Wade Sommers comes from Jonesville. A small, Michigan town that shaped how he sees work, people, and responsibility. This was Wade’s first-ever podcast, and he opens up about life growing up in a place where everyone knows your name, expectations are real, and effort is noticed.

He talks about family. Strong ties. Consistent support. Being grounded by people who tell you the truth and hold you to a standard. He even shares why Saucey Dogs, a local Jonesville restaurant, still matters to him. It is not about the food. It is about connection and familiarity.

Wade tells a story about the summer Coach Cut coached his brother in the Northwoods League. One season. All nine positions played. No excuses. Just showing up and competing wherever the team needed him. That experience stayed with him and shaped his view of versatility and buy-in.

He breaks down his freshman season at LCC. A year full of learning, disappointment, frustration, and real growth. Nothing was handed to him. Plenty of moments that tested his confidence. He explains how those moments forced him to mature, adjust, and take ownership of his development.

The conversation also dives into the systems in place to support LCC pitchers' success. Daily structure. Clear expectations. Accountability. Why systems matter more than motivation and how consistency wins when emotion fades.

If you are a coach, parent, or athlete who believes development starts with identity and discipline, this conversation is worth your time.

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Website: LCC Stars Baseball

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Website: Coach Cutter

Website: RD Kate

Related Podcast: Stars on Sports

Hey, it's Coach Kate here. Registered dietitian and owner of RDKate Sports Nutrition.

As a member of the LCC STARS athletic department, I teach our athletes what to eat and when to eat it on training days, competition days, and throughout the year. For over a decade, I've been helping athletes of all sports and levels meet their goals.

RD Cate Sports Nutrition offers individual consulting team services, on demand courses and downloadable handouts. For more information, visit RDKate.

Hello, friends, and welcome to Coach Cuts

Corner,

Streaming bright from Michigan's capital city.

This podcast is dedicated to helping you better understand the who, the what and the why of mental performance, personal growth and Lansing Stars baseball.

Coach Cuts Corner, brought to you by

iwash in collaboration with Lansing Community to College.

And now, here's your host, Steven Cutter.

Welcome back to the show. Today in the WLNZ studios, I have assistant coach Ryan Radek. How are you doing this morning, Ryan?

Doing wonderful as always.

A little bit chilly outside, isn't it?

Very.

I hear it's getting colder. And I have a special guest from the large town of Jonesville, Mr. Wade Sommers. Wade, welcome to the studios. First impressions?

I mean, I'm pretty happy to be here. You know, I'm pretty excited that I got asked on, so I just wanted to thank you.

You're welcome. Long time coming. Let's talk about Jonesville a little bit. You know, Jonesville seems to be famous for a place called the Saucy Dog.

Have you ever eaten there?

Yeah, no, The Saucy Dog, it's just a local restaurant just in downtown Jonesville.

Local place that, you know, a lot of people, they go to hit up maybe after Sunday morning church, you know, go there for lunch or after a football game on a Friday. So, yeah, just the local eatery.

Small town kid. Right. So. So not a ton to do in Jonesville, right?

Nope, not a whole lot.

Okay, so take us back a little bit. Tell our listeners about, you know, what you played when you were little.

Yeah, so whenever I was younger, growing up, I got into baseball fairly early age, I'd say about. I mean, as soon as I could walk, my dad had me and my brothers out in the yard playing wiffle ball and running the bases and all that sort of thing.

So I started T ball whenever I was about eight, I believe, and then started off there, grew to love the sport and I think I was about 10 years old, and I joined a summer team called Clutch Baseball, which was kind of the organization that ran out of Jonesville for just the Summer travel league and played there for four years, I believe it was, until I got to high school. Four or five years. And yeah, I mean, the more I played there, the more I grew to love the sport.

And you developed some hobbies along the way at a young age too, right?

Yeah. Yep. My family's big hunters, so I got into, man everything you can think of for hunting, you know, especially local.

Did a lot of deer hunting, turkey hunting, hunted a bunch of rabbits, squirrels, waterfowl, just all sorts of things.

