The 101st season of St. Louis U. High baseball: take two.

After a dedicated offseason of training and working out as a team in preparation for the 2020 season, the baseball program’s operations, along with the rest of SLUH’s spring sports, were halted due to Covid-19. The Jr. Bills were anticipating an exciting season, led by then-seniors Tony Lindwedel, now a catcher for Notre Dame, and Cade Hohl, now a shortstop for Purdue. Last season was also set to be the beginning of coach Ron Ramspott’s tenure as the head coach of the varsity team. Ramspott comes in more than qualified for this position, with a collegiate baseball career and a long coaching tenure, most recently at Parkway West, under his belt. He entered his new head coaching role eager to get going after a promising offseason of hard work from November to February, but the pandemic had other plans. 

“We were really looking forward to seeing all the results of our hard work,” said Ramspott. “So, yeah, seeing the season shut down was obviously disappointing … it was a real bummer.” 

Though he has yet to coach a game for the program, Ramspott has found other ways to get involved with the school community and familiarize himself with the student body. He has conducted temperature checks each morning, often cracking a joke or two as students walk up towards the Danis Lobby, and subbing for classes occasionally. Ramspott wants to take advantage of the Jesuit ideals and morals that he has observed in the SLUH community and translate them onto the baseball field. 

“The culture and the model of Men for Others certainly plays very well into the game of baseball,” said Ramspott. “Sometimes (baseball) can be taken selfishly, but the Men for Others has been ingrained in the players to the point ‘we before me’ isn’t such a novelty to them.”

The expectations are high for the baseball team this spring, even as Ramspott has assured his players that they would have the hardest schedule in the area. 

“The strength of our program is definitely the depth of our positions. I’ve never coached a team like this that is three deep with talented players at each position,” Ramspott noted. 

He believes that the hitting will come along as the season progresses, but, for now, the team will be anchored in its pitching and defense. 

“We have three 6’4” lefties, (Jake) Noonan, (Jack) Dumont, and (Dennis) Jakubik, at the head of our rotation, and then nine or ten guys behind them that can relieve them with confidence and finish the game out.” 

Along with its depth and pitching, the team is rooted in upperclassmen and senior leadership.

“We have really good senior leadership, but we also have some young guys that were really expecting to step up for us,” senior outfielder Tyler Ridgway said.

“Our rotation is very strong,” senior Andrew Loeffelman said. “If everyone plays at their top level, we will be hard to beat.”

The varsity team will begin its season on Saturday, March 13 in its opening jamboree at Lutheran South where they will play two four inning games against Parkway West and Lutheran South. The team will take a short leave for spring break and begin its regular season on Friday, March 19 with a doubleheader against Parkway West at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. 

The team’s hopes are high. 

“We hope to win our District Championship, but we also know that we have a tough road ahead of us,” said Noonan. “CBC is going to be a real powerhouse this year.”

Missing out on the 2020 season has made the players, especially the seniors, grateful to be playing baseball at all this year and ready to attack this year with an aggressive mindset.

“Missing out on last year has given me extra motivation. Covid-19 has been tough to us all, and it’s a privilege that we’ve been given the gift of playing this year,” Noonan said.

“Anything could be taken away in an instant this year; we can’t wait to make the most of this season,” Ridgway said.