KWU Sports Information
Jarrett Gable became the best baseball player in the Kansas Conference by learning how to handle the pressure from a relentless yet familiar source.
Himself.
"I think hitting's just a big mental game, at least for me," said Gable, Kansas Wesleyan's shortstop and the 2023 KCAC Player of the Year. "I know I can hit the ball, it's just whether I can stay focused and remain calm at the best moment."
The 2022 season was difficult by Gable's own admittance, evidenced by his .262 batting average, 14 home runs and 48 runs batted in. Decent, perhaps, but not acceptable.
An abrupt and stunning about face has occurred one year later, though. Gable heads into next week's NAIA National Championship Opening Round in Fayette, Mo., hitting a robust .362 with 79 RBI and the single season school of 22 homers. He ranks seventh in the NAIA in homers and fifth in RBI.
KWU is the No. 2 seed in the Fayette Bracket and faces No. 3 seed and host Central Methodist on Monday at 2:30 p.m. at CMU's Estes Field. The bracket winner advances to the 66th Annual AVISTA NAIA Baseball World Series in Lewiston, Idaho starting May 26.
Gable credits his teammates for helping him cope with his lofty expectations.
"I think it was just a decrease of stress and anxiety on myself with how good our lineup is," he said. "I can kind of relax in the (batters) box and not worry about whether I go 5 for 5 or 0 for five. I know we've got eight other dudes who can step up and hit so it kind of takes the stress off and that allows me to relax a lot more."
Gable, indeed, is surrounded in the KWU lineup by teammates who are as adept at destroying a baseball as he is. Kendall Foster has 21 homers and ranks eighth in the NAIA while Haydn Brown and Zack Beatty have 19 apiece and are 17th nationally. Foster, Brown and Beatty also surpassed the previous school record of 18 that was shared by Danny Bolanos (2015) and Peyton Deiters (2016 and 2017).
As a team the Coyotes are second in the NAIA with 130 trailing only Southeastern (Fla.) with 133. Southeastern is the overall No. 1 seed in the NAIA Baseball National Championship field, and is the No. 1 seed in the Fayette Bracket.
"I think a lot of times when you are one of the best players on the team you put pressure on yourself to be the best," KWU coach Bill Neale said of Gable. "When you have a lineup like this you don't need to do it all and I think he's realized that, I think we've all realized that and just literally gone out there and had fun."
The season has been extraordinarily fun for the No. 16-ranked Coyotes, who claimed the KCAC regular season title for the first time since 2011 and have won a school best 42 games (42-13).
Constant confidence is the key, according to Gable.
"It's a big deal because if you go in the box thinking you're going to get a hit your chances definitely go up," he said. "When you walk up to the plate and you think 'I'm the best here in the ballpark' that helps you. I say that to myself every time and I've always said it to myself but at the same time we've got six, seven other guys who probably think the exact same thing and rightfully so."
Gable isn't certain when his fortunes began to change.
"I probably started hitting decent around game 11, 12 and just kind of clicked," he said. "I hit my first home run about game 11 and I think that was like an icebreaker and was good from then on."
"One of the things last year was he got thrown into playing shortstop at the last second so I think he was putting a lot of concentration, a lot of work into relearning that," Neale said. "He'd played shortstop before and went to (Eastern Oklahoma State) as a shortstop and then got moved to third base. He has put a lot of work into that and maybe took a little bit away from the bat.
"He's playing relaxed, our whole team is. I think we're all more relaxed this year and we're just having fun."
Gable, Foster, Brown and Beatty engaged in a fierce season-long chase for the home run record. It became a competition most everyone knew about.
"It was up for grabs and they all knew it," Neale said. "I even heard Dr. (Dan) Botz (KWU business/accounting professor) say that he was having to keep the peace in class because of the home run chase between them. It's like they were playing video games with each other."
"My dad told me I had to hit 20 home runs this year," Gable said. "I wanted to hit 20 but I wanted the record really bad. I hit 18 and tied it and had a couple of games where I didn't think I was going to hit another one. I finally got it and that was pretty cool."
Neale says Gable's ability to hit a breaking pitch is uncanny.
"He hits it as well as well as any player I've ever had," he said. "What's funny about him is he looks as bad as anybody on the breaking ball for one pitch and then they throw it again and he hits it out of the yard. He'll take the first hack at one and miss it by six feet and then they'll throw another one he hits it 500 feet. I still don't know how he does that, it's unbelievable to me."
This year's team will be well represented during graduation ceremonies Saturday with several seniors receiving their diplomas – Gable walking across the stage with his teammates.
"This team's kind of different from other teams I've played on," he said. "I'm not going to say we hang out together all the time off the field but we're all buddies, we're all super close. When we get to the field it's locked in, we're playing baseball."
Gable doesn't know what's next after he receives his degree in business management. He could return for a fifth season but hasn't made any commitments.
"I could do the master's program (at KWU) which is a thought but I don't know," he said. "(Pro baseball) is another one. Anything can happen, the future is unknown. We'll see what happens."
Baseball, though, isn't over with the NAIA tournament looming. KWU went 1-2 last season at the Oklahoma City Opening Round.
"I was joking with Neale after (the KCAC tournament) and said our motto should be 'KW baseball, do it the hard way,'" Gable said with a laugh. "We seem to always make it interesting. Hopefully not but we probably will.
"Just play the way we've been playing and relax and make the game fun, not stress too much. If you get out, so be it. Just know that the guy next to you is a bad dude and he's going to pick you up."