(St. Joseph, Missouri) -. Chris Coy, a Benton senior, has signed to play collegiate baseball at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Coy committed to play for the Kansas Jayhawks early in his high school career, but due to philosophical changes at KU, he changed his mind and currently plays for the Summit League’s Omaha Mavericks.
As a junior with the Benton Cardinals past season, Coy was an important part of the team’s 32-4 season, which culminated with a defeat in the class 4 state final. Coy was awarded a first-team all-state infielder with a 4.90 batting average, 44 RBI, 41 runs, and one homer. Last season, Coy threw 54 innings, struck out 42 hitters, allowed just 8 total runs, and ended with an ERA of.768 with an 8-0 record. He will also be a two-way player in Omaha.
“As far as Omaha, they get a lot of young guys coming in that really concentrate on the development and having that relationship with the coach,” Coy told me. “So I had a fantastic relationship straight immediately with the Omaha coaching staff.
I simply thought it was a much better match for me as a young player. I’m going to do a two-way. The pitching coach there had recently finished instructing with the Chicago White Sox. So he’s gone to Nevada, Arizona, and other excellent institutions. I simply believe there will be a lot of growth there; the facilities were also really great, and the proximity to home was a benefit.”
Coy will have one more shot to win a state championship with Benton this spring. The Cardinals lost many seniors from last year’s group, but Coy says this year’s Benton team will take it one game at a time.