Wayne State baseball coach Alex Koch announced that four high school standouts from Nebraska and Iowa have signed national letters of intent to attend Wayne State College and play baseball for the Wildcats in the 2019-20 academic year.
The list includes Hunter Babe of Omaha, Trenton Frerichs from Hinton, Iowa, Nicholas Oden of Wahoo and Brody Sintek of Fremont.
“We don’t have a big signing class this year because we only have five seniors, but the four players we just signed we are very excited about,” remarked Coach Koch.
Babe is a 5-foot-10, 190-pound catcher from Platteview High School. As a junior last spring, he posted a .400 batting average with 18 RBI while catching every inning, helping Platteview to a 16-5 record and a district runner-up finish. Babe was a first-team All-Nebraska Capital Conference selection and was Class B All-State Honorable Mention. In summer legion baseball, he played on the Class B state champion Seniors American Legion team and was on the Class B Juniors state runner-up team in 2017.
“Hunter will add depth to our catching position,” Koch said. “We like the way Hunter swings the bat from the left side and how hard he works behind the plate. We got to see him play a lot last summer on his state championship legion team and we liked him more and more every time we watched him.”
Frerichs is a 6-foot, 180-pound shortstop/right-handed pitcher from Sioux City North High School where he is a four-year starter in baseball and basketball. As a pitcher, Frerichs posted an 8-2 record in 12 games with a 1.07 ERA during the summer, striking out 57 batters in 59 innings work while allowing just nine earned runs. At the plate, he batted .374 with 40 hits, 32 runs scored and a perfect 16 for 16 on stolen bases. Frerichs was also the leading scorer in basketball at Sioux City North last season averaging 12.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest.
“Trenton will have the opportunity to play both ways for us as a freshman,” said Koch. “He has great speed and a good arm that will translate onto the field defensively for us and on the mound he can be a difference maker.”
Oden is a 6-foot-2, 190-pound right-handed pitcher from Wahoo High School. In summer American Legion baseball, Oden had a 6-0 record in 59 innings pitched with 58 strikeouts and a 3.06 ERA while posting a .337 average at the plate. In spring high school baseball, he helped Wahoo to a district title and a No. 1 seed in the Class B State Baseball Tournament with a 17-6 record.
“Nick has a good frame and arm that works well,” commented Koch. “He will come into our program and continue to get bigger and stronger and be able to help our team on the mound. We like how fundamentally sound he is on the mound and we are very excited to see what kinds of gains he can make in our program.”
Sintek is a 6-foot, 165-pound right-handed pitcher from Fremont High School where he is a three-year starter in baseball. Last spring, he earned Class A All-State honorable mention honors from the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star and is an Academic All-State selection. Sintek has led his summer legion team in pitching wins the last two seasons and ranked in the top 15 in strikeouts in high school baseball last season.
“Brody has a quick and loose arm,” remarked Koch. “He will be able to put on some good weight for us and be a top arm down the road. Brody has a lot of potential and we look for him to contribute right away.”
