Keck, Niznik talk about fast start to 2022 season

SEMO junior baseball players Andrew Keck and Noah Niznik have been key contributors to the team’s successful start to the 2022 season.

With their record sitting at 9-1 after the sweep at home against Bradley, both players have had their share of success on the diamond.

Catcher Keck has been hot to start his season. As of Saturday after the double header against Bradley, he has maintained a .400 batting average, with four doubles and three home runs. He has also notched 18 runs batted in to begin the season. Two of his three home runs have been grand slams.

Keck said mechanical changes to his stance and swing, as well as his stature, have helped contribute to his hard contact rate.

“I changed my swing a little bit, kind of started to add a late kick,” Keck said. “I’ve been trying to stay behind the ball; you don’t have to put much behind a 6’3, 220-pound hard swing for the ball to go far.”

Even with the success of the first 10 games, Keck said pushing forward and not sitting back will allow him to maintain success at the plate.

“You have to keep going. It’s cool to have success at the beginning, but you have got to keep going, because it’s gonna get harder, and you have to push through it,” Keck said.

Left-handed pitcher Niznik has not been on the field as much as Keck, but his success is still seen in the games he has started. In the three games, Niznik has recorded 13.1 innings of work, with 11 strikeouts and eight total earned runs. In his outing against Bradley March 6, he went 4.1 innings, striking out five while giving up six hits.

Niznik said the chemistry he already had with Keck from high school has helped tremendously on the mound.

“For sure, it helps a lot,” he said. “He knows what I like to throw and where I tend to throw it.”

Niznik said last year was his first year not having success, and he was able to grow from it in the offseason.

“I was just trying to be someone I wasn’t initially,” Niznik said. “I’m just getting back to hitting my spots and giving my defense a chance while I’m pitching.”

The two players know each other well, since they played together at St. John Vianney High School. Although they played together for four years, Keck said they were not recruited together.

“I committed first, and then once I committed, from there, I kind of pushed them to sign Noah, too,” Keck said. “It took them a little bit, but they finally went out and got him.”

Niznik followed by saying he wanted to commit to SEMO after Keck signed.

“He’s caught me ever since high school. We hung out off the field and created that bond, and once he committed, it became my top priority to come and pitch here,” Niznik said.

Head coach Andy Sawyers said he saw a lot of good things from both players when he recruited them.

“Keck was a really good athlete behind the plate,” Sawyers said. “He had a really good arm and ran well for a catcher, sharing time between catcher and center field in high school. He was just a big, physical and athletic kid.”

He had similar words of praise for Niznik.

“When we took him, he was throwing around 83 to 84 miles per hour, but he had a huge moxy, savvy competitiveness about him. He was also very teachable and coachable,” Sawyers said.

Both players are now juniors and major components of SEMO’s success. Sawyers said the progress they have made is astounding.

“Niznik was throwing 83 mph when he came in, and now, he’s up to 90 to 91 mph. Keck has always had a ton of potential; he’s been a good player, but never at an elite level of production, but he’s starting to be that guy for us,” Sawyers said.

Keck, Niznik and the rest of the SEMO baseball look to continue their winning ways, as they travel to Arkansas State for a midweek Tuesday matchup before heading back home for a weekend series against Valparaiso.