Ryan Hepker is a sophomore who plays football and track, as well as golf on the occasion, and spent most of his summer on the baseball diamond, just like he has done since second grade. Hepker normally plays outfield and first base because he is left-handed.
At around 7 or 8 Hepker realized he was left-handed when he had trouble throwing the ball because the glove was on the wrong hand. This led to him pitching all through middle school, but didn’t continue into high school. He used to switch hit at a young age but decided to stick with the right side for batting. “When they see that you field lefty but bat righty they call me weird,” said Hepker. This is because there is an advantage of being left-handed for batting. Hepker is just more comfortable when batting righty.
Hepker was unsure about playing baseball in high school because he knew about the long season, but his friend Teddy Bonewald convinced him to go to a practice. Two days a week the team does an all hitting day but Hepker prefers to play in the field. Hepker enjoys running and tracking the ball in the outfield.
Hepker’s favorite moment playing baseball was in 11u during the state championship against Prairie where their first pitch was a homerun. They got blown out which wasn’t fun at the moment, but in retrospect it was a great time for Hepker, hanging out with his teammates in Des Moines at the hotel. Hepker loves to play at Independence because of the nice field, but he did say that the backstop was white and made it hard to see the ball off the bat from the outfield. He also likes the in-ground dugouts.
Hepker also enjoys playing at Solon because of the nice field and the crosstown rivalry. “You can feel the tension when we play,” he said. In 2025, Mount Vernon won and lost a game to Solon showing the close competition. But Mount Vernon ended up one game ahead in the WaMaC-East Conference. Hepker describes the end of the season a relief of being busy, but without anything to do in the rest of the summer he described it as boring.
Hepker likes baseball because of how it is a fun activity during the summer while not being too physically demanding. He believes that if you have any doubts about continuing baseball in high school, just try it out.
