Boomer Sooner. Those are the words on the red-puff jacket junior Cole Chambers often wears unless he’s supporting his “Turtleneck-Tuesday” philosophy. Being a commit to a high-major baseball program like Oklahoma comes with a lot of pressure to perform and Chambers has handled it as best as anyone can. This season he leads the team in batting average, OPS, and runs batted in. He has the highest slugging percentage since Charlie Isom-McCall in the 23-24 season who went on to be the 2025 OVC Freshman of the Year for Lindenwood. While these individual stats are impressive nonetheless, they mean absolutely nothing to him as he looks to secure SLUH baseball their first ever state championship.

Henry Hassenstab: Cole, being a dual sport athlete, it often seems like sometimes one sport can take a predominance over the other. Obviously you chose baseball to continue your time in college but as you were growing up how did you balance soccer and baseball? 

 

Cole Chambers: For me, a lot of my baseball training was individualized. I could pretty much make my schedule around the soccer practices because in soccer you can't. You can do some stuff outside of practice, but it's kind of hard because you're trying specific stuff. I would always go to soccer practice and then I'd form my baseball schedule around that. When I was younger I would usually just train with my dad. We'd kind of get to get a roll in there and then as I grew up, I started to prioritize baseball more, and then eventually just chose it. 

 

Jack Powers: Was it always the plan to play both sports at SLUH or did you know coming into high school you were solely gonna prioritize baseball? 

 

CC: No, I was gonna let them both ride out as long as possible, like at the highest level. Of course, soccer STL City and then just summer baseball and eventually maybe high school. When freshman year came around, I said ‘STL City, do you think I could play high school baseball and then also play for City?’ And they said no. At that point, I made my decision. ‘I'm not gonna do this anymore, because I wanted to play baseball,’ and I figured that's probably the turning point of when I chose my path. So I made a tough decision to leave City and then in the fall of my sophomore year I decided I wanted to be able to play sports. So then that's to go play SLUH soccer. 

 

HH: You said you started training with your dad? Did he introduce you to baseball? How did you really get into baseball? 

 

CC: My dad was a golfer growing up. So, of course, he tried to get me into golf a little bit, but then I didn't really like it. I wanted a more active sport. I would always play wiffleball in my grandma’s backyard and fell in love with baseball. I also loved growing up watching Cardinals baseball. As I grew up, my dad was my key trainer. Every weekend we'd take ground balls at the local high school and then he’d pitch to me, that's just kind of how it built up. Whenever I needed to learn the basics I would just keep going to him. 

 

JP: Was baseball a deciding factor when deciding on high schools? Is SLUH baseball what drew you here?

 

CC: Honestly, the thought of baseball didn’t come across my mind when deciding where I wanted to go to school. I would’ve gone to CBC or Vianney at the time if baseball was my main factor in choosing. SLUH was just never known as a prestigious baseball school prior to the past few years. For me, I was thinking about a school where I could graduate with a lot of college credits, and then I could go into college with already a semester or even a year down. I wanted to be able to mainly focus on baseball in college. SLUH prepares you so well and that was my thought process. I thought I would try my best and try to change the SLUH culture.

 

HH: Do you have a moment or a single play that you're most proud of for yourself?

 

CC:  Earlier in the year we were playing Francis Howell, which was definitely my favorite moment. We were losing 4-0 and it was a big game against a Missouri commit pitching and I hit a two-run home run off him and we ended up coming back and winning that game. It was my first high school career home run and it got the team going enough to come back and win.

 

 JP: Do you feel a sense of pressure to perform for the school? For the team? 

 

CC: Honestly… no. It all comes from being able to play with the same guys all three years and growing comfortable with them. Jack Friedman, Robbie Cox, Conor Lucas, all the boys. We've been on the same team for the past three years and it shows this season. For me, there's not really any pressure because I know if I play my game, then my teammates will follow and we'll be able to create a great team success. 

 

HH: What gets you hyped before a game? Do you have a song or ritual that gets you going? 

 

CC: Yeah, the song that always gets me ready is “Glorious” by Macklemore. I listen to it every single time before the game. It’s been my thing this year and I always take time before each game to write in my journal just to help keep my mind ready. I always make the sign of the cross each time I bat as a ritual during every game.

 

JP: How big of an aspect is your faith when you play? 

 

CC: It's really big. Especially going through confirmation this year, it helped me notice everything will be all right. Even if I'm in the biggest slump of my life, it's God's plan, no matter what. Have faith and work through it with Him. It's helped me become less anxious and nervous about how I play. 

 

HH: Anything we should watch out for for the rest of the season? Any messages you want out there?

 

CC: I feel like we need to get more people out to the baseball games just because we're having probably one of the best seasons ever in SLUH baseball. It needs to be recognized and we would just really appreciate it if more people came to the games, especially. We're going into the last week of the season. I think it'd be amazing to have more people out from SLUH. It’s powerful seeing the students at football and soccer games and I think baseball should be one of those sports too.

 

JP: Would you say now you are fully in on baseball, or do you think there still remains a chance that you will be goaltender for SLUH soccer next year? 

 

CC: I think I'm all into baseball. I hate to say it but I think what's best for me is to give it up, and then focus on the next steps. Whether that would be a draft, whether that'd be college, I feel like going as far as I can with the sport I love.