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'I have a lot of confidence in him': The Man Behind UW-River Falls' Bold Return to Baseball

February 5, 2025
By: David Go
Content Creator & Area Scout

He’s the only second-year head coach in the country with an 0-0 record to his name, so Steve Bartlein is eager to see his team take the field this spring.

Bartlein was hired in August 2023 to lead a team still 18 months away from taking the field. His hiring was a bit like the photo of Will Smith standing in the empty foyer of a Fresh Prince home. He looked around and the rest of the program was empty. The foundation had been laid - the program reinstated, the new head coach in place.

Joining the coach in his makeshift office now are four items - a shovel, home plate, a team photo and a trophy. Before his makeshift office was adorned, the coach began his next step.

“The first thing I did was recruit,” said Bartlein. “But it’s not about getting a kid to commit right away.”

Just 8% of high school baseball players make it to the NCAA level. Players and parents alike spend entire summers in the expanse of the eight-field tournament complex in sweltering heat, just for the opportunity to play at the next level. In the ever-evolving age transfers and NIL, finding the right fit can be as important as ever. Selling a barren program to a recruit can be a daunting task.

The program had one component - Bartlein - who had to sell himself and his vision.

“I loved the way he was attacking the first year,” said Max Stocco, a transfer from Lenoir-Rhyne who played his prep baseball at Marquette. “His plan for the program was well-thought out and designed well. It gave me a lot of confidence to follow him and stay on that track with him. Ultimately, it came down to Bartlein for the final decision. I have a lot of trust in him. I think he’s a great coach.”

His first season as a head coach ended without a game on the ledger, but 2024 was also his first spring absent from the dugout since his playing career ended in 2013. His familiarity with Division III baseball, particularly the WIAC, extends deeper than his hiring in River Falls.

The South Milwaukee graduate served as UW-Whitewater’s recruiting coordinator from 2017-23, overseeing four WIAC Championships and four NCAA Regional appearances. He also served as an assistant coach at Carroll for two years after time in the dugout at Brookfield East and Brookfield Central.

UWRF, which opened in 1874, predates all but four public universities in Wisconsin. Its baseball roots can be traced to a time near its founding - records exist of teams representing the university prior to 1900, according to Bartlein. The school sponsored baseball through 2002, making one NCAA Tournament appearance in 1996 under head coach Craig Walter.

Walter, who later coached at UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout, now coaches at Altoona High School. He was succeeded by Dale Varsho, the winningest manager in Northwoods League history and uncle to Blue Jays’ outfielder Daulton Varsho.

But within six years of their tournament appearance, the program was shuttered. The school didn’t have adequate space or facilities and were no longer competitive in multiple sports, according to Bartlein.

Less than a decade later, the city completed a feasibility study to build a $725,000 field to host men’s amateur baseball, American Legion baseball, the high school varsity team and youth events. The 300-seat First National Bank of River Falls Field opened in 2014, later adding artificial turf due to a grant from Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players’ Association Youth Development Foundation.

The venue, which also hosted a few WIAC games before UWRF reinstated its program, became the home of Falcon baseball in January 2024, months after Bartlein had already assumed his position.

The first recruit committed in September before the field situation was finalized. Two months later, Medford star Tanner Hraby became the highest-ranked Wisconsin player to commit to the upstart team.

“UW-River Falls is a tremendous fit for Hraby,” said Prep Baseball Wisconsin Scouting Director Vinny Rottino. “His talent will allow him to play as a freshman while allowing him to develop into his high-ceiling potential. I’m confident he’ll do both.”

Hraby, who earned Conference Player of the Year on the hardwood at Medford, is one of about 30 freshmen on the brand-new Falcon squad - another 15 are sophomores and juniors. Bartlein sold a young team of recruits not on an established program but on his vision, one that he sold all 45 recruits on.

“The new program was super intriguing,” said Hraby, who earned a spot on Prep Baseball Wisconsin’s First Team All-State in 2024. “The start of a new tradition, a new culture is cool, just to start that up.”

In June 2023, the foundation was laid when the school announced the reinstatement of the sport. Within a year, Bartlein had recruited nearly an entire roster and helped secure a field.

