Adoptive son of two Purdue professors 'is a pillar' for North Central baseball

First-year North Central baseball coach Andy McClain knows high-level baseball talent when he sees it.

McClain coached Brebeuf Jesuit to the Class 3A championship game in 2012 before taking over a powerhouse Norwell program in 2013, helping the Knights win their third state championship going 33-3 with a squad led by future MLB second baseman Josh VanMeter.

McClain coached at Lawrence Central last season and became head coach at North Central last fall after Phil McIntrye retired. The longtime coach has seen just about everything on the diamond — until the Panthers hosted Rushville for an early-season doubleheader.

North Central's offense dominated the series scoring 34 runs over two games. Junior outfielder Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe led the way going 7-for-8 with eight runs scored, 11 RBIs, one double, one stolen base and four home runs. But it was a play he made in the outfield that will stick with McClain forever.

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"It was one of those ESPN 'SportsCenter' (type of plays)... One of those plays that leave your jaw wide open," McClain said. "He was totally vertical in the air. (A play) that you don't see made in high school too often, that's for sure. It's usually made in a major league ballpark."

The process of making a highlight-reel catch in the outfield starts well before the bat meets the ball for Rienstra-Kiracofe. Based on the hitter's tendencies the 6-foot, 170-pound center fielder will shade a little to his right or left, helping him get a better jump on the ball. Rushville's No. 4 hitter — usually the team's best power hitter — homered to his pull side earlier in the game, so Rienstra-Kiracofe was shading that direction, ready for another long ball heading his way.

Later in the game, Rushville's cleanup hitter drove another ball in the gap and Rienstra-Kiracofe's instincts took over.

"I saw the ball go off his bat and I could read that it was in the gap, but it was not going to be a home run," Rienstra-Kiracofe said. "I started running and, in my mind, I like to keep my eye on the ball, but I also keep my breathing going good and my footsteps going good so in case I do over run the ball I'm able to stop myself.

"I saw that the ball was gonna keep carrying, and I realized that it had to be a diving catch... When I did (reach for the ball), I realized I had to be parallel (to the ground)."

Watching these jaw-dropping displays of athleticism have become routine for Micah's parents, Purdue professors Jonathan and Christine Rienstra-Kiracofe.

"We call it the Micah special," Christine said.

Raising two athletically-gifted children in Micah and younger brother Caleb is a bit ironic for the career academics. Neither parent was big into playing sports growing up, but through their children the Rienstra-Kiracofes have become a big, blended sports family.

"We may not look alike but we're definitely family"

Call it fate or some type of divine sign, but the first word Micah uttered to his parents was "ball."

Jonathan and Christine met as college students in Michigan, Jonathan at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Christine at Kalamazoo College. They married in 1997 and earned Master's degrees together at the University of Georgia in 2000. The couple knew they were going to wait to have children and were compelled to start their family via adoption.

Living downstate in LaSalle, Ill., they began working with an adoption agency, Catholic Charities. Through an attorney the family was put in contact with Micah's birth mother, Iris, in Miami.

Micah was born prematurely at 34 weeks. He had underdeveloped lungs and the doctors were concerned his development and motor skills would be impaired. Even with their son facing severe health concerns, Jonathan and Christine's faith in building a family never wavered. Six weeks later, Micah was healthy enough to come home with his adoptive parents.

"We just kept saying, let us take our son," Christine said. "We just believe God brought us together as a family. Whatever is going to happen, it's going to happen. We'd like to just go home."

Micah's younger brother Caleb was born in 2007 to a family in Urbana, Ill. He was adopted at four weeks old. The Rienstra-Kiracofes have an open adoption with Micah's and Caleb's birth parents. The adoption process for both children was a flipped position, meaning the Rienstra-Kiracofoes provided the families with their information and the families chose them to adopt their children. Knowing the birth parents chose them to raise their children was very important to the family.

They share texts and pictures with the biological parents and try to get together as a group when they can. Having such a smooth relationship with their children's biological parents isn't always the norm, but Jonathan and Christine treat their situation as one big extended family.

"It's been a wonderful experience, it really has been," Christine said. "There's ups and downs, but we've been so incredibly blessed. You hear so many stories with adoption where there'll be drama, we've had the exact opposite of that. Both of the boys' birth mothers are friends... It has been a real blessing in all of our lives because it's just like we're a bigger family."

Micah and Caleb are Black, Jonathan and Christine are white. Race and gender were never a stipulation for the Rienstra-Kiracofes when they decided to adopt children.

"Going through the adoption process you get a list (to choose) a boy or girl of (a certain) race, we said we feel like God's brought us here, we're not filling out anything," Christine said. "The only thing we said is, our one stipulation was if a child would have a life-threatening disease that we wanted to know."

Micah knew from an early age his family was different, but that didn't make his family any less of one. They have to deal with the occasional "is that your real father or mother," question from an over-curious person, but they never take the question too seriously. They embrace being a biracial family and parents to two Black teenagers.

