louisville's Corey Ray and Vanderbilt's Ro Coleman — on the College World Series stage. Both Ray and Coleman were at last year's CWS and have opportunities to reach college baseball's promised land again this season.
"We just carried ourselves like we were the best," Hickman said of their time at Simeon. "I'm glad I met those guys. They helped me get where I got to today. And there's a lot of us out here trying to make our city better and trying to make a name for ourselves."
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