Notre Dame baseball star commits to Mizzou

~ The Notre Dame senior said he plans to sign with and pitch for Missouri

By Trent Singer ~ Southeast Missourian

The next step to playing among the elites at the college level has finally arrived for Notre Dame baseball standout Graham Ruopp.

The Bulldogs' right-handed ace made a verbal commitment Monday evening to continue his baseball career at the next level with the University of Missouri.

"This is the greatest experience I'm going to have for a very long time. I am thrilled," Ruopp said. "Every day, I've woken up, and I've just felt like this is my dream come true."

A number of other schools were in pursuit of Ruopp's talents, including Southeast Missouri State, St. Louis University, Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois and Belmont University.

However, Ruopp said playing in the Southeastern Conference was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Missouri began closing in on him last Christmas and followed his progress throughout the spring season.

"I went up to Missouri this past weekend, and I just fell in love with it," Ruopp said. "I was talking to the coaches, and everything just seemed right."

Ruopp went 9-1 and posted a 0.98 ERA as a junior starting pitcher for the Bulldogs last season. He had 70 strikeouts and 16 walks in 57 innings of work. The Bulldogs finished 21-3 and ended their season with a 2-1 loss to eventual state champion Westminster Christian Academy in the second round of the Class 4 state tournament.

"Graham really solidified himself as a big-game pitcher for us," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "He's worked tremendously hard."

Ruopp has a fastball in the 83-87 mph range, according to Graviett.

"He's got a unique pitching style with a three-quarter motion, where he gets a lot of movement. We knew from a high school perspective that he was going to be successful just by generating that movement," Graviett said. "His bread-and-butter pitch is his fastball. He gets that sinking action on it from the way he throws."

Ruopp played summer baseball with the Lids Missouri Bulls, along with Central High School pitcher Chase Hagerty, who committed to playing for Southeast last week.

"It's been a fun ride not only for him but for us as a program," Graviett said. "The best thing we want our kids to learn about this is the hard work he put in to get this opportunity."