Hail Varsity Digest | Multi-Sport Background Shapes Approach for Nebraska Baseball’s Cael Frost | 01/30/25

by Jan 30, 2025Nebraska Baseball

Hail Varsity Digest | Multi-Sport Background Shapes Approach for Nebraska Baseball’s Cael Frost | 01/30/25
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WRESTLING APPLIES, TOO 

– By Mike Babcock

​In addition to playing baseball and football in high school, Cael Frost wrestled.

​“I feel like wrestling’s a big part of my life,” the Husker outfielder said.

​He wrestled four seasons at Don Bosco High in Gilbertville, Iowa, and his dad, Curt, is an NCAA Division I wrestling referee, working in the Big Ten. “So I’ve kind of grown up watching wrestling, just being around wrestling my entire life,” said Frost.

​He’s at Nebraska to compete for Will Bolt not Mark Manning, though. But there’s a connection.

​Wrestling’s a one-on-one sport, and “I kinda try to take that with me when I’m hitting against the pitcher . . . I kinda like to use that mentality when I play,” Frost said.

​He was also a successful high school football player, in which “every guy has to do their job, whether it’s blocking, whatever it may be,” he said. “So that’s unique because you’ve gotta have trust in everyone to be able to make the block, make the play, whatever happens.

​“So having trust in football and wrestling has helped me a lot in baseball.”

​Frost played two seasons at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, then played last season at South Dakota State. He was the Summit League Player of the Year, hitting .343, with a school-record 21 home runs. He drove in 59 and had a slugging percentage of .742.

​He batted .379 in both of his seasons at Kirkwood Community College.

​Frost, ranked among @PerfectGameUSA’s Top 100 (collegiate) Seniors, is competing for playing time with a veteran group of outfielders, among them seniors Gabe Swanson and Riley Silva, as well as junior Robby Bolin, a transfer from Barton Community College in Great Bend, Kansas.

​Bolin was the school’s first to earn recognition on the NJCAA Division I ABCA/Rawling Gold Glove Team, after scoring 95 runs with a .566 on-base percentage as a sophomore. He is among the D1 Baseball Top 50 Impact Juco Transfer Hitters.

​Frost and Bolin are newcomers on a largely veteran team. “Everyone is so mature with how they go about things,” Frost said. “No one’s really worried about who’s not getting their work in because they trust everyone. So we know that everyone’s going to get their work in, and everyone’s trustworthy.

​“We just trust each other.” And have to compete, as he learned during fall practice. That’s the best part, “the depth that we have,” which “we can roll out,” he said. “So every guy, whether they’re in the lineup or not, is ready to have an impact on that game.”

​Like wrestling, putting in the work.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​******

Nebraska baseball’s Fan Fest is set for Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hawks Championship Center. The first 1,000 fans will receive a free hotdog and water.
The Huskers are ranked No. 24 in the D1Baseball preseason top 25. Oregon, No. 12, is the only other Big Ten team included in the rankings.
Junior right-hander Mason McConnaughey earned third-team preseason All-America honors from D1Baseball, after earning second-team All-Big Ten recognition as a sophomore. He was 9-3, with a 3.45 ERA in 17 appearances, including 11 starts, in 2024.
Junior right-hander Luke Broderick, a transfer from Iowa Western Community College, is among the D1Baseball Top 50 Impact Juco Transfer Pitchers. He and Frost were among 24 selected to the USA NJCAA All-Stars, who won a championship at Honkbalweek Haarlem in the Netherlands.
Nebraska is scheduled to open the season February 14 against UC Irvine in Scottsdale, Arizona. Games also in Scottsdale are scheduled against Vanderbilt, San Diego State and Grand Canyon.
The Huskers’ team goal? “I mean, every day in our offensive packet we have ‘host a regional,’ so that’s first and foremost, host a regional here in Lincoln,” Frost said. “We feel like that’s the easiest way we can get to Omaha (College World Series), the ultimate goal.”

Mike Babcock

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