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.
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