Helias baseball coach finishes career at end of 2024 campaign

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Chris Wyrick has been a staple of Helias baseball for more than two decades, but his time at the helm of the program is coming to a close. The two-time state championship winning head coach announced on Tuesday that, once the 2024 season comes to an end, he will be retiring.

The Crusaders are set to start Class, 5 District 5 tournament action on Wednesday, May 15 with a quarterfinal matchup against Camdenton. The team will undoubtedly look to keep Wyrick's final postseason run alive as long as possible over the next few weeks.

“I would like to thank the Helias Catholic High School community for their support over the last 25 years as head baseball coach. I have enjoyed my time as head coach, but feel like now is a good time to take a step back and allow someone else to oversee and direct the program,” Coach Wyrick said in a press release. “This extra time will allow me to spend more time with my family and give me the opportunity to watch my son play collegiate baseball.”

He will continue to serve as the assistant coach for Helias' softball and girls basketball teams, in addition to coaching P.E. at the high school. However, he will now get a chance to watch his son and current Sader baseball player Sam Wyrick play in college at the University of Central Missouri.

Wyrick has been the baseball coach at Helias Catholic High School since 2000, after joining the school as a teacher in 1999. In his team at the head of Sader baseball, he led two teams to state titles (2000 and 2001), as well as 10 district championships and two Final Four runs. He also just earned his 450th career win in the 2024 regular season finale.

His illustrious career earned him an induction into the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2018. He's also been recognized as the MHSBCA Coach of the Year, Greater St. Louis MLB Scouts Association High School Coach of the Year and even the National Federation of State High School Associations Missouri Baseball Coach of the Year.

He got to coach for all those years at the very school he attended when he was a teenager. The 1989 graduate of Helias also played on three state championship Crusader baseball teams and holds the school record for career batting average, RBI and home runs in a season.

After he graduated from Helias, Wyrick played at Mizzou and then went on to play professionally for the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers.