Baseball is in full swing at Saint Louis University, and senior
center fielder Kyle Wort has a full schedule.
In his third season at SLU after transferring from Indiana
State, Wort has soundly established himself an integral part of SLU
baseball.
“I enjoy that I get to play the game I love and get school paid
for at the same time,” Wort said.
One of his favorite aspects of playing for the Bills, is with
SLU’s close proximity to his hometown of St. Charles, his parents
are able to come to all of the home games and along with any nearby
contests.
Wort holds close many memories from baseball, but his favorite
thus far has SLU’s victory over the University of Missouri.
“This was the first time in eight years we have won. They are
our biggest rival and we get to play them one more time this
season. I am looking forward to that meeting,” Wort said.
Some other perks Wort enjoys as part of playing for SLU is
traveling to Tampa, Fla., to play the University of South Florida
and New Orleans to play Tulane each season. While they may be
partying towns, Wort jokes that regrettably, they have a curfew
that keeps them from staying out too late.
Having played baseball since he was about five years old, he
attributes much of his passion for the game to his father.
“I started out playing tee-ball. My dad got me started on the
game and I have been playing ever since,” Wort said.
Like many athletes, he has one superstition. “When I am on a
hitting streak, I don’t wash my uniform,” Wort said. “It also
doesn’t matter which uniform it is, I don’t wash either of them. I
do wash my socks though, if that helps.”
He hasn’t always limited his athleticism to baseball.
As a football player in high school Wort sustained an injury,
sidelining him for his senior season. Luckily for SLU, he went on
to focus on baseball.Wort began college at Indiana State, but after
his first year, the coaches he went there to play under resigned
and Wort started looking for a new place to play.
He transferred to SLU three years ago and has fit in well with
the coaches and players.
“The coaches are great and really likeable guys. We are like our
own fraternity, all the players hang out together and everyone is
friends,” Wort said.
Wort works hard to balance all of the time he spends on
athletics with the time he has to spend on school.
“If the teachers are understanding then a class usually won’t be
a problem,” Wort said. “We also have a lot of down time to do
homework.”
After this semester, he will have only four credit hours left to
graduate with a degree in marketing, but he doesn’t want to go into
the marketing field when he graduates.
“I want to be a fireman,” Wort said. “My grandfather and two
uncles are both firefighters and it seems like something I would
like.”
While SLU does not have any firefighting classes to help Wort,
he is not worried about the tests that come as part of such a
stressful job, especially the physical fitness test.
