Drake University Club Baseball faced DePaul University and bitter temperatures during a March 22 doubleheader in Chicago. Drake triumphed 11-1 in the first game, and DePaul won the second 5-1. Both games were shortened due to weather conditions.
The team arrived in Chicago on Saturday, March 21, to clear skies and 70-degree temperatures. However, by the time of the first game at 10 a.m. on Sunday, temperatures had fallen to around 40 degrees, and were intensified by harsh winds.
“It was the coldest games I’ve ever been a part of throughout my whole life,” said Cole Nuzum, a first-year on the team.
The first game was capped at two hours, so they could start the second game on time at 12 p.m. They played four innings, at the end of which Drake was up by 10.
“We were just clicking on all cylinders,” co-founder and president Ben Jackels said. “Our starting pitcher, Cole [Nuzum], he was just shutting down their whole lineup one through nine.”
Both teams agreed to only play five of the typical seven innings mandated by the National Club Baseball Association in the second game.
“We do the best we can to bundle up, but when it’s 20 degrees out here playing baseball, no one really wants to be on the field,” Jackels said.
Drake was unable to carry the momentum of the first game over, and fell to DePaul 5-1.
“I’d like to think in a full seven inning game, we’re winning that game,” Jackels said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t really rally a comeback there at the end.”
Drake Club Baseball is a Division III team in the NCBA, and plays in the District IV – South, where they compete against other Midwestern schools like Bradley University and Loyola University Chicago. Executive board member Jaxon Hicks said he likes the balance of competitiveness and fun that being on the team brings.
“It kind of feels like we get to cosplay actual college athletes for weekends,” Hicks said. “We get to go travel and hang out with our friends, and it’s very reminiscent of summer ball in high school, when you get to go stay in a hotel and play people in schools that you don’t normally see because it’s so far away.”
Drake is currently ranked 5-3 in the conference. The team has split all three of the double-headers played so far, and gained two wins after Loyola University forfeited home games scheduled for March 28-29.
“We came out really hot and won by 10 in game one [against DePaul], and then I think that we maybe let the foot off the gas a little bit in game two, and didn’t finish,” Hicks said. “Going into our next games against Bradley, the key will be playing the full two games to the high level that I know we can.”
Jackels hopes to make the playoffs again, which the team did in their first season last year. The team would need to take first in conference, or get close, to claim one of the four playoff spots that teams in the three conferences in the district are competing for.
“Very minimum, we need to split our next two, ideally win three out of the four, or all four, and I think we have a very solid chance at making those playoffs,” Jackels said.
Drake currently sits behind 4-0 Northern Illinois University and 3-1 Maryville University. Drake will host Bradley April 11-12 for another doubleheader.
