Peyton Zabel’s long and winding college baseball tour makes its next stop in Stanford, California.

A 2018 Pierre High School graduate, Zabel has gone through the ups and downs like all college athletes experience. Zabel’s last four years have ranged from an MLB Draft pick, Tommy John surgery, stints at three different colleges, all-region junior college honors last season and now an NCAA Division I pitcher at Texas State University. 

Zabel summed up the last four years with “a lot of twists and turns, a lot of bumps in the road,” but he’s established lifelong relationships and traveled the country playing the sport he loves. 

That’s what he’ll remember most from his rollercoaster career and said he wouldn’t trade his experiences for anything. 

“The biggest takeaway I’ve had from my college experience is that the sports side of things is actually miniscule in the grand scheme of things,” Zabel said. “The relationships I’ve made along the way mean so much more to me than any of the wins and the losses or the rankings or the rings. I am super grateful for the people that I have in my life and that’s kind of the biggest takeaway I’ve gotten from this.”

Pierre High School graduate and Texas State University pitcher Peyton Zabel delivers a pitch earlier this season. (Texas State University Athletics Photo)

Zabel’s college baseball career and his current team are now both trending upward. After stops at Augustana University and Iowa Western Community College, Zabel landed at Texas State and he helped the Bobcats reach the NCAA Division I tourney for the first time in 11 years. 

The Bobcats, who were the Sun Belt Conference regular season champions, will be making their sixth trip to the NCAA tourney and first-time ever as an at-large team. They’re the No. 2 seed in the Stanford Regional and will face No. 3 UC Santa Barbara at 8 p.m. Friday on ESPN+.

Not bad considering the Bobcats (45-12) were picked to finish seventh in the 12-team Sun Belt Conference preseason coaches poll. 

“We didn’t get much respect coming into the year and we just got awfully hot and won a bunch of ball games,” Zabel said. “It’s just been so much fun with the group of guys we have more than anything. We have a really special group and obviously going from not even ranked to top-25 in the country, climbing all the way to No. 11 in the country is pretty special.”

Pierre High School graduate and Texas State University pitcher Peyton Zabel delivers a pitch earlier this season. (Texas State University Athletics Photo)

Texas State, which went 21-36 last season, returned 25 players and welcomed 18 newcomers to this year’s team. The Bobcats still set a program record for wins in a season. 

Texas State’s banner season was highlighted by back-to-back wins over then-No. 11 Arizona and then-No. 1 Texas in the span of five days. 

“It’s been a lot of fun to prove a lot of people wrong,” Zabel said. “We had the confidence in the fall that we were going to do something like this and that was our goal the whole time. It’s been great to get to experience the ride we’ve been on.”

A 6-foot-6, 240-pounder, Zabel is primarily a bullpen pitcher for Texas State and has appeared in eight games this season. The right-hander has an 8.31 ERA in 8.2 innings pitched. 

During the season, Zabel faced such batters as Texas slugger Ivan Melendez, who has an NCAA-best 29 home runs and is batting .406. 

“It’s definitely a jump from especially high school and then definitely junior college, too,” Zabel said. “These guys are going to be future big leaguers. So it’s been a lot of fun, but it’s also been difficult because your room for error is just not there.”

Pierre High School graduate and Texas State University pitcher Peyton Zabel delivers a pitch earlier this season. (Texas State University Athletics Photo)

Off the diamond, Zabel is one of two non-Texans on the roster and has adjusted to living more than 1,100 miles from home. Texas State has an enrollment of more than 38,000 students and is located in San Marcos, which has a population around 67,000 people and is about 30 miles south of Austin.

“San Marcos is an absolutely beautiful college town and a huge school,” said Zabel, whose hometown of Pierre has a population around 14,000 people. “So it’s kind of a culture shock coming down here, especially to Texas. It’s way different culture wise than what I’ve been used to my whole life, but I’ve absolutely loved it.”

A business management major, Zabel is a redshirt sophomore and is on track to graduate next year. He’ll possibly pitch for the Pierre Trappers this summer and continue to workout his arm for next season. 

Zabel said Major League Baseball is still the ultimate goal, but he’s more worried about enjoying the moment as his baseball journey continues this weekend. 

“We have just been kind of enjoying it and trying to win each pitch and not worrying about the future,” Zabel said. “Obviously the season is going to end at some point, whether that’s in Omaha or this weekend. We want to enjoy every last moment we have with each other.”

Stanford Regional schedule

Texas State was one of four Sun Belt teams to earn an NCAA tournament bid, along with Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern and Louisiana.

Joining the Bobcats in their regional will be Stanford, UC Santa Barbara and Binghamton that will take place on June 3-6.

The winner of the Stanford Regional will face the winner of the College Park (Maryland) Regional in the NCAA Super Regionals on June 10-13. The College World Series is scheduled for June 17-27 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Friday, June 3

3 p.m. CT – GM1: No. 1 Stanford (41-14) vs. No. 4 Binghamton (22-28), ESPN+

8 p.m. CT – GM2: No. 2 Texas State (45-12) vs. No. 3 UC Santa Barbara (43-12), ESPN+

Saturday, June 4

TBA – G3: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser

TBA – G4: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winners

Sunday, June 5

TBA – GM5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser

TBA – GM6: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner

Monday, June 6

TBA – G7: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner (if necessary)