Wayne State baseball coach Alex Koch announced that Ryan Petersen of Papillion and Keegan Ruskamp from Pender have signed national letters of intent during the recent NCAA spring signing period and will continue their academic and athletic careers at Wayne State College in the 2018-19 school year.
“Both players fill needs on the mound for us,” remarked Koch. ”We were looking to add depth to the staff – especially with lefthanders. These two young men have had a lot of success at the high school level and we are looking forward to them succeeding in college as well. Both are extremely intelligent and will do a wonderful job in the classroom as well.”
Petersen is a 6-foot-2, 240-pound senior lefthanded pitcher from Papillion-LaVista South High School, where he is a two-year starter in baseball and football. Last season as a junior, Petersen recorded a 6-4 mark on the mound with one save and a 1.76 ERA, notching 48 strikeouts with just nine walks. He also had a .317 batting average and received Class A honorable mention All-State honors from the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star.
Ruskamp is a 6-foot-2, 165-pound senior lefthanded pitcher from Wisner-Pilger High School where he is a three-sport standout in football, basketball and track and field along with American Legion baseball in the summer. Ruskamp earned All-District honors in football, was third-team All-East Husker Conference in basketball after averaging 10.6 points per game and as a junior tied for fourth in the Class C high jump at the 2017 State Track Meet while also being a state qualifier in the 300-meter hurdles. He earned Academic All-State honors in football, basketball and track and field and earned the RHOP scholarship to attend Wayne State College.
The two spring signings join five other players in the 2019 recruiting class. Grant Carl of Bennington, Cade Herrmann from Gretna, Ryan Obrecht of Omaha, Nathan Sailors of Ralston and Andrew Staebell from Omaha, who all signed with Wayne State during the NCAA early signing period last November.
The Wildcats are currently 18-22 overall and seventh place in the NSIC with a 16-14 league mark entering this weekend’s four-game NSIC series at Augustana Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 12 p.m.