Tis the season for hunting season right now. So you have any success this year? Were you able to get out at all with all the things that you have to do being a college baseball player now?

Yeah, no, definitely being at college definitely restricts my abilities to go out and hunt as much. Used to, but haven't been able to do a whole lot of deer hunting. Just pretty time consuming.

But I've been able to go out hunting some ducks and geese, you know, waterfowl, and had a little bit of success.

But we've kind of had a drought this year, so just all of our wet holes and stuff like that kind of dried up, so it kind of just left the birds, you know, other places like lakes and fields, but it's been steady, I guess I could say.

So let's go back to Jonesville. You're in high school. What do you do on a Friday night if there's not a football game? What's there to do around Jonesville?

Oof. That's. It's a great question. I guess it depends if there's no football. I mean, maybe just getting together with some buddies, you know, hanging out.

Hunting's kind of out of the option because it's normally dark by then, but. Yeah, I don't know. Hunting, we have. We have a bowling alley.

Okay.

So that's nice. Yeah. You know, we maybe hit up the bowling alley and if that doesn't work, you know, maybe go walk around Walmart or Meyers for a little bit.

So you do have a Walmart and then Meijer. Yeah, there's not an S on the end of Meijer.

I guess that's new to me. I guess it's that Michigan slang, you know.

Well, really interesting.

And we went through a few different teams up there. Our first team basically made it about a week before testing and, you know, Covid restrictions and all this hit them.

And we were up there for a long time that summer. It was an incredible summer, a summer of ton of growth.

But I think the third team we brought in was the team that stuck the longest and was able to make it through all the protocols and everything else. And on that third team was a player by the name of Chad Summers. And Chad's your brother?

Yep.

And Chad was at, I think Wayne State at that point, if I remember right. And Chad was the type of player that it was just hard not to love Chad, like, he worked really hard.

It might have been the last, I don't remember, but one of the last games of the season, I decided I was going to have Chad play all nine positions in a game. And on the surface, that sounds like, okay, that's cool. You know, he's going to catch, he's, you know, going to play right field. And he's.

Chad was a pitcher, of course, but what actually transpired during that game was one of the more incredible things I've ever seen on a baseball field. And I think your brother made like, decisive, incredible plays at every stinking position he played. It was incredible.

And if I remember right, you were in the stands.

I was, yep. I was on the right field line.

Did you remember thinking, like, this is wild because, like, he caught.

And I'm not sure that he had caught in a long time or if he had ever caught, but he, like, threw somebody out, somebody that's in pro baseball at this point. You know, he threw him out. He was trying to steal me through, you know, it's just wild. Do you remember some of that?

Yeah, no, I remember most of that entire game.

I remember me and my family, we were just, you know, we got home and chatted, called us and told us that he had the opportunity to play online positions in the game. And I looked at my dad, and dad looked at me and my other brothers, and we were just like, what in the world?

We've never heard of that before, but like, that's pretty cool. So we got there, we were super excited. Didn't know how he was going to do at the plate, but he ended up.

He got a hit too, if I remember.

Yeah, he got, he got a hit and he got hit in the head I think too.

So. Yeah, you know, it's crazy.

And if we go back to your freshman year a little bit, what was like some of the biggest takeaways when coming in from high school and being kind of the big dog on campus and then coming into LCC and what was that like?

Yeah, and I think that was a huge like realization for me was whenever you come from, I guess, a small town like Jonesville and you play in Div. 3 high school baseball, you have, you know, you have smaller teams, maybe 12 to 15 guys, and there's not always a whole lot of talent per se.

You maybe have, you know, four or five players that are like your solid guys that you go to baseball guys. Yeah. And so you're always competing against normally those guys whenever you're playing other teams for them.

So like being one of those guys too, you know, I kind of looked at it and maybe took advantage of it and didn't get as much out of high school baseball as I should have, you know, as far as putting in work, because for the most part I had it pretty easy, you know, being pretty solid and talented and I get to college, of course, freshman year and it was just, it's a whole different ball game because you get here and those four or five guys on that team that were all solid, now that's what your entire team looks like. And so now you have to show up, compete, and just play better every day.

