NORMAL – Ryan Cermak watched and applauded as the Illinois State baseball team’s departing seniors were honored after Friday’s Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader against Southern Illinois.
Yet everyone involved knows that Cermak, despite having two years of eligibility remaining, is also leaving the Redbirds after the conclusion of the season.
“I was taking it all in,” Cermak said. “I wasn’t thinking too much about it during the game. But I think either the eighth or ninth inning I really thought to myself ‘wow, this is it.’ ”
ISU’s center fielder has attracted professional scouts all season and is expected to be selected in the top three rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft in July.