Centerville -- Four members of the Indian Hills baseball team took advantage of the NCAA fall signing period to ink their letters of intent for next year. Infielder Dillon Nelson and outfielder Jacob Rhinesmith are headed to Western Kentucky University after finishing their careers at Indian Hills; pitcher Jacob Thiessen has signed with South Carolina-Upstate; and pitcher Zachary Lauzon will go to Concordia-St. Paul after the spring season at IHCC.

Nelson and Rhinesmith will be going to the same school -- Western Kentucky -- that IHCC head coach Cam Walker attended after graduating from Indian Hills.

Nelson put together a solid freshman campaign for the Falcons, leading the team in batting average with a .341 mark, tying for the team high in runs with 38 and pacing the squad in on-base percentage with a .433 clip. He slammed four homers, knocked in 33 runs and stole 12 bases in 50 games. For his performance, the Omaha, Nebraska native was named to the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference All-Region 1st team.

Rhinesmith, from Shakopee, Minnesota, posted a .270 batting average in 50 games as a freshman, slugging five homers and driving in 20 runs. He was the team leader with seven triples.

Thiessen, a 6'4" righthander from Sterling, Colorado, pitched primarily out of the bullpen in his first year as a Falcon. In 16 games, tops on the staff, he pitched 37 innings, walking nine and striking out 21. He had an 0-2 record and 5.84 ERA. At South Carolina-Upstate, he will work with Tim Brown, an assistant coach for the Spartans and a former Indian Hills player.

Lauzon is a 6'3" righthander out of North St. Paul, Minnesota. He also did most of his work in relief in 2016, throwing 13 innings in a dozen games. Lauzon had an 0-1 record with one save, and walked 10 with 13 Ks.

All four of the signed IHCC players performed well in the classroom as freshmen. Nelson and Thiessen both received the NJCAA Superior Academic Achievement Award for their grade point averages between 3.80 and 3.99. Those two and Lauzon were named 1st team Academic All-Region. Rhinesmith was on the Academic All-Region 2nd team.