A three-sport athlete during his senior year at Wayne Community Schools will be keeping a ‘W’ on his uniform.
Gavin Redden signed his national letter of intent Nov. 15 to attend Wayne State College and play baseball at WSC during the 2025-26 academic year.
After going on a couple of other college visits, it stood out that being close to home and liking the idea of his family being able to watch his games was key.
It also made it easier with a few Wayne High grads on the current roster of Jacob Kneifl, Brooks Kneifl and Kaleb Moormeier.
“Knowing them on the team definitely helps,” said Redden. “Kaleb reached out, congratulated me and said if I have any questions, he’ll be glad to answer them. That just shows being in the same town will help with further questions.”
Redden plans to study pre-medicine and will be applying for the RHOP program.
After talking more with head WSC baseball coach Alex Koch and assistant coach Tyler Vaughn, Redden would be an outfielder but Gavin would be ready for any opportunity on the field.
“My coaches and I,” Redden added. “My dad (Gary) coaches, Mr. Hoffman (Adam) and Robbie (Gamble) I think they can all agree that the first step is to get on the field. They (WSC) see me as an outfielder but if they had an opportunity for me, which is to get on the field, that’s what I’d look for.”
Gavin Redden just finished the cross country season helping the Blue Devils win Districts. He placed 19th during the Class C State Championships this past fall. Redden was glad he went out for cross country and thanked the coaches for pushing him each day.
During the Wayne High spring baseball season last year, Redden finished with a .436 batting average, .505 on-base percentage and .628 slugging percentage. He led Wayne High during the spring season with 34 hits (eight doubles, two triples, one HR), 27 runs scored and was 20 of 25 on stolen bases while finishing second on the team with 22 RBI.
Redden mentioned he was shocked about the turnout during the signing ceremony.
“Once the school bell rang, all these people walked into the gym.” Redden mentioned. “My first thought was we don’t have enough cookies. But I just couldn’t believe how many people came out to celebrate with me and my family. My sister sent me a video and I was just kind of shocked how many people were in the gym.”
With NSAA winter sports practices just beginning on Nov. 18, Redden is excited for the upcoming boys basketball season and will also be gearing up for the spring baseball season for Wayne High.
“I’ve played with these boys all my life and it’s going to be weird playing for this last time on the court with them…I’m excited to see how the baseball team steps up and fills the vacant positions from the seniors or competes for the spots that someone may have had but somebody else wants. So, I’m excited to see the competition on this team.”
Wayne High has made back-to-back trips to the first two NSAA Class C State Baseball Championships. WHS saw an early exit going 0-2 last year at state finishing the season at 14-9. In 2023, Wayne went 3-2 during state and finished the season at 17-9.
The 2025 NSAA Wayne High baseball season will begin on Thursday, March 20 visiting Wahoo.
