The accomplishments for Baylor School’s 2021 baseball team included a 27-4 record, the TSSAA Division II-AA state championship and a No. 8 national ranking.
The legacy of that group is still growing, though, as multiple former Red Raiders continue to add accolades for themselves and their teams at higher levels of the game.
That 2021 roster featured 10 athletes who signed with NCAA Division I programs, including Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz — a junior from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who is currently projected as the No. 1 pick in this year’s Major League Baseball draft. He spent his freshman year of high school at Manheim Township before heading south to Chattanooga, and in both locales he stayed well-rounded athletically.
“Nick came here as a highly touted baseball player, but he also enjoyed playing basketball,” Baylor baseball coach Mike Kinney said. “As major league scouts would come through, we would introduce our guys, and then here would come 6-foot-5 Nick Kurtz exhausted from basketball practice. We would always say, ‘This one has got more potential than any of the others.’
“Now Nick is in a space where he is physically in baseball shape and he has put his swing together. He has started to reach his potential, which we all knew was there. He is a for-sure superstar.”