SULLIVAN - Andrew Sparrow, a recent graduate of Sullivan High School, is to continue his baseball career at Knox College in Galesburg.

Sparrow, who plays for Moultrie-Douglas American Legion Post 429, has been hobbled by high ankle sprains in back-to-back years.

"It has always been a dream of mine to continue to play baseball," said Sparrow. "I have a love for the game and wanted to keep going. It means a lot to be able to play college baseball, especially with the high ankle sprain injuries where I thought I was screwed. I kept working hard at it and got to where I am back playing."

Sparrow also visited Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute.

"The weight room has been redone and the campus has a lot of history (it's the site of the fifth debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858)," said Sparrow. "The baseball field (Blodgett Field) is more of a traditional field like we play on in Central Illinois. It felt like home to me."

Sparrow, who visited Knox three times, played in all 30 games and hit .265 for the 21-9 Redskins, coached by Troy Rogers. He had eight doubles and drove in 19 runs. He has a slugging percentage of .471 and an on-base percentage of .384. He led the team in sacrifice flies with three. On the mound he was 2-1 with one save and an earned run average of 4.50. In 14 innings he had three starts early in the season and appeared in six games.

"I think Andrew Sparrow can come in and compete and play a lot of third base for us and pitch," said Knox College coach Jami Isaacson.

Sparrow, a three-year letter winner, was sidelined by injuries most of his junior year. He pitched towards the end of his junior year.

"I had not heard of Knox College before or been to the Quad Cities," said Sparrow. "As the year has gone on I have found more connections with Knox. My youth pastor is from Galesburg and so he knew all about the area and Shane Stewart (a middle school baseball coach), who went to Monmouth, played against coach Issacson."

Knox College, ranked 75th among liberal arts colleges by the 2011 edition of American's Best Colleges in U.S. News and World Report, is a Division III school of 1,407 and competes in the nine-team Midwest Conference, which is one of the oldest conferences in the nation (established in 1921).

The Prairie Fire went 8-24 overall and 3-9 in the South division of the Midwest Conference under Isaacson last spring. Isaacson is to enter his 13th season as coach at Knox, where he graduated from in 1992, when he was the Midwest Conference Player of the Year. He coached at Illinois College from 1993-1998. He is also an assistant coach for the Galesburg American Legion Post 285. In 2008 the team, despite going 15-25, won the Midwest Conference title and made its first-ever D III playoffs. Isaacson was named the Midwest Conference South Division Coach of the Year for the third time.

Jim Isaacson is the pitching coach who also served as a talent scout from 1972-75 for the Cleveland Indians and currently serves in a smaller capacity with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Sparrow said he was first seen by Knox at a camp in Naperville the summer before his junior year.

"They remembered me from camp and saw me on berecrutied.com and stayed in contact with me," said Sparrow, who played basketball and was in cross country (Sullivan-Okaw Valley) as well at Sullivan.

The Prairie Fire is known as playing an aggressive style of small ball with plenty of hit-and-run and straight steal situations.

"Hitting wise he has some pop," said Rogers. "He had a pretty solid year and quite a few runs batted in for being the No. 7 or No. 8 batter. He was the designated hitter quite a bit and defensively, could back up anywhere. He has a very, very solid arm. The second half of the season he played left field and had a few putouts from there. He played third base and was the backup catcher and a very solid catcher. He has a strong arm and calls a good game. Fundamentally he is a good solid catcher. Knox is going to get someone who plays in a lot of different positions. He could play first, third or catch and pitch some as well. He is definetly someone that can move around a little bit."

The Prairie Fire lost seven players from the 2011 team due to graduation, including one infielder and three pitchers as well as a utility player. The team is to have seven pitchers returning.

Contact Mike Monahan at mmonahan@jg-tc.com or 238-6854.