St. Joseph-Ogden’s Nolan Earley Commits to SWIC Baseball, Eyes Senior Season with Clarity and Determination
By FRED KRONER
Nolan Earley didn’t want the last-minute stress.
He wanted to avoid the uncertainty.
He was reluctant to procrastinate.
The St. Joseph-Ogden senior multi-sport athlete avoided one of the pitfalls that befall many high schoolers who postpone a decision about their athletic futures.
When the current school year began in August, Earley had the answers. He knew what he was doing and where he was going.
In another year.
He committed to Southwest Illinois College, a community college in Belleville, to play baseball for the next two years, beginning in the spring of 2026.
“I wanted to start my year with a clear mind and just be able to go out and enjoy everything my senior year has to offer,” Earley said. “I want to concentrate on making great memories with my friends, teammates and family before I head off to college in the summer.”
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound pitcher committed to SWIC on Aug. 16.
The connection that prompted Earley to plan to relocate to southern Illinois is the SWIC coach, David Garcia, who was among the youth coaches whom he worked with years ago.
Garcia is entering his sixth year as head coach at SWIC and has a career record of 142-97-1.
“At 14 and 15, my travel ball coach (David Garcia) for the Paign City Rox recognized my talent, competitiveness and bulldog mentality,” Earley said. “That was when I started envisioning that if I decided to take the college route, this could be in my future.
“My parents (Ryan and Jill Earley) encouraged me to have fun, compete and the rest just fell into place.”
Earley’s love for baseball was nurtured at a young age. In addition to the school teams he has played for, he was a member of four different travel teams since he was 9.
He had many influential role models in his life.
“A lot of mentors and coaches have developed me in different ways over the years and taught me a lot of things,” Earley said. “I think every single coach I had at one time, left an impression on me in some way.”
He was coached by Brandon McFarland while at Urbana Middle School.
During his 9-and-under and 10-and-under seasons with the Xpress Champaign, he was coached by Jake Buchanan.
Earley spent the next three travel seasons with the Champaign Dream, where Bryan Johnson, Mike Brazelton, Mike Orton and Joe Immke worked with him at various times.
Garcia was his coach during the 14-and-under and 15-and under seasons.
He was under the guidance of Bob Sears, Josh Miller and B.J. Burkhart during his 16-and-under and 17-and-under seasons with the Rawlings Tigers.
During high school ball at SJ-O, his coaches have been Josh Haley, Mitch Pruemer and Jayden Miller.
“Coach Haley at SJ-O and the coaching staff have made an impact by pushing me to be the best I can be, believing in me and pushing me to be a leader,” Earley said.
During his recruitment, Earley received interest from four-year schools as well as junior colleges. He kept his career path in mind as he narrowed down his list of options.
Besides SWIC, the other NJCAA Division II campus visits Earley made were to Danville Area Community College and Parkland College.
“I declined any visits with (four-year) universities as I knew that I was going to take the junior college route and chose that my sophomore year of high school,” Earley said. “For me, I felt like this was the better fit with the career field and trades I am interested in.
“At junior college levels, I would have more of a chance to play right out of high school and I am not sure I wanted to commit to four more years of school.”
As he contemplated the choices, one question was the determining factor.
“Settling into my choice was tough for only the reason of having to decide if I wanted to be three hours away from home vs. 30 minutes from home,” Earley said. “I wanted to be sure to visit the schools that were close to home, but deep down I knew SWIC was what I was always leaning towards.
“With the amazing offer of academics, living arrangements and having the personal connections to the SWIC coach who has believed in me early on, is what pulled all the weight. SWIC just feels like home. My parents have stood by me and have always said they want what I want, so I knew they would support me with whatever decision I made.”
Earley made his first visit to SWIC in December, 2023. He received a scholarship offer at that time.
“I was very lucky in the fact that I didn’t chase recruitment at all,” he said. “The schools who were interested in me came and watched me at high school games or over the summer.
“Some coaches found me by tweets on twitter of baseball stats that SJ-O was posting, or my travel team. At that point, they would contact me or my coaches.”
The difficulty for Earley came after hearing from the three coaches.
“All the texts, phone calls, emails and then the decision-making was stressful,” Earley said. “It felt like pressure. Although I felt blessed, I got tired of thinking and talking about it.
“I think the hardest part of the process is letting the coaches know that I didn’t want to come to a visit or that I was going a different direction. They obviously saw something in me and took their time to make connections with me, so that was the hardest part.”
