Brandon Brownlee

The recent Kansas cold has not stopped the Washburn Ichabods from preparing for baseball season. They finally kicked off their season this past weekend in Arkansas, playing a three game set against Southern Arkansas. One player that will help lead them will be junior catcher Steven Jacobson.

Jacobson is the son of Kent and Tina Jacobson. He is one of four kids with sister Leah, and brothers Charlie and Danny.

Jacobson has slowly made his way south from his high school days to where he is now. He is from Appleton, Wisconsin where he attended Kimberly High School.

After graduation, he played his freshman season of college at Chicago State University in Illinois where he played in 25 games.

He then transferred to Washburn for his sophomore season in which he led the team in hitting with a .315 batting average. He now looks to continue that success in his second season as an Ichabod and help lead the team from behind the plate.

Senior pitcher, Josh Ramirez, recognizes Jacobson’s importance to the team.

“He’s a dedicated player. He loves the game, he is all about it and he wants to see this team win,” said Ramirez.

When you devote so much time to a sport you have to have an outlet to be able to relax and take your mind off the game. For Jacobson, his outlets are not much different from any average college kid.

“I love to go hunting and fishing in my spare time if I’m not playing baseball,” Jacobson said. “I also play a little bit of video games with my brothers while they are back in Wisconsin.”

Another side hobby Jacobson enjoys in his free time is fixing mobile devices.

Jacobson will never stray too far from athletics, however, because he is currently a PE/Kinesiology major with several different career paths in mind.

Jacobson said, “My ultimate goal is to become an athletic director as I build up my knowledge in the teaching field. If becoming an athletic director doesn’t work out, I want to start my own business of some sort or possibly become an accountant.”

He plans to work up to those dreams by starting out as a PE teacher at the middle or high school level while also coaching high school baseball.

Some of Jacobson’s best baseball memories came from his time in high school. He cherishes and remembers going to state three years in row. His junior year his team placed second at state and had a memorable semifinal game that took 12 innings to pull out the win and advance them to the title game.

One perk of playing Division I sports, which Jacobson did for Chicago State, is the opportunity to travel around the country on planes and getting to visit different states. Jacobson said he was able to visit eight different states during his freshman year at Chicago State.

The first part of this season will be spent exclusively on the road, but most of their games will much closer to home. The Ichabods will be trying to avoid the cold Kansas weather, but you can come out to Falley Field on March 1 to help Jacobson and Washburn kickoff the home schedule when they take on the Pitt State Gorillas.

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Josh Ramirez

“He brings joy to the team. He makes jokes and has fun and loves being around the guys. He makes everyone feel like a family.”