Playing baseball for Northwestern University this past spring, junior center fielder Jack Lausch felt a bit out of sorts.

But, he had an exceptionally good reason.

Lausch had played football for the Wildcats, including taking over the starting quarterback spot in his junior year, and he hadn’t played baseball since his senior year, in 2022, at Br. Rice.

But, when things clicked, Lausch was off and running.

“It took me about half the season. I’d say early April, but I was always trying to find little ways I could help the team,” Lausch said. “Our series at Maryland, I figured it out again. I’ve been playing baseball my whole life and worked really hard for it. I felt like a baseball player again after having been a football player 24-7 for three years.”

Appearing in 44 games and starting 43 for the Wildcats, Lausch hit .268 with 6 home runs, 28 RBI, 30 runs, 9 doubles, 5 stolen bases and a .345 on-base percentage.

In the outfield, he made one error in 120 chances.

For Lausch (Beverly, St. Barnabas), it has been a heck of a whirlwind year. He took over as Northwestern’s starting QB in Week 3 last fall and ended up throwing for 1,714 yards and 7 touchdowns and rushing for 213 yards and 2 TD over 10 games.

The thought of playing baseball too had been brewing for quite awhile for Lausch since his sophomore year.

He talked to the coaches from football and baseball about the potential move, got the go-ahead and was off.

“I reached out to [Coach Ben Greenspan] about joining the baseball team. Do you have room? Would you take me? He said, ‘Yes and yes.’” Lausch said. “We met with the strength and conditioning coach and came up with a plan for winter and spring and really started to ramp up the baseball training.”

Lausch was one busy multi-sport athlete this spring, earning the starting center fielder spot in baseball and also competing with the football team in spring practices.

As Lausch was quick to say though, he’s no stranger to a busy schedule.

“I did both, which was a lot of fun to do,” Lausch said. “It felt like high school again. People think you’re so busy and get worn out, but I was used to it. I was really excited to be back playing baseball. I love the sport, and I’d missed it.”

Making the jump back to baseball even more impressive was that Lausch really hadn’t played baseball since June 2022. Sure, he’d taken some occasional batting practice but nothing too serious.

Playing Division I football, Lausch was already in  elite shape at 6’2”, 205 pounds, but it was also just getting his body ready for baseball.

There were some struggles early, but he eventually hit his groove, especially in a three-game series at Maryland in late March. Lausch went 6-for-14 batting for the Wildcats over 3 games with 2 home runs, 5 runs, 3 RBI and a double.

“The biggest challenge was that I was playing against all these guys in the Big Ten who lived college baseball 24-7 for X amount of years,” Lausch said. “I had to catch up to them. It’s the mechanics, the speed of the game, the mental side. Making up for that time, that was the toughest part.”

Lausch played this summer with the Williamsport Crosscutters in the MLB Draft League, which gives draft-eligible players another shot to showcase their game before the draft in July.

Lausch was in touch with several teams about potentially being drafted, but the pick never came through.

He said he wasn’t too upset about the lack of draft results. After all, he had a heck of a fallback option. Lausch earned his bachelor’s degree in three years and graduated last spring.

He’ll head back to Northwestern to work on his master’s degree this fall and focus on baseball while stepping aside from football.

“There really is no wrong answer. That’s a win-win,” Lausch said with a laugh. “If I got a chance to play pro ball, heck yeah. If I didn’t, that’s OK, too. I’m going back to Northwestern to keep playing and keep developing. I’ll be much better next year. It’s a good situation for me. It’ll help a ton.”

Lausch is a self-admitted football nut, especially college football.

He said not playing football this fall will be an adjustment, but he can’t wait to devote a full fall to his baseball skills.

“It will be different for sure, but I can still go to the games. I’m really excited for the football coaches and the guys,” Lausch said. “I still room with three football players. I’ll be able to watch more football than I have in a while, too. I’ll miss it, but I’m really excited about baseball. It was so cool to play college football. It’s what I always wanted to do. It was such a cool experience.”