Baseball: Hall graduate Max Bryant commits to Southwestern Illinois Community College

Dave Garcia is tapping the Hall Red Devils pipeline once again.

Hall graduate Max Bryant is the newest local baseball talent who will go on to play for Garcia’s baseball team at Southwestern Illinois Community College in Belleville. He is the fourth recruit from Hall in five years for Garcia, who formerly was head coach at Putnam County High School.

Bryant, a first-team IHSBCA Class 2A All-Stater and 2024 BCR Player of the Year, was weighing his options to where he wanted to continue his career and has just committed to SWIC.

What led him there most “was just the culture of coach Garcia’s program,” Bryant said.

“I like what he had going on down there is strictly business,” he added. “I really liked coach as a person and as a coach. I liked what his goals were overall and for the season. I just felt is was the best fit for me.”

Bryant, the Red Devils ace and unanimous Three Rivers East All-Conference selection, posted an 8-0 record with an area-best 1.12 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 43.2 innings. He also batted .307 with 19 runs scored and an area-best 23 stolen bases.

Other Hall players to play for Garcia at SWIC have been Jimmy DeAngelo, Trez Rybarczyk and Alec Bulak. While it’s a nice connection, Bryant said that was not a big factor.

“I wanted to make my own path, but it was nice to hear some things from them to get a better understanding,” said Bryant, who is playing in the Kernel Collegiate League this summer.

Garcia has brought in 14 players from the Illinois Valley over the course of his coaching stops at SWIC and Parkland College.