Luke Hagel '03 was an All-Conference selection in both baseball and football at Ripon College, earning that distinction five times, including three on the diamond and twice on the gridiron, where he was also named Midwest Conference Player of the Year and Third Team All-American as a senior. An All-Region performer in both sports, Hagel helped Ripon's baseball team win two MWC Championships, while also appearing in the NCAA Tournament three times. He was inducted into Ripon's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
If you were to look at Ripon's baseball record book, Hagel's name is still littered throughout. His career batting average of .381 was third in program history at the time of his graduation, and still ranks fifth, 18 years later. Hagel also ranks sixth in school history for career hits (174), third in runs scored (160), fourth in triples (8), third in stolen bases (41), and 10th in total bases (241). His 160 runs scored also rank third in MWC history.
"Luke was a great athlete who had the whole package in terms of power, speed, and strength," legendary Ripon Baseball Coach Bob Gillespie said. "He was an excellent lead-off batter, while playing all three outfield positions. When we needed him to fill in at second base or shortstop, he did that too."
As great as Hagel's career turned out to be, it started off slowly, as he registered just five hits (all singles) and a .143 batting average in 14 games as a freshman. He then made one of the biggest second-year leaps of any student-athlete in Ripon College athletics history, batting .349 in 41 games as a sophomore, to go along with seven doubles, five triples (which is tied for second in school history for a single season), three home runs, 27 RBI, 44 runs scored, and nine stolen bases.
He continued to improve as a junior, which saw him again improve his batting average to .380, while recording nine doubles, one triple, two home runs, 34 RBI, nine stolen bases, and 49 runs scored. His 1.4 runs scored per game that season ranked 15th in all of Division-III.
Hagel saved his best for last as a senior in 2003, which will go down as one of the greatest individual seasons by a Ripon baseball player in school history. That year, Hagel helped Ripon to a 32-6 record, as he set a single season school and conference record for runs scored (61), which still stands today. He led Ripon atop their lineup that season with a team-best .470 batting average, which is the seventh-highest in program history, while also ranking second in Ripon's record book for both hits (70) and stolen bases (22).
Unlike a lot of two-sport athletes, Hagel was equally good in both. His college career was bookended on the gridiron, playing just two seasons, as a freshman and senior, while earning All-Conference honors both years. He finished his football career ranking sixth in program history for rushing touchdowns (24), and seventh in rushing yards (2,111), despite playing just two seasons.
As a freshman, Hagel appeared in nine games, rushing 63 times for 495 yards (7.9 ypc) and five touchdowns, but it was as a return specialist where he would be named Second Team All-Conference that season, thanks to returning five punts for 83 yards (16.6 avg.) and one touchdown, while also averaging 22.9 yards on seven kickoff returns. One of his signature plays that season was an 82-yard touchdown run against Illinois College, which still stands as the seventh-longest run from scrimmage in program history.
He then took a two-year hiatus to focus on baseball, before returning to Ripon's football team as a senior. The same school year that he had one of the best baseball seasons in school history, Hagel also recorded one of the most impressive seasons in the 130-year history of Ripon's football program, which resulted in him becoming the first and only player in school history to be named MWC Offensive Performer of the Year, while also being named First Team All-Conference, Second Team All-Region, and Third Team All-American.
"I had more success in football during High School, but when I got to college, I knew baseball was where my heart lied," Hagel said. "I missed football enough after a couple years that I had to get one more year, and it was great to do that at the collegiate level for a strong athletic program like Ripon."
The 2002 season saw Hagel rush for more than 100 yards in all 10 games, making him the only player in conference history to accomplish that feat. He set single season school records for rushing yards (1,616), rushing touchdowns (19), and all-purpose yards (1,685), all of which still stand today, nearly 20 years after his graduation. His 161.6 rushing yards per game that season ranked fifth in all of Division-III, while his 12 points per game and 168.5 all purpose yards per game ranked seventh and 23rd in the nation, respectively. Hagel scored 120 points that year, which ranks second in program history for a single season, while his rushing yardage total is the sixth-highest single season total in the history of the MWC.
One of his crowning moments as a senior came against Lawrence when Hagel rushed for 277 yards, which still ranks third in program history for a single game. He also scored four touchdowns that day, which marked his second four-touchdown game of the season.
A Business Management major from Random Lake, Wis., Hagel went on to earn his Master's in Business Administration from UW-Milwaukee in 2006. He has served as VP and Senior Business Banking Officer at Commerce State Bank in West Bend, Wis. for the past 14 years, and is currently engaged to Kari Koepsell.
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