Ever since two boys in the neighborhood asked Cole Selvig to play baseball with them, his mind has been on baseball.
Now all three of them played baseball at the college level. Cooper Kapanke and Campbell Kapanke played baseball for Winona State and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, respectively.
“We didn’t know it, but we’d all be college baseball players someday,” Selvig said.
Since he was 5 years old, Selvig always had a bat or ball in his hand. He played baseball from sunrise until sunset every week with the neighbor kids.
Selvig grew up without any siblings, so he considers Cooper and Campbell Kapanke as his brothers. He credits them for sparking his competitiveness which is now reflected in his games.
“Ever since then I’ve had a competitive edge about me, in everything I do, it is kind of annoying sometimes,” Selvig said.
Selvig appeared in seven games as a freshman, throwing 8.1 innings with the University of Texas. He started multiple games this season for the Gophers as a sophomore, with a career-high of seven strikeouts against Oklahoma.
Selvig reached a turning point in his career in 2020 during COVID lockdown.
At home, Selvig decided to workout in his basement mini gym, despite his season being put on pause.
“When everyone was taking time off I would go in there every day and kind of just work out and hit in my garage and just tried to outwork everyone in a sense,” Selvig said.
The following year, he helped his team to the state championships.
The Eau Claire, Wisconsin native attended Regis Catholic for high school. Selvig’s team had an extremely successful program, appearing in the state championships twice and taking the title his junior year.
The year his team won the state title was bittersweet for Selvig. Dealing with a serious back injury at the time, Selvig did not suit up until the championship.
Watching the game from the dugout refocused his mindset and reminded him that anything can take away the things you love.
“Especially with my team doing so well and I had to watch from the sidelines it built a lot of mental toughness, and that is something I still carry over to this day,” Selvig said.
Selvig’s main role model in the sport was his father, Mark Selvig, who taught him the importance of hard work, the unwritten rules of baseball and would always go to the field with him to throw.
“I would tell him that there is always someone that is always gonna have more talent, but you can always out-work them, and so I really just tried to let him know that hard work will pay off,” Mark Selvig said.
Amazed by his son’s work ethic, Mark Selvig could not comprehend how his son was never satisfied.
After watching him play, Mark Selvig and his wife would compliment their son. However, Cole Selvig never took any of his parents’ compliments to heart.
“He is always focused on what he can do better next time, what he did wrong, small little missteps and what he and his pitching coach are going to work on already next week,” Mark Selvig said.
Letting Cole Selvig chase his dream from an early age makes both of his parents extremely proud.
“My wife and I were extremely proud and supportive and kind of just had to let him go and go chase his dream,” Mark Selvig said.
Selvig credits a lot of his success to his support system, starting all the way back with the kids next door.
