Windeshausen has winning attitude on and off the diamond

At one point in his still young life, Carson Windeshausen could only dream of being a star baseball player, as he wasn’t sure whether that goal would ever come to fruition. And now he’s actually living the dream.

“I went to a lot of Express games and Cavs games growing up but growing up, I didn’t feel like it was a reachable goal to me. Those guys seemed surreal to me, At five years old, I couldn’t tell the difference between them and MLB players,” Windeshausen said.

Now Windeshausen has gone from being a spectator to being the person aspiring young baseball players idolize and look up to. It was a gradual advancement to be sure, but his career eventually took flight and he has never looked back since.

“I played (at Carson Park) at Memorial (High School) and our legion team played there,” he told the Leader-Telegram in a recent exclusive interview.

Parlaying a successful high school career (he was a starter on the Old Abes’ state tournament qualifying team in 2021) into acceptance at UW-Eau Claire, Windeshausen is now a standout for both the Blugolds and Cavaliers baseball teams and is loving every minute of the hectic six months he spends on the diamond each spring and summer as a lauded infielder/outfielder.

Among the highlights of Windeshausen’s 2024 Blugolds campaign was a Division 3 accolade he received in mid-April.

Windeshausen, who also serves as a designated hitter for the Blugolds, was named to the D3baseball.com Team of the Week for April 15-21. In achieving that honor Windeshausen became only the third player in program history to receive the honor.

Helping him nab that honor that week was him being able to hit four home runs and a double in a four-game series against UW-Stout, finishing the series with nine hits and a .529 batting average (9-for-17). Windeshausen posted a 1.294 slugging percentage and drove in seven runs while scoring seven of his own. He also stole a base as UW-Eau Claire picked up two wins in the series.

That marked the second consecutive season the Blugolds have had an honoree on the D3baseball.com Team of the Week.

Part of the reason for Windeshausen’s success on the baseball field can be attributed to his upbringing and his family’s love for the sport.

Growing up, Windeshausen not only dreamt of playing baseball, but he also had a family who was deeply rooted in the sport and who fed his ambition to one day excel in it.

“My grandpa was a lifelong Cubs fan and on my dad’s side of the family, they all played,” he said, adding that “Growing up playing baseball my dad was my Little League coach.”

Even though he was playing baseball at an early age, he admits that life on the diamond wasn’t what he thought he would actually pursue when it came to his eventual athletic endeavors.

“Growing up I was more of a basketball guy than baseball, but that changed in high school. I liked the camaraderie of the team and knowing what it meant to play for each other,” Windeshausen noted.

By his high school years, it was a goal of Windeshausen’s to play both collegiately and beyond. And he is now doing just that.

To show you just how integral baseball is to his life, even his favorite movie is related to the sport.

On his UWEC bio, ‘Major League’ is listed as the film he most enjoys, so it begged the question during this sit down interview inside the McPhee Physical Education Center at UWEC as to exactly why the movie is his all-time favorite?

“It’s a great movie, I definitely recommend it if you haven’t watched it,” Windeshausen said. “It shows the difference in players all from different backgrounds and the camaraderie established between all the players.”

“It showed how different cultures come together and once they figure out how to do that then they come together as a team. It’s something everyone can learn from,” he went on to say.

Lesson learned.

As for Windeshausen’s academic pursuits at UW-Eau Claire, he started out as a business/finance major, but he is now a recently completed junior in business management and hopes to pursue construction management after graduation.

Staying in Eau Claire was a no-brainer for the Old Abes’ graduate and it’s a decision he has never regretted.

“My sister went (there) and I grew up here, he said, adding, “I really appreciate everything the city does for the (UWEC) system and how much the (Blugolds) care about academics.”

And Windeshausen especially enjoys playing for both Blugold head baseball coach Patrick Reilly, who just completed his first season of leading the UWEC men’s squad, and Cavaliers field manager Ryan Bembnister. Both have exceptional organizational and leadership skills, he said, and it’s something that Windeshausen appreciates.

While there was basically only one day in between Windeshausen wrapping up his season for the Blugolds and trading that jersey for a Cavaliers one, he said the rapid switch to playing for another team was not difficult at all.

“The transition was easy because the team is filled with amazing, great guys,” Windeshausen said. “We all have common goals of winning and I’ve known Ryan for a very long time.”

While there are summer leagues aplenty all over the state and even the country, Windeshausen wanted to stay put in his hometown where his family and friends could see him play several nights a week.

Bembnister’s coaching IQ and personality also were reasons that he wanted to remain in Eau Claire. “I wanted to stay in the area and Ryan’s a great coach,” Windeshausen said.

For his part, when asked to comment on his star player Bembnister had only exemplary things to say about the young man he has known for at least seven-to-eight years now.

“He brings experience for sure, just because he’s been playing baseball for as long as I’ve known him,” Bembnister told the Leader-Telegram.

“He has developed as a disciplined baseball player, his baseball IQ has grown. To see him grow (as a player) has been great,” Bembnister added.

The Cavaliers field manager also noted that the kind of person Windeshausen is off the playing field is just as special as the skills he exhibits on the diamond.

“His willingness to play and his energy is great,” Bembnister said. “He is always happy and always there to support.”

Personality traits that parallel the successful skills he exhibits in every game, to be sure.

As for the transition between his high school and college days, Windeshausen mentioned that while it took some getting used to, he learned to adapt to the high intensity of the collegiate game.

When asked to comment on the differences between the two levels, he noted that the main difference was “Just the level of play and the experience of the upperclassmen. There was definitely a huge learning curve and the talent is definitely a lot higher (in college) than in high school.”

Another lesson learned for the star Blugold. And his stats and status on both the UWEC and Cavaliers teams are proof positive that he has indeed passed that learning curve and can compete with the best collegiate baseball players in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Association (WIAC) and beyond.

Once he graduates, Windeshausen has another dream, though it’s one that he tempers with realism.

“If I got an opportunity to play for a (MLB) team, that would definitely interest me. If not, I’ll probably then hang up the cleats and join a softball team,” he said, noting, though, that the possibility that he might one day coach a team wouldn’t be out of the question for him.

“I wouldn’t rule out coaching,” he said, noting that part of being a good leader to him means “I’d take what I learned from what mistakes I learned along the way.”

Now that he has basically come full circle from that wide-eyed boy who had dreams of playing baseball at Carson Park one day to an accomplished and personable young man who has displayed his exceptional skills for every team he has played for, Windeshausen realizes that it’s his turn to inspire the youth who aspire to be just like him one day.

It’s a responsibility that Windeshausen takes extremely seriously.

“People come to see you, people pay to see you,” he said. “I think you need to be a good role model and someone these young players should want to aspire to be.”

Another lesson learned for a local hero who continues to both hone his skills on the diamond as well as serve as an ambassador for the aspiring players of tomorrow.