This is a heads-up to the baseball coaches at area Division II and III colleges and universities, particularly those at Slippery Rock University, IUP and Thiel College. If a letter comes with Brandon Rue's return address in the left hand corner ... open it.

Odds are the baseball coaches at those three schools already know something about Rue, who graduated from Beaver Falls High School last month. He mentioned them as institutions of higher learning where he'd like to play baseball.

That doesn't mean he's ruling out the rest of the small colleges in Western Pennsylvania. The bottom line is, he wants to play baseball for some college, if not next year, then the year after.

In the Internet era where everybody knows something about everybody, it's a good bet area small colleges coaches, including those from football and basketball, know about Rue. He was a three-sport standout at Beaver Falls this past school year.

In football, he played running back, quarterback and defensive back and earned All-Midwestern Athletic Conference honorable mention honors as a quarterback and defensive back.

In basketball, he was the starting point guard and helped the Tigers to a 20-10 record and the WPIAL Class AA semifinals.

In baseball, he was selected All-Section 5-AA as a pitcher, going 7-3. He also hit better than .400.

He has continued to display his baseball ability this summer in helping the Beaver Falls American Legion team to the Beaver County finals against Blackhawk and a spot in the Region 6 playoffs that are scheduled to begin Saturday at the Community College of Allegheny County-Boyce Campus field.

"I've watched him for four years and he's a talented athlete and a great person," said Beaver Falls Legion manager Chris Mineard, who is also an assistant coach for the high school team. "He's a true competitor and an all-star in all three sports.

"What he brings to our team is a pitcher who's 3-0 in the [county] playoffs, his hitting and his speed."

The interesting thing about Rue, who is 5 feet, 10 inches, is that in football-crazy Western Pennsylvania he wants to continue playing baseball.

"I just like baseball. It's a lot of fun," he said. "Football's fun, too, but with injuries and stuff, you can't rely on that."

Mineard said he has no doubts that Rue can play baseball for a Division II or III college program. Rue's speed is exceptional and his bat control good, which makes him a solid leadoff hitter. He uses that same speed in center field to turn potential doubles into long outs.

While Rue was the ace of the Beaver Falls High School staff in the spring, he figures his best position at the next level is the outfield.

"I like catching fly balls," he said. "I've had some problems with a sore [right] shoulder, so I don't know about pitching."

His plan is to attend Community College of Beaver County in the fall, get his academics in order and then transfer after one or two semesters. He isn't looking to play basketball at CCBC.

"I played basketball [in high school] to stay in shape and because it's Beaver Falls, you know what I mean?" he said. "But I'm going to stick with baseball. My friends ask if I want to go play basketball and I just say no."

In football, he started the 2006 season at running back before being move to quarterback halfway through the schedule. He rushed for 490 yards on 89 carries, completed 39 of 73 passes for 760 yards and caught seven passes for 118.

While he wasn't asked to score much in basketball, he did make a long 3-point shot against Center to send the contest into overtime.

"But I've probably been playing baseball the longest since I was young, like 9 or 10, when I started playing Little League," he said.

He was hitting .675 for the Legion team coming into the best-of-five series against Blackhawk, but has struggled at the plate lately.

Rue's Legion season was shortened by two weeks while he practiced with the Pennsylvania team for the annual Penn-Ohio Football Classic, which was perhaps his final game wearing a helmet and shoulder pads.

"I couldn't try out for the [American Legion] all-stars because I had practice for the Penn-Ohio game," he said. "I did it last year and made it to the third round."

While he hasn't talked specifically to any college coaches, Rue would like to solidify his path before much longer "I'm going to try and know what I'm going to do ahead of time so it's not crazy later on."