So that was just something that I took away from it most that I was like, wow, I really got to start grinding, you know, putting in more effort and showing up on like some of the days that I didn't.

For high school, you're 6 foot 5 and a left handed pitcher. Where does that height come from? I don't remember Chad being as tall.

Yeah, no. So it's something that our families talked about quite a bit because my dad's not real tall. He's like five'11 and my mom's five'10.

So she's pretty tall for a woman. But we've decided that it came from my mom's side of the family.

She has a lot of cousins that, you know, six' four, six' five and her dad was six' Three, I believe, my grandpa. So we think it comes from her side of the family.

Okay. Who kind of helped shape you when you were in high school or maybe playing Little league, you know, who was some big influences on you.

Yeah. So one of the bigger influences throughout my journey, just starting with baseball, of course, my dad. He's the one that got me into it all.

But the one that comes to mind the most is my travel ball coach that I had for four years. His name was Dewey Stanton. He just, I mean, from T ball all the way up till high school, he was just, he was my main coach that I always had.

And he was super supportive. You know, he wasn't someone who just lets you roll over after a game and tells you you'll be fine in that. He always wanted us to get better.

So he's always kind of, you know, getting on us and we weren't doing what we were supposed to do and telling us that, you know, it's not easy, but you got to put in some work. And so he's just been pretty big throughout my journey.

It's pretty cool.

Yeah.

You mentioned complacency a little bit, Ryan. I know, like you've seen that not only in teammates, you know, through the years, but you probably have seen it in yourself at different times too.

Just sometimes that's based on what time of year it is, or maybe you're the smartest in the room, you know, and you get a little complacent. Is that normal, you think?

Oh, yeah. I feel like it's almost part of our human nature to be complacent or comfortable where we're at. We choose the easier route most of the time.

And one of the best parts about our program is that we try to push ourselves and do things that make us uncomfortable and definitely makes us better people.

Yeah, I think we win in that portion of it more often than we don't. So that's a really positive thing. Wade, you struggled as a freshman. Yes. Six foot five, left handed pitcher came in.

You had a really nice high school career. You had the family support, you had the team support and different things like that. But on the field you really struggled.

And I noticed like once that seed of doubt got planted, you had a hard time getting away from it. You want to talk about like your freshman year at all here?

Yeah.

So coming into college, I mean, came from Jonesville, I was, you know, our number two guy that they always went to, whether it was starting or closing out games.

And I got here to Lansing and we had our Fall season, first fall ball game, I guess you could say I kind of got an idea of what it was like, and I didn't throw then, but I threw a couple games later. And we had thrown a couple times in practice, you know, doing live scrimmages.

And I kind of got an idea of what it was like pitching, I guess, college talent. But I didn't really realize, I guess, just like, the different pressure that I was kind of perceiving whenever I got out there.

And so my first outing, I was. Man, I was jumpy. I was jittery and nervous, and I had everything going on with me out there, and I kind of just found myself, like, lost out there.

I didn't really. Didn't really feel well about myself, and I wasn't executing pitches, and it kind of just went downhill from there. I had a couple more outings later.

I think I had three or four more in that fall, and I think I was in my head a lot, and I was always just, like, dogging on myself and never really picking myself up.

I kind of had that little negative voice in the back of my head always telling me that if I don't do better, you know, then just never gonna play, and all these things going on, different voices in my head.

And I think it just kind of tore at me a little bit and kind of just made me not want to try because, you know, I kept trying and felt like I was putting in the work, and I just didn't have anything to show for it.

So then we move into the spring season, and you did get some opportunities. You did not record a single out.

Nope.

In the spring season. So do you think things just kept stacking as you. From the fall into the spring, that it just kept kind of stacking on top of itself?

Yeah, I think a little bit it did.

I guess I kind of had a realization in the spring of what had happened in the fall, and I, like, I knew I needed to change it, of course, and so I. I felt like I was changing it a bit. I was kind of getting a little bit more comfortable of the whole ordeal of pitching and, you know, just a different environment.

But I definitely did think it stacked on a little bit.

