Athlete Profile: Noah Beilfuss

Bonduel senior staying positive during tough time

BONDUEL — With the spring sports season in jeopardy, high school athletes around the country are coping in different ways. Bonduel High School senior Noah Beilfuss is trying to remain as positive as possible and hopes he gets to wear the blue and gold uniforms still this spring.

Beilfuss is coming off a junior season in which he made the Central Wisconsin Conference-East Division first team unanimously. At the plate, he posted a .436 batting average in conference play, tallying 17 hits and 11 RBIs while also scoring 11 runs. As a pitcher, he posted a 1.66 earned run average.

Beilfuss is committed to play collegiate baseball at Bryant & Stratton College in Milwaukee but had another big high school season in mind for this spring.

Q: When did your interest in baseball begin?

A: I guess it began since day one. I’ve been playing baseball since I was four but my mom and dad (Carrie and Brian) told me they had to record Brewers games when I was a year old because it was the only thing that would get me to go to sleep. So I guess it’s been since then that I’ve really enjoyed it and started watching it.

Q: What is your favorite part about the baseball season?

A: I like the nice weather. I don’t know, there’s just something about it — you go out on the field smelling the hot dogs cooking and seeing the nice weather, the blue skies and then playing under the lights. The atmosphere I guess I love.

Q: You are coming off a big junior season and I’m sure had big things planned for yourself and your team as a senior. With the coronavirus jeopardizing the spring season, how would it make you feel if you weren’t able to play this spring?

A: If I wasn’t able to play, it would definitely hurt. Baseball is basically my whole life, so it’s taking part of my life away in a sense. It would definitely hurt. I think about it every day.

A lot of the kids right now are like, “Yeah, our spring sports are going to be canceled” but I like to keep a little bit of positivity in the back of my mind. We’ve had snowfalls that have pushed our season back, so this is nothing and we can get through this. It could be over in a week or two weeks, and then we’d be back playing.

Q: Freshmen, sophomores and juniors all know they have more spring baseball seasons ahead of them. Being a senior and having put in so much work over the years, how does it make you feel that you might not get to play your senior season?

A: I put a lot of time and effort in. I played two fall leagues and worked all winter long, getting in (batting) cages and really focusing on making a big impact my senior year and really making a name for myself. If I wouldn’t be able to play, it would really suck.

I do have big plans — I thought I could maybe break some school records. I wanted to see if I could maybe throw a no-hitter or hit a few home runs. If it goes away, it’s going to suck.

Q: I heard that you were thinking about playing collegiate baseball and even took some visits to colleges. If the season can’t be played, will that have an impact on your recruitment process?

A: I actually am committed to play at Bryant and Stratton College in Milwaukee. But it still stings because maybe some bigger colleges would have seen me after JUCO, and would have started to recruit me now and then keep looking at me in college.

So it does mess things up a little bit, but for me personally, it doesn’t mess things up too bad. But for (seniors) who are trying to play college, it does mess things up a little bit because they (colleges) won’t get to see them play.

Q: With no official ruling on spring sports yet, how are you staying prepared should the season start up at some point?

A: Me and my dad have made a little makeshift mound and a whiffle ball field-type thing in our backyard. He’s always trying to hit me grounders or play catch with me. Since you can’t hit on a real field if there’s too much snow or you can’t get in to the field, we hit whiffle balls.

The Village (Park) field is always open, so I try and sneak up there sometimes and take some BP (batting practice). Me, my dad and my brothers (Adam and Carter) continue to just keep working and keep getting better.

Q: While it’s tough to find a lot of positive impacts of the coronavirus, is there any life lessons that you can learn from this kind of adversity?

A: I think about this every day really. Every day is not a guarantee and baseball is not always a guarantee. So I try to put the little things first. Like with me going off to college next year — I didn’t really think about it — I don’t have that much time with my family left. But now that we got all this time and nothing’s going on, I can sit at home and play cards or something with my family. It’s the little things that count now. Basically, it’s bringing us together.

Q: What’s your favorite memory of competing on the Bonduel baseball team?

A: Either winning conference my sophomore year — my first year on varsity — or it would be really proving myself that I can do great things with baseball and then making first team all-conference.

Q: Favorite TV show, movie and musical artist?

A: TV show — “The Ranch.” Movie — Definitely “The Sandlot.” Musical artist — George Strait or Luke Combs, I like country a lot.

Q: Favorite athlete, and why?

A: I think it would be either Noah Syndergaard or Christian Yelich. Noah Syndergaard because we have the same name and he’s a pitcher. Yelich because he didn’t really like baseball but he kept putting the work in and kept getting better at it. I get told I look like him a lot and I get told I run like him too.

Q: Name one thing about yourself that not many people know.

A: I’m really religious and then I like to fish a lot too.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when you are not in school or competing in a high school sport?

A: Even when I’m not playing a high school sport, I’m always still playing sports. So I’d say whiffle ball or fishing.

AT A GLANCE

Athlete: Noah Beilfuss

Sport: Baseball

Position: Pitcher, infield

School: Bonduel High School

Year: Senior