Belleville West's John Flanagan. (Photo by Rod Boren)

If John Flanagan makes it big in baseball, he promises to buy his mom a house, maybe in Illinois or maybe in Florida.

"I have to pay her back somehow for all the years," he said.

Jackie Flanagan, an emergency room nurse, is the single mom who raised him. She taught John how to bowl — he is the Illinois state high school champion — and she rarely misses his baseball games. That includes a period when she underwent chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer.

A senior at Belleville West, Flanagan is one of the top pitchers in the St. Louis area. He is 8-0 with a 1.11 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 69 2/3 innings. He has just two losses in his three-year high school career, and his mother said he did not lose many games in youth leagues before then.

"I betcha it's not even a handful," Jackie said.

Still, neither his mother nor his high school coach knows where Flanagan might go in next month's baseball draft. She hopes he'll go in the first five rounds. Flanagan is a 6-foot-5 lefthander who can throw 90 mph. Before the season, one online service ranked him the No. 5 high school prospect in Illinois.

But even though his coach said more than 15 scouts watched Flanagan no-hit Red Bud earlier this season, no one knows where he might go. He might not even be drafted, or he might not sign.

Predicting the baseball draft is an inexact science.

"We're not going to sign for peanuts, let's put it that way," Jackie said. "It's not realistic for him to sign for a small amount of money and go to the minor leagues."

Money is important. About two years ago, John, his mother, and his 17-year-old sister Alicia moved in with Jackie's mother. They have lived together in a two-bedroom home since Jackie learned in November 2004 that she had breast cancer.

She did not work for 15 months, and the $13,000 coworkers raised for her only went so far.

"At first, it was kind of rough," Jackie said. "The biggest concern for him was, 'Who is going to be there if something happens to me?'"

The memories still sting him: "Having to move in with my grandma, switching schools. Not having any money at all."

Her cancer is in remission, but it was a difficult two years. Jackie still attended games, but she came looking lethargic and wearing a wig. And she could not afford basic equipment, such as new spikes or the fees for American Legion tournaments. (An anonymous donor paid his baseball expenses).

Flanagan admits he is not a great student — he missed his entire freshman season at Belleville East due to grades — and while his mother battled cancer, his academics continued to suffer. His coach said Flanagan even missed some high school baseball games as punishment.

His mother said he received an 85 percent scholarship offer from Arizona State, but it was rescinded because of his grades. This year, though, he has not missed a start because of academics.

"John has come a long way," Belleville West coach Lee Meyer said. "He's mentally matured in the last three years."

Flanagan said if he is not selected in the first 10 rounds, he will attend Panola College in Carthage, Texas, a two-year school.

"It's a small school," he said. "It will keep me out of trouble."

His mother, who said she can get a nursing job anywhere, plans to move to Texas if he attends school there. She might also move wherever he pitches in the minor leagues.

Either way, Flanagan said he'll be OK.

"I couldn't tell you why," he said. "But I guess I've finally grown up."

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