With the 2025 baseball season kicking off, the team has high hopes for the season. Everyone, including the coaches, is looking forward to playing games and competing. This will be Head Coach Grant Bachura’s first season at BHS.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity to lead the Baldwin High School Baseball program this season,” Bachura said. “We have a phenomenal coaching staff of high-character men and a team of 43 wonderful young men who have truly bought into what we have been doing the last three weeks. We still need to improve on throwing strikes, our defense, and situational hitting, but have already taken steps forward thus far.”
The other coaches who help include Coach Dewey Barr, Coach Bryon Wright and Coach Justin Hoffman. Coach Barr is the assistant Varsity Coach, while Coach Wright and Coach Hoffman handle the JV and C teams.
“2025 could be a very special season for Baldwin baseball,” Barr said. “One thing it will be is a transformative. We are led by a really accomplished senior class and have many underclassmen who will push for varsity roles in the coming seasons, and potentially even this season. All in all, it is very exciting to be apart of.”
The team has many seniors, highlighted by Jagger Dey, Brett Davidson, Ryder Nigh and Kaiser Namizato. Namizato is an exchange student from Japan. These seniors are looking forward to leading this team to a great season and record.
“When the game gets tough, remember that it’s not just about the bad in the moment, instead it’s about how you rise in the moment,” Dey said. “You can’t control the game, but you can control how you go about it, and that’s what defines a good from a great baseball player.”
“My favorite moments over my four years of High School Baseball are the bond and family we built each year with all the guys,” Davidson said. “Another great moment was my sophomore year beating Iola to play in a regional championship for the second time in school history.”
“I’m really looking forward to seeing how this team will mesh this year,” Nigh said. “Our new head coach, Grant Bachura, has set a great new standard for BHS baseball and looking to get a lot of wins this year.”
“We don’t change sports, so we play baseball all year round. The game is 7 innings here, but 9 innings in Japan,” Namizato said. “The style of play is different. For example, we use bunts several times in a game. Baseball in Japan is stricter, while here it’s more relaxed.”
Kicking off the season, the baseball team has 43 players, the most in team history. They will make up three teams: a varsity team, a Junior Varsity team and a C team.
“Baseball is a great reflection of life, where players have to overcome failure, face adversity, and work together for the collective success of a team. Our coaching staff has been trying to reinforce not letting failure define who our players are as men, while supporting/celebrating their teammates,” Bachura said. “The goal of our coaching staff is to continue the process of our players’ parents in creating young men of great character who will leave BHS to continue to be great men and fathers/husbands one day.”