DECATUR - In these parts, picking between red and blue isn't about political affiliation. It's about baseball - Cardinal red and Cubbie blue.

Like every other baseball fan, MacArthur High School product and Illinois State recruit Blair Springfield had an opinion. He was a St. Louis fan.

But there isn't likely to be any red in his wardrobe in the near future. That's because the Chicago Cubs drafted Springfield in the seventh round on Wednesday, with the 230th overall pick.

"I hated the Cubs until this year. I never got anything from the Cardinals until the last game (of the season), and (their scouts) never got to see me," Springfield said. "I love them, but after they didn't jump on me like everybody else did, that story's about to turn."

Springfield and his teammates with the Georgia Roadrunners travel baseball team watched the draft on the Internet until the fifth round, when it was time to go to practice.

He learned of his selection on the way there. The round came as a pleasant surprise.

"I didn't have my hopes up that high. I was looking 15th round, and to see it was the seventh, it makes me feel two times better," Springfield said.

It wasn't a surprise that the Cubs snapped him up.

"That's the hottest team that was on me. The guy talked to my dad almost every day," Springfield said. "We were supposed to play Centennial on a Saturday, and their head and assistant supervisor came down.

"The game got rained out, so we went to the cage. When you have the head supervisor picking up the balls so you can hit more, I think they like you after that."

Baseball was always a passion for Springfield. But the idea of playing it as a profession grew gradually.

"As the years came, I got better and better. When I was 11 years old, I was batting eighth or ninth. Then I matured," Springfield said. "My sophomore year, when I played with the St. Louis team, I had scouts start to look at me. Ever since then, I knew I was going to get drafted, and I wanted up put myself in the right lane so I had a chance to play."

Springfield plans to keep playing with the Roadrunners, based in the Atlanta, Ga., area, until some point next week when he can hop a flight to Chicago and start negotiating a contract with the Cubs.

Should he choose not to sign, Springfield will play at ISU next year.