Cade Vogdes could have just coasted off into the sunset without ever getting his hands dirty.
But when Wildwood Catholic Academy decided it wanted to reignite its high school baseball program last season, Vogdes helped answer the call. A swimmer and a lifeguard, Vogdes got sized up for baseball cleats – after not playing the sport for a few years – and stepped behind the plate. The Crusaders needed a catcher badly, and Vogdes obliged.
“Whatever helps,” said Vogdes, who is set to graduate from Wildwood Catholic on June 3, and head off to Costa Rica in the fall as a volunteer lifeguard.
He’ll be there to save the lives of swimmers after he helped save a baseball program near the beaches of South Jersey. “There’s a program for the younger kids to come up where they can play baseball and enjoy it,” Vogdes explained.
The Crusaders haven’t had a baseball team since the 2019 season. The pandemic played a role in shutting down the program in 2020, and there wasn’t much interest to take the field again until the 2024 season. That changed with an infusion of young talent. Players like Robbie Miller, Nick Antonicello and Jude Landis burst onto the field as freshmen last year, and the Crusaders filled in the positions around them to play a 13-game schedule.
“Me and Robbie came in last season knowing that it was going to be a tough year because our last season was in 2019,” Antonicello said. “We just tried to rebuild, have fun and survive that first year.”
After going 1-12 last season, the Crusaders had six wins this year through May 21. Last year, the Crusaders were victims of the 10-run mercy rule seven times. This season, the Crusaders only failed to see the seventh inning once while winning two games by the mercy rule.
“We need these wins because last year we really struggled,” said Antonicello, who had a .545 batting average through May 21. “It’s good to turn the tables around.”
Vogdes is enjoying being with his friends. But despite playing mostly as a favor to his buddies, he was hitting .347 while catching for two talented pitchers in Miller and Antonicello.
“Everyone is a lot happier this year playing the game. We’ve made fewer errors, and the game just flows more naturally,” Vogdes said.
In September, Vogdes will head to Central America to volunteer as a lifeguard in Costa Rica for three months. It’s part of a program through Santa Teresa Lifeguards, a program formed in 2015 after the beach town of Santa Teresa experienced three drowning deaths in one year. The voluntary exchange program has had participants from countries including the United States, Argentina, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Portugal, Brazil, France, England and New Zealand.
“I heard about it through other lifeguards,” Vogdes said. “It’s a volunteer program, and they give you a place to stay. There’s a dorm of about 30 people, and they give you food and transportation.”
His life-saving skills will come on the heels of helping to preserve Wildwood Catholic’s baseball program for future generations.
“Cade stuck it out, and we really appreciate him doing that,” Wildwood Catholic Coach Rob Miller said. “We can’t thank him enough. He’s really tried to do this to help our future.”
It’s been a trickle-down effect. Wildwood Catholic’s middle school program is flourishing and will supply several key pieces to the high school baseball program over the next few years.
“Our middle school program has 25 kids in it, so we have a nice feeder program,” Miller said. “But we needed to tell these players that we were going to be serious going forward.”
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