From the time Earley committed to SWIC, it would be about 18 months before he’d suit up for his first official collegiate game. That’s plenty of time to continue honing his skills and finding a niche.
“I see fitting in wherever the SWIC coaches see me benefiting my team the most,” Earley said. “My coach has told me to just keep striving for mental and physical growth. That is a big part of baseball.
“I feel like once I reach the college level, it will be a new beginning. It doesn’t matter what I have done in the past to get myself there, it will be the work I put in to grow and develop more.
“Not only on the field but also off the field. I feel like with my work ethic and competitive attitude, I won’t fall short. However, nothing is handed to you, so I will have to earn it. I am looking forward to working with my new teammates and coaches and being part of the SWIC program.”
SJ-O coach Josh Haley sees Earley as someone who will contribute at SWIC.
“Nolan has continued to improve each season on the mound and has grown into a top of the rotation pitcher,” Haley said. “Nolan is a competitor that expects to win and compete each time he takes the ball.
“Nolan has a tremendous opportunity to pitch at SWIC. There have been several SJ-O players pitch in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference (GRAC) the past several years. It is a competitive conference that offers players an opportunity to advance their academic and athletic careers.”
Establishing himself in college will be no different than what he had to do after enrolling in high school.
Earley moved from Urbana into the SJ-O district prior to the start of his freshman year.
“At that time, I knew I would have to prove myself being new,” he said. “Although I knew a lot of the kids from here and had already played travel baseball with some of them for years, I had to prove myself to the coaches who didn’t know me at all.
“The (high school) coaches had coached the kids throughout middle school and I would need to put the work in to show them. My whole freshman year I just had to be patient. I had to wait to be seen.”
When Earley’s sophomore year began, he was originally issued a JV jersey.
“After practicing with varsity, I earned a spot and never touched the JV field once,” he said. “I was a starter for all varsity games (primarily at third base and as part of the pitching rotation).”
He was the Spartans’ Gold Glove award winner for the 2023 season. After the 2024 season, Earley earned the team’s Pitcher of the Year award.
“I am really looking forward to my senior spring season,” he said. “We have a great group this upcoming year and I am excited to see how far we will go.
“I want to go out and be a leader, compete, have a good time, make memories with my friends and win.”
Though he plays football – and excels for the undefeated and state-ranked SJ-O football team – baseball has been Earley’s first love.
“I don’t even remember not playing baseball,” he said. “I started in T-Ball at the age you’re able to sign up and have been playing baseball ever since.”
Earley plans on majoring in Construction Management at SWIC, which was 37-21 last spring.
“In 10 years, I see myself working in the construction or trade fields and hopefully starting a family,” he said.
At SJ-O, he has played three sports, but gave up basketball after his freshman year to have a break between seasons and also to start training for baseball. He is also a member of the undefeated Spartan football team (10-0) that will play a second-round playoff game on Saturday (Nov. 9) at Tolono Unity (7-3). He is one of the team’s top three tacklers.
“Baseball has always been my true love and passion,” Earley said. “There was not another time that I favored another sport growing up.
“I really like football and have enjoyed playing it but I haven’t played football my whole life like baseball. Football and baseball are completely different sports and provide different feelings of success. Baseball is what I can not live without.”
Some schools were interested in Earley for football.
“At first, I kind of thought that they must have done that for everyone, but he (coach Shawn Skinner) confirmed it was only on specific people that got requested,” Earley said. “Coach forwarded me the information to fill out, and I did not complete the link, and carried on.
“At that the end of my junior year season, I had coaches reaching out to me personally to play football collegiately at the NCAA Division III level. I did not want to commit to four years of school and knew that I was on a junior college path.”
The distance from home to Belleville is one of the adjustments that Earley will face as he embarks on his collegiate career.
“The transition will be tough not being with my parents and sister (2023 SJ-O graduate Katie) but I am sure I will be able to settle in,” he said. “I will know some teammates on my college team due to playing with them or against them over the years.
“I have an aunt and uncle that also only live about 45 minutes away in Missouri. My parents are great supporters and I know they will get to some games, so I know I won’t go too long without seeing them.”
As a junior at SJ-O, Earley had a 5-0 pitching record and a 2.11 earned run average. In 53 innings, he struck out 63 batters.
He was also a force at the plate for a 32-5 team. He batted .342 and compiled 12 multi-hit games.
As a sophomore on a 28-8 team, Earley was also 5-0 on the mound for the Spartans and had a 3.22 ERA. He fanned 40 batters in 32 innings. That year, he hit .268 with six multi-hit games.