I mean, after my first outing, it was against Pearl river in our spring trip in Mississippi, and, man, I don't know how many runs we had gave up, but I came in for some relief, you know, get some other guys going in the pen, and I just. I couldn't control him. You know, I'd throw a ball 8 inches outside, you know, off the plate, and it'd still get crushed.

And I was like, man, what am I supposed to do? I mean, I'm up here for two batters, and I've already gave up, you know, what, three, four runs. So it was definitely hard for me, you know?

And I also remember I was standing in the dugout and just sitting there, you know, trying to keep some energy up, and you came over to me and tapped me on the shoulder and said, you gotta get out to the pen. He's like, you gotta go in soon. And so I was like, all right, and get out there. Start warming up. I think I threw, like, five balls.

And our pitching coach was like, all right, you're out. You're out there. And I was like, oh, boy, here we go.

Sort of baptized by fire, right?

Yeah. Yep, Definitely.

So that's the part of storytelling, and that's. That's the part of the, you know, state the fact, speak the truth. Your freshman year was memorable, certainly, but enjoyable.

Probably not really that enjoyable, because in life, when we are going through tough times, during those times, it is not fun.

No matter how many times people tell you, you know, it'll be better down the road or if you keep stacking bricks, things will work out for you, it still sucks. It's tough. You question yourself. You question your ability. New question. A lot of different things.

We go into this fall season, and it's completed at the point that we're together right now, and things are different. Why?

Yeah, man, I don't know where to start. I guess I played some summer ball. I didn't play for any college summer team or anything like that.

Just a local travel team that I had played for the year before.

And I guess my main goal over the summer was, you know, try to get stronger and just get a bunch of reps, you know, and just try to find a place where on the mound, I could just feel comfortable and kind of zone in and do my thing. So I guess over summer ball, I pitched quite a few innings, and I struggled at the beginning of that, even just to locate.

And I'd be going maybe four or five innings as a starter, and my pinch count would be, you know, 85 into the 90s. And I was like, I have to figure this out.

So I just kept working on it, and I changed some things with my mechanics and talked to a bunch of different people about it, you know, a bunch of past pitching coaches that I've had.

And I don't know when the huge change happened, but it was like, middle of the summer, and I started closing for the summer team a little bit, and then I started building some confidence as I started having a little bit of success. Then I started starting a couple games again, and I just kind of kept it rolling.

And then we got into the fall, and I just kept seeing it build up and build up, and I was able to do a pretty solid job. I felt like this fall I didn't go up a whole lot of runs, so I don't know, I just guessed the brick stacking helped out quite a bit.

But statistically, you had a great fall, and your numbers were really solid, and you were a completely different pitcher on the mound. And it doesn't mean that, you know, it was all movie scripted and you struck everybody out, but it was. It was like, wow, this is incredible.

You had an ERA around three or below, and your whip was solid and, you know, some things that you'd struggle with in the past and. Yeah, I mean, ultimately, would you agree that a lot of it is the mental side?

Yeah, no, that's always been a huge thing for me, no matter what I'm doing. It's just the mental side, you know, of being confident with yourself and your abilities and where you're at, where you need to be and all that.

I think it plays a huge role in how you do out in the field and just how you handle things.

Okay, let's take our listeners through what your fall look like as a pitcher here at lcc. So, you know, you start in August. We're competing, right? We competed through September, So we had August and September. We were playing other teams.

And then what did it look like after we got done competing against other teams?

Yeah, after we got done with the fall season and competing, I mean, we got straight into it. You know, we started explosive October for the pitchers.

What'd that look like?

It was. It was very structured.

We worked on just getting our bodies moving better because movement was something that we, you know, we figured out we were struggling with, of course.

So we just started doing a bunch of drills with med balls and sprinting, jumping, just all sorts of things, trying to get us more explosive and in a better position that whenever on the mound, we can get rolling.

So how'd that work for you? Because each person was a little bit different through explosive October. But how would you get out of it?

Yeah, no, it went well for me. I. I had done a couple of drills before with a past pitching coach I had worked with a little bit, and I think. I think it helped me a Lot.

I've always kind of struggled with power. I've always been kind of a slower guy down the mound, kind of riding it.

