The Baltimore area has been very good to the Saint Joseph's University baseball program in recent years.

Players from Calvert Hall, Long Reach and Mount St. Joseph currently dot the Philadelphia school’s roster, and when the 2008-09 season rolls around, the Hawks will add yet another Charm City player to the mix.

Mount St. Joseph’s Ryan Kemp, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound right-handed pitcher, committed to Saint Joseph's about two weeks ago. Kemp finished his junior season 6-3 with a 2.60 ERA. While Kemp said he “could’ve done better” during his junior season, it was more than enough to convince the Saint Joseph’s coaches of his potential.

“From what they told me, I think I’m going to start off my freshman year with a spot in the bullpen,” Kemp said. “Depending how that goes, I could end up starting eventually.”

Not bad for a pitcher who was almost discovered by the Saint Joseph’s coaching staff by accident.

Hawks assistant Greg Manco came to town in 2006 to scout Mount St. Joseph senior outfielder Ryan McDonald. McDonald impressed enough to earn a spot on Saint Joseph's team (where he’s now a sophomore). But Manco also came away intrigued with Kemp, then a sophomore closer.

“The coach came down to watch one of our games against Calvert Hall,” Kemp said. “I threw, I think, three innings and I got a save that game and we won. He was impressed with that. He sent me a letter. Then he called me last spring season and this summer he came to two or three of the local showcases I did.”

The Saint Joseph’s coaches may have been among the first to discover Kemp (who posted six saves and a 0.76 ERA during that sophomore season), but the Hawks had plenty of company from other schools competing for his services.

Georgia Southern, Hartford, Liberty, Mount St. Mary’s, Old Dominion, Radford and Richmond were some of the schools showing serious interest in Kemp. Ultimately, it was Georgia Southern -- a program that has recorded seven straight 30-win seasons -- that was Saint Joseph’s biggest competition for Kemp.

“Georgia Southern was definitely a school I was highly interested in,” Kemp said. “They’ve had a great program for a long time and their stadium was incredible. But they’re way out in the middle of nowhere in Georgia. It’s two hours away from the nearest airport and I can’t get a direct flight to there from Maryland. For Philadelphia, you just take the train right up there.”

Kemp took advantage of the approximately hour and a half train ride from Baltimore to Philadelphia on his official visit to Saint Joseph’s in September. He arrived on a Friday morning and spent the day with his ex-teammate, McDonald, attending classes, getting a tour of the campus and checking out an intrasquad baseball game.

When nighttime rolled around, Kemp, McDonald and several other baseball players drove into the city to experience essential Philadelphia, which included a trip to world-famous Geno’s for a cheesesteak. Kemp stuck around for the next morning's intrasquad scrimmage before taking the train back to Baltimore that afternoon.

The Saint Joseph’s campus is within Philadelphia city limits, but situated on a 65-acre plot on the northwest side near Lower Merion Township. Proximity to a big city wasn’t a deciding factor, but Kemp definitely prefers that atmosphere to the alternative -- “a school in the middle of nowhere where it’s just going to be hot and boring.”

“I can picture myself fitting in anywhere really,” Kemp said. “Over the summer with baseball, we travel a lot. We stayed in a very wide range of places. We stayed in the middle of nowhere and right in the city -- Omaha to West Palm Beach. I’m pretty much used to almost every environment. I guess the city is just what I liked best.”

Kemp has a 3.66 GPA and scored an 1850 on his SATs. He plans to major in Business, with a minor in sports marketing.

“With the sports marketing thing, I didn’t really look into their program too much,” Kemp said. “But I hear about some opportunities working with the local professional sports teams. … If I could get an internship with the Eagles or Phillies, that would be great. … I’m really undecided on [exactly what program to do]. But I love sports, so I feel like that’s where a job for me would fit best.”

For now Kemp is focused entirely on enjoying his senior year at Mount St. Joseph. He’s taking mostly honors courses, but still finds plenty of time to work on pitching. His junior year ended with him pitching back-to-back shutouts in the MIAA A Conference playoffs before falling to Calvert Hall in the championship. In Kemp’s perfect world, the Gaels would get over that hump so he could start his college career fresh off a championship.

He says leaving high school will be bittersweet. But Kemp is excited to join a program that needs immediate pitching help, a program whose head coach played, scouted and managed in the minor leagues, a school that fits his academic requirements and a school just a short train ride away from home.

“I just felt it was the best overall fit for me.”