PINCKNEYVILLE — Friday was a big day for Pinckneyville senior Reid Keene, as he signed to play to baseball at Southwestern Illinois College.

Keene believes SWIC is the perfect fit for him, both on and off the field.

“Mainly it was academics actually,” Keene said. “I’m planning to go into civil engineering, and I was really looking at universities at the beginning. When I went to SWIC they said I was able to take my core classes there and then transfer those credits to a university. When I looked at that, that really was a good opportunity for me because I was able to play there, get better and stuff like that through baseball, and then I was able to transfer to a bigger university.”

Keene primarily played infield for the Panthers and only recently started pitching. On the mound though is where SWIC is projected to use him.

“This day means a lot,” Keene said. “The last season of high school ball getting cut out, it really made the recruiting process tough for me. So, being able to finally get this off my chest and be able to relax the rest of the year and finally commit to a good school that’s gonna have good academics for me and have good competition baseball-wise. This has always been my dream to play at the next level.”