College teammates help each other adjust to life on the Boomers
After Nate Baumann and Drew Heithoff signed on to play with the Schaumburg Boomers for the 2012 season, they decided to live together when they moved to the Chicago area.
As Heithoff says, that’s “the way it should be.”
Baumann, 23, and Heithoff, 24, met in 2008, when they became teammates at Division II Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. Since then, the college roommates have taken every step of their baseball careers together.
“We’re just always kind of a package deal,” Baumann said. “It just always kind of worked out. When teams need an outfielder as well as an infielder, and we have two of them that can play at a high caliber and already have good chemistry, it’s tough to say no to that.”
In addition to their time at Augustana, Baumann and Heithoff played together in 2009 and 2010 for the Eau Claire Express of the collegiate Northwoods League. After graduating in 2011 — Heithoff with a degree in exercise science, Baumann as a double major in psychology and English — they spent part of last season in a wood bat league in Arizona before signing with the Boomers in December.
The teammates have experienced success at every level, from leading Augustana to its first berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2011 to taking the Express to the playoffs in their two seasons.
Their time in the Northwoods League caught the eye of Boomers manager Jamie Bennett. In 2010, Heithoff led the league in batting with his .389 average, substantially higher than his .314 average in college. Boomers hitting coach C.J. Thieleke, who was managing the league’s Madison Mallards at the time, was impressed by the duo.
“You take a lot into that, because it’s a wood bat league, and it’s the only chance those guys get to swing a wood bat in college,” Bennett said.
On the field, Baumann and Heithoff seem to come from different molds.
Baumann, an outfielder from Marshall, Minn. who holds Augustana records for career home runs, doubles, slugging percentage and RBI, is a power hitter with a more aggressive approach at the plate.
Heithoff, a native of Yankton, S.D., is a second baseman who takes more pitches. He describes himself as a “hit the ball on the ground, get on base, steal bases type of guy.”
At Augustana, however, those roles didn’t always fit.
“Actually, in college, most of the time I hit in front of Drew,” Baumann said. “I hit leadoff, and he would hit two, and then we would chase each other around the bases.”
Now, Bennett usually places Baumann in an RBI slot, with Heithoff batting leadoff or ninth. Baumann says they’re still getting used to the new roles, but both said being able to discuss the games together has been helpful in the transition.
“We pretty much know the ins and outs of each of our games,” Heithoff said. “We talk about the game and we get away from the game together, too. It’s been a pretty good deal.”
They do nearly everything together, from working out to talking through bad at-bats after the games.
“There’s not really too many moments when we’re not hanging out together, which is fun, because it’s been, what, 420 games?” Baumann said. “And we’re not tired of each other yet.”
And if they split up in future seasons, they’ll always have each other’s phone number.
“No matter who we play for, what goes on, he’ll always be the guy I go to about what happened today in the game,” Baumann said.