When Ben Jackels and I started Drake Club Baseball in the fall of 2023, practices typically consisted of catch and pick-up softball on the University’s grass intramural field. I tried to implement some drills from my high school baseball days, but we were limited without a dirt infield and school funding. It was far from what we dreamed of, but it was on its way.
Jackels and I wanted to create a competitive team that loosely resembled high school baseball. We didn’t expect that dream to materialize in our Drake tenure. We were wrong.
In the spring of 2024, we received full Registered Student Organization status from Drake and joined the National Club Baseball Association in a Division III conference. And in our inaugural season during the 2024-25 academic year, we finished second in our division and made the playoffs in Mauston, Wisconsin. In a short time, the club came a long way. Did we expect this exponential growth?
“No; absolutely not,” said Ben Jackels, senior at Drake and co-founder and president.
I didn’t either. Jackels and I, both seniors, started creating the club during the second semester of our first year. Now, we’re gearing up for our final semester.
“I’ve been thinking about [legacy] a lot,” Jackels said. “The main legacy I want to leave behind is that we created something that works, that’s good — a team that’s competitive, wins games, and brings our guys together to play the game they love.”
I echo Jackels’ sentiments; I want this club to survive and thrive. It’s been a joy to see first-year students arrive at Drake and continue their passion for playing baseball. I didn’t immediately have that opportunity, and I’m glad that others do now.
For Drake Club Baseball, having fun is the top priority, but winning makes fun a lot easier. And we didn’t originally win games.
The gameplay was rough to start. Wearing blue t-shirts with duct-taped numbers on the back and a protractor-shaped, sharpied-on “D” on the chest, we went winless in our first-ever series against Bradley in Peoria, Illinois, in November of 2024.
“I saw a lot of talent, but not talent that was organized or honed to what it could be,” Jackels said. “I saw a bunch of ballplayers who came together and played some very messy baseball.”
Drake Club Baseball went into winter hibernation after that frigid and rainy series in Peoria, and, to our own surprise, we arrived in the spring significantly improved. The new Carolina blue jerseys arrived, and we looked organized in uniform and gameplay.
We won our first two spring series against division opponents, DePaul University and Loyola University Chicago. I was shocked after both series wins. We hadn’t even practiced on a field since the fall, but our team’s talent canceled out the rust. Junior pitcher Colin Kriz won the NCBA Division III National Pitcher of the Week award after a seven-inning shutout against Loyola, allowing just one hit and striking out nine batters.
The all-around impressive play and some luck with forfeits boosted us to a 10-4 record and a postseason appearance in early May 2025 in Mauston, Wisconsin. But the playoffs didn’t go as hoped. We suffered two heartbreaking losses, swiftly ending our season. A playoff experience was unexpected, but nobody was satisfied with the results.
“I realized after those series [against DePaul and Loyola] that we have the potential to be so much more, and dropping both games in the playoffs really hurt,” Jackels said.
In our senior season, Jackels and I hope to surpass last year’s success. The team returned most of its core, including batting average leader junior Franklin Wohnoutka, the earned run average leader, Kriz, and Jackels, who led in on-base percentage.
We enter the spring with a 1-1 record after splitting a series against Maryville University in the fall of 2025. We have five series scheduled this spring, including home games against Lewis University on March 7, Loyola on March 28 and Bradley University on April 11. Every game will be crucial for us as we seek back-to-back playoff appearances in our second year of existence.
“If you want to be on the front lines of a very new, fun, exciting young team, I think you got to come out and watch one of our games,” Jackels said.
This season, we’re practicing drills that we envisioned when we started the club. We’re as close as we’ve been to accomplishing the goal Jackels and I had from the start. Even so, we may not always play polished, but we play fun baseball. At Maryville, we were losing 3-9 in the first inning and came back to win 14-12, another unexpected win. We proved that even in dire circumstances, you can’t count us out.
To support Drake Club Baseball on its journey or find details about attending a game, see @drake.club.baseball on Instagram.
