POWELL - Expectations for college baseball were there. The timing, however, was a bit off.

“We were looking at junior year to get attention,” admitted Parker Van Engelenhoven. “But it jumped on us. We started thinking more about it after LakePoint.”

That is when the second-rated 2026 in Ohio was first seen by Louisville.

“It was eye-opening,” the Olentangy Liberty freshman reflected back on the Junior Future Games in Georgia in late July/early August. “It was fun doing and great to be a part of it. I got a lot of attention with coaches reaching out to Jordan (Chiero, PBR Ohio Director of Scouting). After I pitched there were a lot of coaches that wanted to talk to me.

“Louisville saw me at the workout on Tuesday night and then saw my games. After that, I dragged it along to see what was out there, and I found that it was the best option for me.”

The “best” in a large group of impressive schools that included LSU, his number two choice in the end, along with Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio State, South Carolina and Alabama.

“The overall culture there,” Van Engelenhoven said about what he felt stood out to make Louisville the right fit for him. “They have midwest kids; the coaches have been there over a decade; they haven’t used the transfer portal, they develop within; they’ve been to Omaha three or four times; and their facilities are a bonus. The school is great. My mom and dad are just three hours away and they can drive and see me. It’s just a great place to be.”

There is also the matter of being given the opportunity to be a two-way player at Louisville.

“That was definitely a plus,” the 59th-ranked 2026 in the nation explained. “I want to be two-way if I can. With the SEC schools I was one-way only, but the rest were talking two-way. I’d like to see me come along in the infield as well as a starting pitcher through my four years.”

Louisville saw that as a strong possibility for the 6-4 185-pounder who just turned 15 two months ago.

“They like my frame, my mentality as a pitcher, my athleticism and my potential in the box,” Van Engelenhoven noted. “They have a player there, Patrick Forbes, who they said has the same type of body, and they like the comparison between the two of us. We have fluid motions on the mound and in the infield.”

Improvement has helped the cause in getting noticed by some of the top colleges around.

“I just got into weight lifting freshman football season,” pointed out Van Engelenhoven, a three-sport athlete at Liberty. “I’ve been doing plyos, bands, a lot of long toss and doing the other sports I’m in. Obviously genetics come into play.”

His father, who played college baseball at South Dakota State, has been a big part of the journey.

“I’m with him all the time,” Van Engelenhoven said. “We’ve been at every baseball thing together. He’s always teaching me the little things like arm action. But once I got older he kind of maxed out on teaching. He’s learning the game now as much as I am.”

Though it did not last long, it was an enjoyable recruiting process according to the 14th-rated 2026 right-handed pitcher in the country.

“I got a lot of exposure at events like PBR showcases and playing in big tournaments with Bo Jackson Elite,” Van Engelenhoven explained. “There was a lot of exposure going south and going to camps. Tennessee, Louisville, LSU and Indiana are schools I saw. In talking to the coaches we saw how different they all are. My dad and I had fun seeing how the recruiting coordinators attacked me and seeing how the baseball programs were different.”

In addition to his father and Chiero, Van Engelenhoven pointed to John Lacorte, Brandon Szink and Chris Carden as being major influences in becoming the player he is and helping a commitment become a reality.

“It’s a sigh of relief, I feel I definitely made the right choice,” Van Engelenhoven said. “It came down to the timelines put on offers. There were a lot of good schools to pick from, but after a few months it got too much for me.”

A 4.0 student with aspirations to major in mechanical engineering, Van Engelenhoven is excited about what the future brings once he arrives at the Atlantic Coast Conference school.

“I’m looking forward to competing with all the baseball guys there,'' Van Engelenhoven concluded. “I love playing three sports, but in three years I want to see how much better I can be focusing just on baseball.”