SIU gets a lot of different students from a variety of countries to come compete as Salukis, but not many can say they come from as far away as John Lemm, a catcher on the baseball team who calls Brisbane, Queensland, Australia his hometown.

Lemm was involved in a variety of sports as a kid, though rather than participating in the traditional American ones like football and basketball, he instead played soccer, rugby and cricket before joining baseball around the age of 8.

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“At that point in my life I was just trying to see which sports stuck,” Lemm said.

Lemm continued to play baseball through high school and eventually decided that he would pursue playing at the collegiate level in the United States.

“After I hit a growth spurt and started filling out a little more, I saw there was a possibility to play in college,” Lemm said.

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With baseball not having the same popularity in Australia that it does state-side, Aussies who come to America to pursue baseball at a higher level have built a community for themselves.

“It’s a very tight-knit community, but it is starting to expand more,” Lemm said.

As part of the minority of Australians who have a major interest in baseball, he said he takes pride in seeing his fellow countrymen, and home as a whole, see success at the higher levels.

“It’s really encouraging and awesome to see,” Lemm said.

Lemm committed to New Mexico Junior College where he was redshirted in his freshman year, which was a difficult time for him.

“I thought that baseball wasn’t it for me,” Lemm said. “I told my parents that I wanted to come home.”

But Lemm stuck it out and transferred to South Suburban College in South Holland, Illinois where he put up impressive numbers and refound his love of the game.

“It put the spark back in baseball for me,” Lemm said.

During these first couple years in America, Lemm was also taken aback with how deep the talent can be in the U.S., even at an amateur level.

“It was a smack in the face,” he said. “You see how far behind Australia is in talent.”

Following his stint at South Suburban, Lemm was recruited by Mitch Hannahs to play at Indiana State. But when the skipper of the Sycamores took the same position at the University of South Florida, it gave Saluki head coach Lance Rhodes and his staff the opportunity to swoop in.

Rhodes, who has a reputation of going after the best JUCO players he can get, saw exactly what he wanted in Lemm.

“He’s got a great personality,” Rhodes said. “He’s as good of a kid as it gets, he’s just awesome to be around.”

“He had all the physical attributes that we were looking for,” Rhodes said.

To this point in the season, Lemm has been a valuable piece on SIU’s roster. The junior has appeared in all 27 games thus far, clobbering 7 home runs and driving in 24 runs in the process. The lefty has also posted a .423 on-base percentage and .580 slugging percentage. All of these stats are good enough to rank in the top 30 of the Missouri Valley Conference.

“It’s fun to see him developing into his power potential,” Rhodes said.

Jake Ryan, who acts as both the catching coach and the assistant hitting coach, attributes Lemm’s success to the work that he puts in and his willingness to get better.

“It’s the basic answer, it’s his work ethic, the effort that he puts in,” Ryan said. “He has a legit want to be the best that he can be.”

Lemm’s work ethic has made him a perfect fit for how the Saluki catchers are coached, as the close-knit group is taught to work together to drive day-to-day improvement.

“We treat the catching position like a brotherhood,” Ryan said. “We take a lot of pride in trying to make each other better.”

Rhodes  has also been impressed with Lemm’s ability to be a leader and act as an on-field manager of the game, saying he is a good communicator who knows the game well.

Ryan agreed, saying “He has a good sense and good feel for the game. His ability to see the game is a huge benefit for him and our coaching staff.”

As they near the midpoint of the season, Lemm and the rest of the Salukis still have a lot of time to grow individually and as a team in their pursuit of the crown in the Missouri Valley.

Sports Reporter Nick Pfannkuche can be reached at npfankuche@dailyegyptian.com. To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, be sure to follow The Daily Egyptian on Facebook and X @dailyegyptian.

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