For Portage Central senior Derek Schneider, Western Michigan University has played a significant role in his life.

His parents, Paul and Patty Schneider, met at WMU as undergraduates, his father was an All-American in baseball, is enshrined in the school’s athletic Hall of Fame, and serves as building coordinator at Lawson Ice Arena.

For several years, Derek Schneider knew his dad as a “pretty good player.” It wasn’t until the 2009 WMU Hall of Fame induction ceremony when he realized his father was more than “pretty good.”

“I always knew my dad was good, but I guess that was the first time I realized how good he really was,” Derek Schneider said. “I was really proud — kind of like a goose bump type of thing.”

But beginning next fall, Derek Schneider will take the first steps toward establishing his own legacy in WMU baseball lore when he joins head coach Billy Gernon’s squad.

Paul Schneider, who plays the dual role of Derek’s father and high school head coach, expresses deserved pride when he thinks about his son following him to WMU.

“First of all, as a father, you’re just very proud after you watch him put all the hard work in, do what he’s done, played all the games he’s played,” said the elder Schneider. “To get this opportunity, it’s just awesome. To go to your alma mater — his mother’s alma mater — and go to school there and enjoy it, on top of the ability to play baseball, I can’t tell you how proud we are.”

“You’re very proud of that fact and you feel good about being able to watch him play close by. (Derek) has been around the game a long time. You bring it home and talk about it, argue about it and he sees both sides of me. He’s learned a lot through extra talks and extra things, and couldn’t be more proud of him.”

A left-handed pitcher with pinpoint control of as many as four pitches, Derek Schneider was a perfect 7-0 last season for the top-ranked Mustangs. He sported an earned run average of just 0.78 in 36 innings, striking out 52 batters, while walking just nine. Opponents struggled to a scant .150 batting average against the crafty southpaw. For his efforts, he was accorded all-conference and all-district honors.

Those numbers attracted Gernon’s attention, and the younger Schneider agreed to a grant-in-aid deal during the early signing period last year.

“Derek is a very competitive southpaw with an outstanding mix of pitches in his arsenal,” Gernon said in a WMU press release. “The thing I like most about Schneider is his ability to repeat his mechanics, which has enabled him to pound the strike zone.”

“Pitching, by far, is my favorite thing to do, really,” said Derek Schneider, who features a fastball in the low-80s along with a curveball, slider and changeup. “I don’t know, (I just like) having control of the game and stuff; having more of a say in the game.”

In addition to his mound contributions, Schneider has also been a fixture in left field for the Mustangs. Last year, he finished with a .353 batting average that included 30 hits and 29 RBI for a Portage Central team that finished 35-3 and advanced all the way to the Division 1 semifinals, where they fell to eventual state champion, Rockford.

Schneider, who was on the mound in the Mustangs’ 4-0 regional semifinal victory over Lansing Eastern, is no stranger to big stages on the baseball field. He was a member of the South Portage Storm team that won a 14U World Series championship in Kansas City, Mo., and has helped his Kalamazoo Maroons team advance to the national tournament in Texas two of the past three summers.

“Derek has been fortunate to be on some really good baseball teams and learn from a lot of good people,” Paul Schneider added. “I have been very fortunate in the pitching aspect at Portage Central, and Derek is one of several pitchers who will keep us in every game we play. As they come to be seniors in high school, they thrive on that success.”

Although the Mustangs must find replacements for several key players who have graduated from last year’s team, he believes the Mustangs will be competitive again this Spring.

“I think we should be very competitive again and win a lot of games just like last year,” he said.

Schneider will be counted on again in 2012 to help anchor a strong pitching staff that includes seniors Logan Templeton and Jaden Nozicka, along with a handful of talented newcomers.

Once he gets to WMU, Schneider will be reunited with former high school teammates Monty Porter and Jordan Tillman, and begin a journey that he hopes will yield his own measure of success.

“I am very proud to be able to go to Western just like my dad did and I hope to be as successful as he was while he was there,” he said. “WMU has played a huge role in my life. My parents went there, met there and my dad works there.”