Yellow Jacket baseball announces 2025 recruiting class

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College baseball team welcomed 29 new recruits to the program as fall classes and practice recently kicked off.

Among the new talent donning purple and gold this fall is a swath of local standouts and impact transfers. Manning both of those camps is Defiance High School grad Bradyn Shaw, who joins the Yellow Jackets following two years at the University of Akron. The DC coaching staff was also able to bring home Fairview's Justin Smith, who originally signed at the University of Findlay, is back to pitch and finish his degree as a non-traditional student. Defiance-area recruits also include Jayden Stechschulte (Ottawa-Glandorf), Brez Zipfel (Defiance), and Rylan Warner (Pettisville).

A couple of other connections to the program led incoming players to Defiance. Rigley Hickman's brother Addison played for Coach Gardner at Trinity International and joins the team from Grace College. Incoming freshman Logan Rosenberger comes out of Archbishiop Moeller in Cincinnati and played for DC alum Tim Held and was part of the 2023 state championship team.

"We are excited about this recruiting class," said head baseball coach Shane Gardner. "We have added pitching depth and have overall added more athleticism, and there are a lot of new faces that are focused on competing daily. We made it a focal point to recruit players who are competitive in every aspect of their game. We feel like this class can be very special as we grow on and off the field together over the next few years."

-JACKETS-