Hagerty plans to play baseball at Southeast Missouri State

Central senior Chase Hagerty has decided he'll stay close to home for his collegiate baseball career.

The right-handed pitcher recently committed to play baseball for coach Steve Bieser at Southeast Missouri State.

Hagerty also received offers from Murray State, Western Illinois and Missouri State, and had interest from several junior colleges, but the proximity to home and the success of Southeast, which won the 2014 Ohio Valley Conference championship, helped cement his choice.

"Coach Bieser is doing great things with that program, as well as the assistant coaches, and you know what, if I could do anything to help that and continue that great thing that they've got going then I'm all for it," Hagerty said of why he chose Southeast. "And for me, staying at home and having my friends and family follow me and be able to come to my games, too -- it just kept adding on. I was weighing out the pros and cons, and I mean, SEMO just kept sounding better and better."

Hagerty, who plays for the Lids Missouri Bulls team in the summer, was 4-4 on the mound during his junior campaign with a 1.30 ERA. He had 71 strikeouts and walked just 15 batters.

He already has applied to Southeast and plans to sign on the first day of the signing period on Nov. 12.

"Coach Bieser got me on campus and we had a great tour," Hagerty said. "Even though I do live in Cape there's a lot of things I hadn't seen yet. I'm glad that I got all of this out of the way early in my senior year so I can focus, continue to make good grades and have fun the rest of my high school year."