When Lutheran pitcher Caleb Cox was first approached by Northern Illinois University and its baseball coach, Ryan Copeland, Cox was excited about Copeland’s ambition to succeed at the Division I collegiate level.
Now, with NIU in the NCAA Tournament, Cox is even more determined that NIU was the best decision.
The Crusaders’ 6-foot-5 senior right-handed pitcher with an electric fastball and the genetics for athletic success is hoping he can help Lutheran to have similar success this Illinois High School Association postseason. The No. 5 Crusaders (16-6) open their postseason in the Class 1A Mount Pulaski Regional semifinals against No. 4 Heyworth on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. The winner will face either No. 1 Mount Pulaski or No. 8 Colfax Ridgeview in the regional championship game on Saturday at 11 a.m.
On Saturday, NIU won the Mid-American Conference title to earn the No. 3 seed in the Florida State regional, the school’s first appearance in the NCAA postseason since 1972.
“I think it changes expectations and redefines the standards we have as a program,” Copeland told the DeKalb County Daily Chronicle. “The amount of people who told you can’t win at Northern Illinois, it’s too tough of a place, I just never believed that.”
After Cox learned about Copeland’s success before NIU, while Copeland coached the University of Illinois Springfield baseball team. Copeland, the 2021 Great Lakes Valley Conference Coach of the Year, took the Prairie Stars to NCAA Division II regionals from 2021-23, won a super regional in 2022 and qualified for that year’s D-II World Series — the only time in UIS history.
The Huskies were an even bigger challenge. The team hadn’t had a winning record since 2011 when Copeland was hired in the summer of 2023. Cox says he believes the success is not just a flash in the pan, but that Copeland knows how to build something sustainable.
“Looking at Northern four years ago, I mean they weren’t amazing or anything, but once he got there, he turned that program around and look at him now: they just won the MAC,” Cox said. “For the first time since (1972) which is awesome. He’s just improving the entire program, so I’m glad about that.”
On the path to success
Ryan Cox, a 1995 graduate from Stewardson-Strasburg High School near Effingham and Caleb’s dad, knows a thing or two about excelling at pitching. That was his craft that got him drafted twice — one in 1998 by the Detroit Tigers and the next year by the San Francisco Giants in the fifth round. He spent five seasons in the Giants’ organization, playing 119 games across all levels. In 2017, he was inducted in the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Hall of Fame. Cox remains the SIU-E leader in career wins (tied at 26), most strikeouts (261), most games started (45) and is second in most-innings pitched (315 2/3), most complete games (21), and tied for second with most career shutouts with six.
Ryan knows talent when he sees it. Caleb has something his dad never had.
“A lot more than what I had,” Ryan said. “I was only hitting 85, 86 (mph); I wasn’t (hitting) 95, 96. I know the guns are a little bit different, but the ball comes out of his hand a lot differently. He’s got something a lot of people don’t have.”
Even at a young age, Caleb just spun it better than most.
“About fourth grade (Ryan could see Caleb had a high ceiling), just because the ball comes out of his hand differently. He spins it differently,” Ryan said. “It was just waiting for him to grow and mature a little bit.”
Caleb was tall for his age, but not 6-5 tall, but he struggled filling out his body. His dad remembered going to IHOP and despite Caleb being a sophomore in high school, the server thought he was younger.
“He looked like a seventh grader when he was a sophomore,” Ryan recalled. “The waitress would be coming up, ‘Do you want the Mickey Mouse pancakes, buddy?’ And he’s like, ‘I’m a sophomore in high school.’”
Caleb laughs about that story now. At 6-5 and with a training regiment, he’s more likely to be confused for a college junior than a high school underclassman.
An athletic family
Caleb’s parents, Ryan and mother Michelle, met while the two were both at SIU-Edwardsville. Michelle Gilman Cox was part of the first SIU-E volleyball team and was twice a GLVC Player of the Year (1996 and 1998). Michelle, a 1995 Lutheran graduate, was inducted into the SIU-E Hall of Fame in 2011.
Caleb’s older sister, Makenna Cox, is also a Lutheran grad who is on the UIS volleyball team. The outside hitter will be a redshirt junior in the fall.
Like Ryan saw potential of Caleb to be better than he was, Caleb sees younger brother Cam and a limitless future. Already 6-5 as a freshman, Caleb is excited for his growth in the sport.
“He’s going to throw harder than me,” Caleb said of Cam.
Youngest sister Rylee is in fifth grade.
Surprised himself, got noticed
As a junior, Caleb went to a Prep Baseball Report showcase, but wasn’t feeling capable of giving his best performance. He was just coming off an injury, but when the radar gun showed, 90, Caleb knew that could open doors to his future.
“I hit 90 and I was like, ‘Wow,’” Caleb said. “And that was coming off injury too, so I was like, ‘Sweet, I think I can play at the college level or Division I level.’”
When with the help of BRX, a sports training and performance facility in Milwaukee, he started getting in better athletic shape.
“They basically have my own personalized program, like lifting, nutrition, all that type of stuff,” Caleb said. “I started locking in and lifting four times a week and doing all that with mobility.”
That’s only elevated his potential.
He still golfs, but quit basketball to put more focus on baseball. Caleb then leaned on his dad for advice about his college decisions.
“I thought he was going to go to Edwardsville,” Ryan said. “He got offered down there, and I was just like, ‘Listen, it’s a great school, that’s where I made my mark, but I want you to look. Let’s go around and look at other places and then make sure that this is what you want.
“And then he went to Northern and kind of fell in love with it. Copeland knows what he’s doing, obviously, if you look at where they’re at now.”
Caleb said his favorite MLB player is Milwaukee Brewers’ fireballer Jacob Misiorowski, who on Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals hit 103 mph eight times in the first inning and had 57 pitches hit at least 100 mph — 10 more than any other pitcher since pitch tracking began in 2008.
“Out of high school he was throwing like 90 to 94, and then the Brewers got him, and now he’s throwing 104,” Caleb said. “So, I kind of see myself in him.”
Surely NIU and Copeland hope to as well.
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Lutheran’s Cox hopes to sustain NIU baseball success under Copeland
Reporting by Ryan Mahan, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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