Brandon Murphy is a Charleston native playing baseball for the University of Illinois.

Growing up in Charleston, Murphy could be found at numerous Eastern sporting events. However, he always had a certain passion for baseball.

Murphy earned 10 varsity letters at Charleston High School including three in football, three in basketball and four in baseball.

When it came time to choose a college, it was between Eastern, which offered Murphy a split scholarship in baseball and football, and Illinois, which offered him a full baseball scholarship.

“It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make in my life,” Murphy said.

Murphy chose Illinois for a couple reasons.

“He thought his best chance after college was baseball,” said Murphy’s father Brian.

“If I don’t make it as a professional baseball player, I’ll have an education from the University of Illinois as a safety net,” Murphy said.

Another reason Murphy chose Illinois was because he spent almost his whole life in Charleston, and felt he would get a better college experience away from home. It got to a point where maybe he was a little over familiar with Eastern.”

Mr. Murphy remembers taking Brandon to a weekend baseball camp at Eastern that head coach Jimmy Schmitz was running when Murphy was just nine years old.

“He also wanted to go to a bigger school,” Mr. Murphy said. “Illinois is also close enough so if he wants to come home and see his family, it’s less than an hour away. Illinois was a perfect fit for Brandon.”

After a successful high school career, Murphy went to Illinois and head coach Richard “Itch” Jones said he didn’t expect Murphy to make a big contribution as a freshman.

“You never really expect a lot out of a freshman,” Jones said. “He came in and had some problems with his mechanics but he’s been working on those problems and has started to come on.”

Murphy said it’s been a challenge for him to fix his mechanical problems but everybody goes through problems and he knows he just has to work through it.

This past weekend Murphy pitched 4 1/3 innings against Indiana and only gave up three hits. Unfortunately two of those hits were homeruns.

Murphy has pitched 20 innings on the season and has a 4.95 earned run average. He has given up 22 hits, walked five and struck out 13 batters.

Murphy holds Charleston high school records in wins (32), hits (151) and doubles (40).

Murphy said he loved every minute of his high school career but it just went by so fast.

“I loved going out there and competing for bragging rights,” Murphy said.

Murphy was born in St. Louis and grew up a Cardinals fan. Mr. Murphy remembers Brandon saying when he grew up he wanted to take Ozzie Smith’s place at shortstop. Now that Smith is retired and Murphy has become a pitcher that goal is unattainable, however, playing at the professional level is definitely still one of Murphy’s goals.

“I think playing at the professional level is an aspiration of 99.9 percent of all college athletes,” Murphy said.

Mr. Murphy said Brandon’s favorite pitchers to watch growing up were Curt Schilling, Nolan Ryan and Greg Maddux.

However, come Tuesday afternoon, Murphy will be watching former Charleston teammate, Jason Pinnell pitch against his Illini.

“I learned a lot when he was a senior and I was a freshman at Charleston High School,” Murphy said. “It’ll be weird to watch him pitch because I haven’t seen him throw in four years. It will be interesting to see how he has changed and matured.”

Murphy said he would have liked to pitch against Eastern but he won’t even make the trip with the team. However, that won’t stop him from attending the game. His father is going to pick him up so Murphy can watch the Panthers take on the Illini.