<p>corunnerdad- have you ever read the high school baseball web? If not I suggest you log on to [High</a> School Baseball Web](<a href=“http://www.hsbbweb.com%5DHigh”>http://www.hsbbweb.com) and go to the message boards. There are tons of knowledgeable posters there that could possibly give you more advice. Pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about playing baseball. Good luck to you and your son. I would also suggest you read several years of rosters for any school he’s interested in. Do most of the players return to play all 4 years. Hawaii is so far away that it’s location adds another wrinkle in the recruiting process.</p>
<p>OP, I forgot to ask in my previous post if you’ve posted your questions on the athletic recruits thread. You may find someone who’s in the same situation as your S’s there.</p>
<p>First - totally agree with Sammy the dog - HSBBW is a great resource for anyone considering baseball after college. </p>
<p>Secondly - also agree with lilmom - well worth posting over on the athletic forum - look on the left side of this page for College Admissions - click there. Look at the top of the resulting page for athletic forum and click on it. It is a part of this site for people who are interested in playing college athletics. </p>
<p>Having told you to go elsewhere, let me respond to your original post. For what it is worth, my son plays college baseball and went through this whole process a couple of years ago, looking at several of the programs you mentioned. You (and your son) have selected a real mixed bag of colleges there. Let me take them one at a time:</p>
<p>Gonzaga - Fine university academically and a mid level D1 program. Not terribly supportive of walk-ons unless you are a “recruited walkon”. Basically if the coach isn’t recruiting you for a walk on slot and if playing baseball is important, I’d look elsewhere.</p>
<p>Univ of Iowa - I’m not familiar with this school other than they are an improving baseball program “on the rise”. I’d suggest HSBBW for more info on the success rate of walk ons here.</p>
<p>Whitworth - High end academics, probably the lowest quality baseball of your list. Given it is a D3 with a small roster, odds of “making the team” as a walk on extremely high - virtually 100% assuming some talent and effort. After that, playing time is up to your results. My son plays in this conference and I watched their team play last year. Coach has a good reputation and the team conducts itself with class on the field. Having said that, they are definitely at the bottom of the conference and will be facing a long, uphill battle to become a contender.</p>
<p>Linfield - a notch below Whitworth academically but still a fine school. Excellent merit aid available - both of my kids applied here and got great offers (although both are going elsewhere). From a baseball point of view, this is a powerhouse program that could compete with D1 programs. They run both a varsity and a JV team. They have been to the d3 College World Series 2 of the last 3 years. Two players off their team last year are now in the pros and doing very well. Challenge here will be making the team. They do cut due to the very large turnout - and despite having 50-60 players on the combined roster. </p>
<p>Hawaii Pacific - I don’t know much about this school or program - but I would read the rosters very carefully and look at the stats to see how many kids continue playing year after year here and how much playing time is available for kids from the mainland. In general, kids I have seen go to play baseball in Hawaii end up transferring elsewhere.</p>
<p>Hope this helps, happy to talk further via PM.</p>
<p>We’ve made a lot of progress on this over the last several months as a result of son’s high school coach, summer coach, and through the application process. He is likely to end up at a Division III or NAIA school - the choices are likely Willamette, Pacific, Pacific Lutheran, or Concordia. He got nice Merit Aid offers from all of these schools. Over the next week he will visit all four schools.</p>
<p>Here’s the dilemma - well, a bit. The coach at Concordia is more actively recruiting him. It is an NAIA school so there could be baseball money, too. However, at least two of the other schools have shown a reasonable interest in him and coaches are meeting with him.</p>
<p>I have to admit - we will not turn a blind eye to the fact that, in the end, we want him to have the best education and best degree to have the best job opportunities out of college - and I tend to think Willamette, Pac Lutheran, and Pacific, in that order, are probably best in terms of education and eventual opportunities. Willamette is probably the most expensive, but he got excellent Merit Aid and we should be able to swing it. This is going to be tough to balance if he becomes enamored with Concordia because of the baseball opportunity. I don’t want to rule that out, though. Should I?</p>
<p>I don’t see Hawaii Pacific happening - I really don’t think their Div II baseball schedule is that massively more competitive than the Northwest Conference in Div III. And not having a real campus - I just don’t think that’s a good thing for an 18 year old.</p>
<p>As an aside, our daughter went to Wheaton, MA, graduated early in January, and is already working in her career field - so I think the investment can definitely be worth it in terms of a little higher end education.</p>
<p>We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks. Thanks again for the insights.</p>
<p>A friend’s son plays baseball for a northern school, and due to weather they don’t play much baseball at home. Lots of snowed/iced out games, not so much practice time. (They don’t have an indoor practice field.) Not sure if this might be an issue with Concordia, or not.</p>
<p>corunnerdad - thanks for the update! Good luck to you and your S.</p>
<p>Which Concordia? The one in Moorhead?</p>
<p>Sorry - it is not the better known and high end academic one in Minnesota, but the one in Portland, Oregon. Maybe my son shouldn’t go there - my daughter went to Wheaton and I had to spend 3-1/2 explaining which one. :)</p>
<p>Niece went to HPU on a volleyball “scholarship”, graduated a few years ago (graduated in 4 years) and is still in Hawaii. Lure of the islands is strong. 
D went to Willamette and knew most of the baseball team; I met several - a really nice bunch of kids - and all found the school academically rigorous. Visiting helps.</p>
<p>Funny- I thought it was the Concordia in Orange County. A neighbor went to that Concordia to play baseball.</p>
<p>Son decided baseball was less important and opted for Gonzaga - in end, made decision based more on academic and social basis. Still has a shot at an invited walk-on if he wants it, but Div I baseball is such a grind. Well, my daughter graduated - so one down!</p>