Niles baseball standouts sign with colleges

Published 3:36 pm Thursday, November 13, 2025

Seniors Brenden Olsen and Jaxen Racht signed their letters of intent to play college baseball Wednesday at Niles High School. (Maxwell Harden / Leader Publications)

NILES — A pair of Niles standouts are taking their baseball talents to the next level.

Surrounded by friends, family, teammates and coaches, seniors Brenden Olsen and Jaxen Racht signed their letters of intent to play college baseball Wednesday at Niles High School. 

Olsen signed with the University of Houston, a Division I program that competes in the Big 12 Conference. Racht signed with Youngstown State University, a Division 1 program that competes in the Horizon League.

“It generally felt great,” Olsen said. “It’s something I wished for and worked for my whole life and to finally make my dreams become reality has been something so special.”

“It feels good. I’ve been waiting for this for a while,” Racht said. “It’s good to get it out of the way and to have things established. Now I can go through the year and enjoy it. It’s special and it’s cool to have everyone here, too.”

Olsen, a three-sport standout in football, basketball and baseball, saw his recruitment take off following a standout junior baseball season that saw him emerge into one of southwest Michigan’s top prospects. Olsen finished his junior season with a .401 batting average, nine home runs, 39 RBI and 20 stolen bases as the Vikings earned a Division 2 district title.

Both Olsen and Racht participated in the 2025 Prep Baseball Senior Future Games in Emerson, Georgia over the summer. The event was an exclusive two-day, invitation-only event for the best Class of 2026 prospects from across the country. A week later, Houston reached out to Olsen and invited him to visit the campus.

“They got me down quick,” Olsen said. “Once I got there, it just felt so welcoming. Everybody was so nice. The place is beautiful. Everything about it felt special, so I felt like it was an easy decision as I got down there.”

Ranked as the No. 8 player in Michigan by Prep Baseball Report, Racht has racked up 228 strikeouts over the last three seasons as a right-handed pitcher for the Vikings. For Racht, Youngstown State was the perfect fit.

“I’ve talked to a lot of coaches, went on a few visits and narrowed it down to a few places, but it came down to who valued me the most, where I see myself at the most, what I want to study and the overall environment,” Racht said. “I went there and felt like it was home there. I thought it was the best decision I could make.”

With the ink dry on their collegiate decisions, both athletes look forward to making the most of their last eight months as Niles athletes.

“You always want to go win it all,” Racht said of his final baseball season. “I want to enjoy it and go out there and give it my all.”

“I just want to try to lead both basketball and baseball teams as far as we can go,” Olsen said. “I love all the sports I did. I’m sad the football ended as fast as I did, but I look forward to spending time with my close friends because I’m gonna be going miles and miles away. I’ve been doing a lot of things at church and youth group and we talk about being present in the moment, so this is one of those things where I’m around all the people I know, all the people I love and just being present being in the moment is truly special.”