"They understand when I go anywhere, they don't look like me, but everyone understands that they're still my family," Micah said. "We may not look alike but we're definitely family. I go see my birth mom and we're all tight, especially with my birth sister too. We all go out to dinner, and we can all joke around.

"We're all a big whole family even with my brother's birth family. We're all a family. So nothing really separates us."

"You can't teach bat speed"

Micah had never seen the movie, but growing up in Illinois his parents named his signature move "The Matrix" for the way he contorted his body to avoid inside pitches while somehow never falling over.

Watching the way Micah moved on the baseball field, the Rienstra-Kiracofes realized their son was talented, but they didn't fully realize the extent of his athletic prowess until several years of attending the Chicago White Sox summer camp.

Each year, the White Sox hosted weeklong summer camps around the Chicagoland area where kids ages 8-12 could compete in skills tests — running, throwing, hitting — with the top kids going to U.S. Cellular Field (now Guaranteed Rate Field) to compete against each other. For three years in a row, Micah won the skills competition in his age group. His first trophy was nearly as big as he was and remains in his room among all the other awards he's received as a youth. Micah did finish second as an 11-year-old when competing against 12-year-olds, still an impressive achievement for the young baller.

"That was a moment to me that said, 'Hey, he's got just a natural skill for baseball.' Because this doesn't just happen that you keep winning it year after year," Jonathan said. "Then over time, there's been a number of people who have had Major League experience or professional experience, say in the minors, who have seen Micah play and have said things like, 'Hey, he's got some special talent.' An ex-Major Leaguer once said, 'You know, he's got bat speed and you can't teach bat speed.'"

Leading by example on and off the field

Raising an athletically-gifted child is new territory for the Rienstra-Kiracofes. In the academic world, a student chooses a college based on their major and curriculum the school offers. With Micah's baseball skill, there's a good chance he'll choose a school where he can make an impact on the baseball field, in addition to its academic reputation.

Yes, Micah can race around the base path with blazing speed, has home run power and great defensive instincts, but he also excels in the classroom. Micah is a 4.0 student, and in a sport where schools rarely offer full-ride scholarships, having strong grades opens up access to academic scholarships, giving coaches more flexibility when considering him for their program.

"It feels a little backwards," Jonathan said. "You should be going into school because you get these grades, and you get this test score, and you apply, you write an essay, it's your dream school and you want to go here. No, that's not the path that he's gonna end up taking.

"He's going to be playing baseball and doing school. So, it's that balance. ... It feels a little strange. But I can see now, in a couple of years, Micah being in college and baseball is also going to motivate him to study. He wants to learn, he wants to do well, he wants to get his degree, he knows those things are important."

Micah is soft-spoken. He's not the most flamboyant or rowdy player on the field but his actions carry weight with his teammates. He's the type of player who always helps clean up the bus and dugout after a game. He'll help prep the field for the following game. He'll carry soda to the concession stand when it runs out. He'll go down to the freshman baseball game and give tips to the younger players just to be helpful.

He's the type of player McClain wants leading his program, and Micah's influence has helped lift the North Central program to new heights.

"I try to tell people as talented as he is — and he's uber-talented — he's a better kid," McClain said. "The work ethic, the attitude. He'll be the one to set up a drill and bring the baseballs out for batting practice... But it's so genuine, it's not forced. It's not asked. He's a leader by example. He's a leader by words. He's got a competitive edge, and I know he's just been raised tremendously."

Micah's always been a solid contact hitter, but he worked in the offseason to elevate the ball and tap into his power. After hitting one home run as a sophomore, Rienstra-Kiracofe has a team-high 10 home runs and 40 runs scored in 22 games this season. He's second on the team with 32 hits and is tied with Charlie Baker for the team lead in RBIs with 31.

Baker is another Panther having a breakout offensive season. The senior leads the team with 36 hits, a .493 batting average and is second with seven home runs. Jack Ferguson and Stryker Swenson have three home runs each. As a team, North Central has outscored its opponents 207 to 100, earning a 16-6 overall record and a 9-1 mark in the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference, clinching the schools' first MIC title.

North Central opens sectional play with Lawrence Central on Thursday. If it advances past the Bears, a matchup between the winner of Ben Davis vs. Lawrence North awaits. The winner of that game will likely face powerhouse Cathedral in the sectional championship game. Playing against a 26-time sectional and three-time state championship team is a great way to measure the progress of the program.

Cathedral defeated North Central 17-6 in the Panthers' third game of the season. North Central lost its first three games of the season before reeling off nine wins in a row. The Panthers lost back-back games against Guerin Catholic and Perry Meridian, respectively, before going on a seven-game win streak.

This team is not the same team that started the season. With Rienstra-Kiracofe leading an explosive offense, the Panthers are looking to make noise in the postseason this season and for seasons to come.

"(Micah) is a pillar. He has ability you build around," McClain said. "Yes, he's talented and that brings recognition to the program and what we're trying to build and develop. But again, just the example that he sets as a human being, that's what you want in your kids, no matter how talented they are."

Follow IndyStar high school baseball Insider Akeem Glaspie on Twitter at @THEAkeemGlaspie.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA baseball: Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe leads North Central