ROYAL OAK, MI — Life in summer collegiate baseball revolves around a lot of change. Throughout the Northwoods League, rosters are mostly going to be filled with players who had not represented their squad prior to this upcoming summer.

The Leprechauns’ players that were a part of the organization’s inaugural NWL season are: Grant Bradley (Michigan), Gabe Jones (Ball State), Ryan Kruse (Valparaiso), Gavin Moczydlowsky (Michigan State) and Ryan Tyranski (Cincinnati). Kruse is the only player on the Opening Day roster who is embarking on his third season with Royal Oak.

“I live really close and it’s a really good league, so it’s kind of just the perfect opportunity for me,” Kruse said Sunday. “I know I’m gonna get to play, and it’s really close to home.”

Kruse will be the team’s Opening Day starter on the mound on Monday at 6:35 p.m. against the Kalamazoo Growlers, the reigning NWL champions. Last season, Kruse had a solid 4.83 ERA — league average was 5.76 — and led the team at 50.1 innings pitched. 

That makes prior connections extra valuable in building a team. Royal Oak has a surplus of those in its second year in the Northwoods League.

Tyranski, for example, is the only position player returning from last year. He hit .276 with an OPS of .706 last summer, also driving in 12 runs over 31 total games. That doesn’t mean he won’t know anyone else on the team, though. Tyranski, who just redshirted at Cincinnati this spring, is one of seven graduates of Brother Rice High School on the team. 

That doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, as the school’s long-time head coach, Bob Riker, is serving as the Leprechauns’ Player Personnel Director. Other former Brother Rice grads include Chase Van Ameyde (Notre Dame), Tristan Crane (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), Owen Turner (Yale), Max Orozco (Oakland), Wyatt Ruppenthal (Kalamazoo) and Jake Coulter (Hope).

Riker’s influence also extends to other parts of the Catholic League, as well. Royal Oak also has players from University of Detroit Jesuit, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, De La Salle, and Detroit Catholic Central. 

“I played varsity for U of D (Jesuit) all four years,” Dylan Larkins of Georgetown said. “And what happened was, throughout those four years, I played really well against Brother Rice and right after my high school season ended (last year), Riker — he texted me and asked if I would want to play for the Leprechauns in the summer.

“I was like, ‘I would love to, I would love to.’ It’s home and not a lot of my (college) teammates get to play near home. I’m 15 minutes away, so this is just an amazing experience for me.”

“I’ve played against these guys for forever,” Tyranski said. “ So there’s a lot of camaraderie and a lot of talent. Like I said, a lot of guys I’ve played with my whole life, and I think we can come together and do a lot of good stuff.”

Even though Royal Oak has a very localized roster compared to other teams throughout the NWL, the team will certainly have the ability to sit in the win column a lot. 

One of the big bats in the lineup will be Jack Dauer, who was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year this past spring at Yale after posting a .306 batting average with five home runs, 39 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Dauer is a graduate of U of D Jesuit, as well.

“A bunch of my buddies that I work out with played here last year, and they had great things to say about it,” he said. “All my buddies from high school are playing this year, so I’m just excited to be around the guys and enjoy the summer with them.”

The Leprechauns also have Ohio’s Matt Ineich, who finished second in the MAC with a .387 batting average. Royal Oak is also anticipating Belmont’s Ty Allen and Notre Dame’s Parker Brzustewicz to be real contributors this summer. Neither of them have reported to Memorial Park just yet, with Brzustewicz waiting to see if his Fighting Irish will make the NCAA Tournament, but they will be worth the wait. Allen hit 12 home runs and drove in 48 runs this year, and Brzustewicz hit .301 as a near-everyday player for Notre Dame.

Royal Oak will also be managed bysomeone that both knows what winning in the NWL is like and also deeply cares for the Leprechauns. Field Manager Chris Faust played for the Leprechauns back when they were in the Irish Hills in 2018, was an assistant coach last year,  and also was a part of two Northwoods League championship teams with his now-division rival Traverse City Pit Spitters in 2019 and 2021.

“In my perspective, having two and a half years of playing in the Northwoods League before coaching it is a huge advantage,” Faust said. “You know what the league’s all about. You know the toll it takes on your mental side of the game and the physical side. So having that (experience) and being able to relate to the players with that they’re going is a huge advantage for us.”

Sunday also marked the first time the whole team was together in one place, but the team might already have a head start due to the fact that many of these guys have known one another for years already. 

“These are all guys I played with either when I was 14, 15 and my last year,” Larkins said. “Then you have guys I played all (throughout) high school. It’s just amazing, and I love seeing all these guys. It’s like we already have the natural team chemistry there.”

It all adds up to a squad with a lot of promise and the capability to bring quality baseball to Memorial Park. 

“I think this is a championship-level team, for sure,” Tyranski said.

Royal Oak will begin with a six-game, six-day homestand with two games each against Kalamazoo, Traverse City, and the Kenosha Kingfish in that order. The Leprechauns’ full schedule, home and away, can be accessed HERE.