And so I think I was able to expose my weakness in my lower half through that month and kind of realize that like I have to get stronger, I have to be able to rotate just a bit quicker, you know, get a bit more out of my, my body.

So yeah, what about the, some of the pitching systems? Have those been too much for you? Have they been perfect? What's been your take on the pitching systems?

And I don't think we necessarily need to get into all the systems that the pitchers have at this point, but it's one of those things where sometimes the analysis becomes a paralysis. So what's it been like for you?

Yeah, it's been great. It was a little overwhelming at first, just with some of the new things we had brought on that we didn't have last year.

But after about the first week, you know, of doing it, you kind of get into a rhythm and you kind of see some consistency with it and you kind of get comfortable, I guess with it in a sense. And I mean it really, really benefits us a lot.

One of the systems we have with just arm care program that we have here at lcc, it's some band work that you do and some stuff for your hips and lower half. Kind of a warm up to begin throwing or I guess before even practice starts. We are doing it and we also do it after throwing.

And I saw a big difference with that for myself just in soreness in my shoulder and overall just my arm. I was really starting to realize how much it was strengthening me. And I know last year I didn't take it as seriously as I should have.

So I definitely feel that that's helped me a lot.

What, what kind of advice would you give for a high school pitcher that's going to be going into a college program?

The lessons, what have you learned now that you're sitting in this chair, sophomore year, getting ready to have a huge season, what have you learned that you could give back to them?

Well, on the, on the game side of it, I would definitely say warm up. Warm up is not something that we did a lot at Jonesville is always whenever you're going, going into pitch, you're going in.

You had like five, ten minutes of notice.

So I think warming up and taking it seriously, you know, putting in some research or getting some ideas from coaches on how to get your body just prepped before you go out on the mound because if you go out there and your body's not warmed up, it's a struggle to throw and, you know, do what you're supposed to do. So, yeah, I think taking a serious warm up before every outing.

Well, how do you want to be remembered here? We talk about legacy, and whether you want to or not, you're going to leave one. But how do you want to be remembered here?

Yeah, the biggest thing for me is I never been the guy that brings the most skill or talent to a team, and I've realized that. But the biggest thing for me that I want to leave is just being that one teammate that everyone knew.

You know, he was great, solid guy that, you know, never, never had a dull moment in the dugout, you know, always kept the energy high, you know, was there for everyone. I like to think I'm a pretty selfless guy, but I don't want to.

I don't want to say that and then, you know, sound like a jerk or anything, but I like to be there for my teammates, and that's just kind of legacy I want to leave is, you know, being there for everyone. If it's not going well for me, then, you know, that sucks, but can't mean I'm down at any certain point and still got to be there for the team.

Yeah, you're not a jerk. You're extremely genuine.

You've been raised really well by your parents, and you've had some great surrounding people around you, and you're gonna do really well in life. And I believe you're gonna do really well this year as well, because you made the foundational changes that are necessary to have success.

And if you don't make those changes, things are never really going to change.

But if you're willing to make those changes, and those changes are not easy, it's not easy to start recognizing where you're defaulting at or maybe what you could do better. But if you can make those, you end up having falls like you had, and you've. You've done a great job. Ryan, what's Wade going to be known for here?

I think he hit it on the. On the head right there. He's obviously a great guy. From day one in, when was it? August.

Everyone's walking in and I got to see Wade walk in and everyone's just smiling. He's just a true joy to have around.

So, yeah, he's definitely just gonna be one of those guys that you remember that was always like a brother to you on the team.

Yeah. Well, thank you for coming into the studio today. Wade Ryan Habits Last Excellence isn't a destination, it's who you become along the way.

Thank you for listening, sharing and supporting this journey. Lead with intent. Give more than you take. Compete with a purpose. We're all playing a game. We can't win, so why not play it to the utmost?

Go all in and Go Stars. Coach Cutscorner is recorded live in the WLNZ Studios with the Dalian Lowry providing engineering and production assistance. Thanks for listening.

If you enjoyed today's podcast, please share it and follow us on all forms of social media. Our program has been built and maintained with the help of many great people.

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