Tonn To Play Baseball For Harper College
Zach Tonn of the Triad baseball team recently signed a national letter of intent to attend Harper College in Schaumberg and play for the —. Seated with Zach are his parents, Brad and Jennifer Tonn. Standing are Bella Tonn, Jackson Tonn, Brayden Tonn and Triad High School Baseball Coach Jesse Bugger. Photo by J.W. Campbell
By J.W. Campbell, Sportswriter
Triad senior Zach Tonn recently signed a national letter of intent to attend Harper College in Schaumberg and play baseball for the Hawks.
The Knights infielder said he plans on pursuing an engineer degree in college. Harper College is a junior college located northwest of Chicago.
“Harper has a transfer program with the University of Illinois,” Tonn said. “As long as I meet the requirements set for me, I will go to the U of I or SIUE or one of the larger schools in the state that have an agreement with them.”
Tonn said he was contacted by the coaches at Harper College after they saw his on-line recruiting video. That led to a December visit to the school and an eventual commitment by Tonn to attend Harper College.
“When I visited in December, I really liked it,” Tonn said. “There was a lot going on, but it wasn’t in the middle of the city. I also really liked the coaches and I the players I talked to.”
Tonn said he expects to be used at either shortstop or second base at Harper.
“I feel like Harper gives me the best opportunity to play right away at the next level,” he said. “The said they’re going to use me as a middle infielder and that they really need some help there. I don’t really have a preference between shortstop and second base. I just want to play somewhere.”
The Hawks are coached by Cliff Brown and play in the North Central Conference, an NJCAA Division III league.
A year ago, the Hawks went 14-31 in 45 games.
“I feel like the program is on the rise,” Tonn said. “There are 10 or 12 new players coming in as part of my class.”
In his first three games of the 2019 high school season, Tonn has gone 3-for-7 (a .429 average) with a run scored. A year ago, Tonn had just one at bat for a team that was senior dominated and went to the final four of the state series.
“I’m excited that another one of our guys is going to keep playing at the next level,” Triad Coach Jesse Bugger said. “Zach is a great person, a great student and a hard worker. He’s also a good teammate. You couldn’t ask for anything more. This year we’re going to use him at third and at second, so I can see him playing up the middle at the college level.”
Zach is the son of Jennifer and Brad Tonn.
