EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
After spending his life pitching for the hometown teams, Liberal is no longer big enough to contain the baseball dreams of Brooks Kappelmann.
After pitching at every conceivable level in Southwest Kansas, Kappelmann will be making the move next year to Little Rock, Ark., to pitch for the Div. 1 University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
He will join a team that won the Ohio Valley Tournament in 2025 and went on to finish 3-2 at the Baton Rouge Regional, which included a 10-4 victory over No. 1 LSU before losing to the Bayou Bengals in the championship game of the regional, 10-6.
When Kappelmann joins the Trojans for the 2027 season, they will be moving from the Ohio Valley Conference to the United Athletic Conference which includes Abilene Christian, Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, Tarleton State, Texas-Arlington and West Georgia.
Kappelmann is coming off an injury that limited his play during his freshman season at Seward County Community College and prevented him from pitching for the Liberal Bee Jays in the summer. But he has recovered and said he believes he is stronger than before the injury.
“This summer was good for rehab and getting stronger,” Kappelmann said. “I got my elbow stronger. I feel better than last spring.”
Before Kappelmann makes the move to Little Rock, he still has a season ahead of him for the Seward County Saints, and now that he has made his Div. 1 selection, he said he believes all the pressure is off for the upcoming year, and he can focus on helping the Saints compete for a conference title and a post-season berth.
“I’m really thinking about winning,” he said. “I don’t have to think about where I will end up. I focus on team now. I don’t have to worry about anything but helping the team the best I can.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Kappelmann said of his time at Seward. “I feel like college is a lot more than everyone expects. I love it and love baseball. I really enjoy being with the team and the atmosphere. I like Coach Davidson and Coach King. They push you every day to be the best you can possibly be. They don’t like slack, and I appreciate them.”
Last year, the Saints went 26-31, and one of those wins was a no-hitter pitched by Kappelmann, something he said he was never able to do at any other level.
“My no hitter last year was one of my best memories,” he said. “The team played really well that day. It was awesome to be a part of that. I never threw a no-hitter in little league or high school.”
Kappelmann played for the Cardinals as a Cal Ripken player before advancing through the developmental leagues until he became a Liberal High School Redskin. He was the ace of the staff for head coach Eric Olmstead, and despite being a standout in both baseball and football, he made his decision to play baseball at the collegiate level.
Kappelmann was able to pitch for the Liberal Bee Jays in the summer of 2024 before he started his career as a Seward County Saint, making him one of only a small list of players to play baseball at every level in Liberal including Josh McSpadden and Cole Evans.
Kappelmann helped lead the turnaround of the Redskin football program as quarterback with his ability to throw pinpoint passes. The Redskins put together two winning seasons with Kappelmann at quarterback and won a playoff game.
But the ball he preferred to throw was a baseball, and after spending a lifetime watching the Redskins, Saints and Bee Jays from the window of the broadcast booth alongside his dad and sportscaster Brock Kappelmann, Brooks finally got his chance to wear the uniforms of the teams he idolized as a child.
“I watched Seward and the Bee Jays with my dad and at fist it didn’t feel real,” he said. “I watched others play there. I grew up watching them.”
His love for the game started early.
“It was something about baseball,” he said. “It was the first sport I loved since I was a little kid. Since I played T-ball when I was 3-years-old with my brother, I loved it more than other sports.”
As he progressed through the sport he had several coaches that left an impression on him, especially his dad.
“So many people made a difference for me,” he said. “Dad taught me everything I know — coaching me at practice, and when he was announcing games, he was teaching me. And then (Redskin coaches) Olmstead, Nick Rotolo — Steve Zimmerman helped me a lot. Coach Olmstead helped me grow from a youth player into a collegiate player.”
The Trojans picked up on Kappelmann at a conference event.
They saw me originally at the showcase for the Jayhawk Conference, and then they watched me another time this fall,” he said. “They contacted me and had me on a campus visit, and that did it for me. After the first couple calls I liked the coach and the pitching coaches.”
Kappelmann will follow in the footsteps of Evans who also made the move from Liberal to Little Rock to play for the Trojans.
“I didn’t work with Cole, but he was our host kid,” Kappelmann said. “I looked up to him. I have pictures of me standing next to him.”
Will he go pro?
“I think it’s something to hope for,” he said. “Whatever God has planned for me. That would be something I would be interested in. I’m okay if it doesn’t.”
