Interest in Hobart right-handed pitcher Brandon Murray came quickly after his sophomore baseball season.
Some of the top schools in the Midwest as well as the SEC had him on the radar and on the phone.
When South Carolina asked the Hobart junior to pitch at a camp last weekend, he quickly said yes.
The Gamecocks have been in the last three College World Series finals and won in 2010 and 2011.
"I felt it was the best fit," Murray said. "When I went down, I felt like I had a good connection with the coaches and the program as a whole. I think they're going to help me excel the most, and be the best player."
As a sophomore last season, Murray held a 3.03 ERA with hitters knocking a .163 batting average against him. He struck out 105 hitters in 62 1/3 innings, walking 55. Of his five complete games in a 6-4 record, he had two shutouts.
"The level of interest people have had in him says it all as far as what he brings to the table," Hobart coach Bob Glover Jr. said. "He has progressed a lot since we brought him up to the varsity as a freshman. He continues to get better right now in all facets of the game. When you consider that he's still just a 16-year-old, who knows what the future will bring for him."
Glover and Murray said assistant coach Dave Waddell brought South Carolina into the fold of schools looking at the pitcher. Waddell contacted Gamecocks pitching coach and Chesterton grad Jerry Meyers about Murray's talent.
"Dave Waddell really deserves a lot of the credit," Glover said. "We've got a little region connection to South Carolina, and that was one of the ways we were able to get the conversation started."
Murray said that he also considered Kentucky, Louisville, Purdue, Indiana, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois and Michigan.
"It’s really an exciting feeling to know that your whole college career is starting to kick off with people having interest," Murray said.
Please Wait…