Austin Stout
Austin Stout developed a rapport with Mike Kunigonis in high school while playing travel baseball. At the time, Kunigonis was the associate head coach at Virginia Tech and was recruiting some of Stout’s teammates.
Several years later, that relationship is paying off for both.
Kunigonis was named head coach at Northern Illinois in January and that led to Stout, a former Yorktown middle infielder, following him there. Stout gave Kunigonis a verbal commitment in January and faxed in his signing papers Saturday.
For Stout, who graduated from Yorktown in 2013 and has spent the last two years at Olney (Ill.) Central College, it was a “no-brainer.” Stout always remembered Kunigonis, and even though the coach wasn’t recruiting him to Virginia Tech at the time, he was planting a seed.
“I wasn’t ready for that level, by any means, at that age,” Stout said. “He was always told me, ‘Keep working hard. You have a good, projectable frame.’ I just always appreciated his opinion of me. He never lied to me, and he told me I had stuff to work on.”
Stout played for the Indiana Prospects and was a backup, playing behind players such as current Ball State infielder Ryan Spaulding and New Castle’s Trey Ball, a 2013 first round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox.
After hitting .371 with 11 doubles in his senior season at Yorktown, Stout said he wasn’t ready academically to go to a four-year school and also wasn’t developed skill-wise yet, either. So he went to Olney Central, where he had to redshirt as a freshman after a torn hamstring.
Stout heard Kunigonis was the favorite to get the job at NIU after being at Virginia Tech for seven seasons. When he did get it, he called Stout and offered him right away. Stout accepted right away after not being recruited by NIU up to that point. He had planned to take visits to Illinois State, Akron, Youngstown State, Western Carolina and Appalachian State.
He’s thankful for the road he’s been down.
“I learned a lot,” Stout said. “It paid off and it took me to my dream school, and that was NIU.”
Stout will have three years of eligibility remaining at NIU and envisions playing either second base or shortstop.
“He’s a kid that’s just worked his way into becoming a very fine baseball player, an outstanding baseball player,” Yorktown coach Mike Larrabee said. “… I’m real excited for him to have this opportunity.”
Contact sports features writer Ryan O’Gara at (765) 213-5829. Follow him on Twitter @RyanOGaraTSP.