“I was trying to establish a program that they could develop in,” said Bartlein, who came from one of the winningest D-III programs in the country. “I wanted a program that was going to push them, one that we were going to seek to be competitive. I told them competitiveness really isn’t just the results that we find on the field, but competitiveness in the sense of daily growth. We’re going to be very structured in our strength and conditioning and our practices. There has to be intent behind everything that we do. We presented them with a schedule that is relatively demanding when it comes to being on the field for hours on end, being pushed to a higher expectation.”

When other schools’ spring seasons ended, he added three assistant coaches - Brian Giebel, Weston Lombard and Marty Herum. Giebel and Herum, both River Falls natives, played elsewhere in the WIAC prior to UWRF’s reinstatement - Giebel at UW-Stout and Herum at UW-Whitewater.

Lombard hails from nearby Stillwater, Minn., just 20 miles away from the university. Their location better positions them to lure recruits from their westerly neighbors than any other Wisconsin university. Some 41% of the student body lives in Minnesota. Of the 45-man roster, 20 are Minnesotans and 21 are from the Badger State.

His vision looked to the 2024-25 season and beyond, so it began to manifest itself as players arrived for that school year. The development he sold them on required equipment and storage - and funding. It required social media to publicize the program to the community.

The structure for the fall had been built, but Bartlein also built an entire non-conference schedule, which typically is built a year in advance.

The Falcons’ non-conference slate begins with a six-game trip to Orlando before facing off with Bethel, the three-time defending MIAC champions, at U.S. Bank Stadium in the Twin Cities. They follow up the Bethel matchup with a midweek contest against Wisconsin’s lone D-I program, UW-Milwaukee.

Competing in the early-season non-conference gauntlet required that inner competitiveness in the fall.

“I love the way he [Bartlein] talks about playing fast,” said Stocco. “We need to be taking advantage of every single dirt ball, every time we run the bases. If we can speed up the game for the other team, they’re going to make the mistake.”

It’s also an early test for a team absent of seniors.

“[Being a junior], it puts a chip on my shoulder,” said Stocco, who maintained sophomore eligibility with a redshirt year at Lenoir-Rhyne. “I need to show the people next to me how you go through a drill or what it looks like to cheer on a teammate in the box. I’ve developed in taking each pitch very seriously. It’s been the perfect fit for me.”

In the fall, Bartlein created a competitive atmosphere that put players in situations to mimic spring games. Umpires, a PA system and a crowd provided a peek into the next level of baseball for the 30 players yet to make their collegiate debuts.

The scrimmage was only after a fall of methodical preparation. Yes, the foundation for the program had been laid, but the roots of a winning team were still near the surface.

“We prioritized little aspects of the game,” said Bartlein. “Hopefully we continue to show development in our game. I want people to say by the end of the year that we play quality baseball.”

That development will take place during the season, as a roster full of freshmen maneuvers through their initial season of NCAA baseball. The Falcons may seem like a different team in their season-ending series against UW-Eau Claire as they do in their non-conference slate that commences the season and reignites the dormant program.

To earn a bid into the four-team WIAC Tournament (appropriately sponsored by Culver’s), the upstart Falcons will need to compete far before the final weekend. The road begins on March 29, when UW-Stevens Point arrives for the christening of the program, the first UW-River Falls-hosted college baseball games in more than two decades.

In reality, the journey began years ago. It began during baseball’s 22-year absence at Wisconsin’s westernmost university as the foundation was laid for a field, as a coach gained experience at Wisconsin’s most successful collegiate baseball program, and as a program was built from the ground up, in some cases literally.

“I’m trying to stay in the moment,” said Bartlein. “If we can stay organized and prepare, anything that rolls our way is just going to be a stepping stone as part of our development. I’m eager to see who’s going to have that first big performance. Who’s going to have that ‘come to college baseball’ moment with a big day, a big performance, giving away that game ball - those are the exciting moments that you sometimes forget about when you’re building all this.”

A foundation, a field, a team and now - Bartlein hopes - victories in the spring.