A Baseball Love Story
Two baseball players from rival colleges Beloit and Grinnell bonded over their love of the game — and found love for each other in a sport where openly gay relationships are uncommon.
On March 27, 2023, the Beloit College Buccaneer baseball team faced off against the Grinnell College Pioneers in their Midwest Conference opener. I watched from third base as our pitcher, Aiden Phipps ’25, toed the rubber for the Bucs on that chilly Saturday at ABC Supply Stadium. I handed him the ball at the start of each of his six innings. It was just another day at the office for the polished lefty. Or so I thought at the time. Little did I know then that this was also the beginning of a love story.
Phipps allowed only three runs while striking out four in six innings of work in that game. The ace gave us another great start, setting us up for a 7-5 win over the Pioneers, his third of three starts for the season.
Credit: Kayla Wolf
Cole Philpott, a senior outfielder for Grinnell, did not play in the game, but he appeared later in the series as a pinch hitter and drew a walk. Phipps’s strong performance on the mound caught Philpott’s attention and he reached out on Instagram, where the two started their friendship.
“There was a lot of friendly banter between us two during the season,” he said. “But being in the same conference didn’t help with the arguments. Sports to me and Cole are everything — something we can truly bond over and argue about. It’s a huge part of our lives and forever will be.”
As the season developed, so did their relationship. Philpott became Grinnell’s starting left fielder and leadoff hitter, and Phipps remained Beloit’s ace for the remainder of the season. This didn’t get in the way of their growing friendship.
The Buccaneers and Pioneers had successful 2023 seasons, both reaching the Midwest Conference Tournament. Beloit won the regular season and the right to host the tournament. Grinnell squeaked in with the fourth seed, setting up a matchup between Phipps and Philpott in game one.
On May 12 at Beloit’s Strong Stadium, Philpott dug into the dirt of the batter’s box to lead off the game while his teammates erupted with cheers in the Pioneer dugout. Cole had opened up to many of them about his sexuality and new relationship, but none of us on the Bucs team knew. I noticed the rambunctious energy of the Pioneer dugout, but assumed it was just the adrenaline of a tournament opener.
In their first matchup, Philpott hit a ground ball to first base. Phipps covered the bag, caught a flip from the first baseman, and recorded the out. He had a few competitive words to say as he walked by Philpott on his way back to the mound. He proceeded to pitch six innings, only giving up two hits and one run, retiring 17 batters in a row to conclude his outing. He also recorded four strikeouts in the 17-2 win, two of those suffered by Philpott.
“Facing each other in the game was fun because we’re both really competitive,” Phipps said. “Being able to run over to first base and see him and say something was cool.”
The two met up for the first time after the conclusion of the game, grabbing dinner and bantering about the season. “It was nice to talk about baseball, but also getting to know each other outside of baseball,” Phipps said. “It really deepened the connection we had.”
The next day, Beloit won the Midwest Conference Tournament, defeating the Ripon College Redhawks 4-1 in a winner-takes-all game. Phipps led the team to the promised land and our first NCAA National Tournament bid since 2016, throwing nearly five innings in relief, allowing only two hits and zero runs.
The Bucs traveled to Ohio for their regional games in the national tournament. We dropped our first two games and were eliminated in heartbreaking fashion, when Spalding University clinched the win in the 12th inning of the second game.
Phipp’s mother had made a surprise trip from Simi Valley, California to see him at the regional, and after all the commotion and curveballs of the season, Phipps decided it was time to tell his mom about his relationship with Philpott.
“I was scared of how she’d react or what she’d say,” Phipps said. “It was hard coming to the realization that once I told one person, the whole world would know something I had [once] thought to be ashamed of.” But this didn’t stop him from opening up.
“I was sick to my stomach, shaking. It felt like I was getting stepped on by an elephant,” he said. Even after preparing for the conversation, it took Phipps three hours to get the courage to tell his mom. But in the end, she was supportive and happy for him.
Phipps decided over the summer that it was time to tell us, his teammates. “I told my closest friends on the team first,” he said. “People I knew would be accepting of me and Cole, people I knew I could be comfortable around, and knew they would be comfortable that I was coming out to them.”
I was the first friend on that list. When he told me that he was dating the Grinnell lead-off hitter, my first thought was that he meant a softball player. He had never even thrown a hint that he’s bisexual. After an hour of conversation, I had wrapped my head around the truth and was beyond happy for my close friend.
Later that summer, Philpott traveled to Southern California and the two made the drive up to see me in Carpinteria. After meeting him, I knew they were great for each other.
Soon after that trip, the couple went public, posting photos of themselves together to Instagram. “All of my teammates and friends were super supportive of me,” Phipps said. “A lot of them, also my coaches, were proud of me and said I was brave. It was nice to see I could truly be myself and that no matter what, my teammates would have my back.”
In October 2023, the sports news website Outsports interviewed the couple and published a story documenting their relationship and baseball rivalry, and recognized them as the Outsports Male Heroes of the Year.
After their successful 2024 Midwest Conference seasons, with Beloit winning the conference tournament for the second year in a row, Phipps and Philpott got a call from the Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball franchise inviting them to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Orioles’s Pride Night. On June 27, the left-hander Phipps, and Phillpot, a right-hander, threw out a simultaneous first pitch.
Credit: Peyton Stoike, Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles, ©2024
“I felt bigger than myself for the first time in a long time,” Phipps said. “Being able to throw out the first pitch at an MLB game, on a Pride night, surrounded by people who are part of your community, who accept you for who you are and come up to you telling you ‘you’re doing a great job’ is a really cool feeling.”
“Knowing that a lot of people out in the world are looking up to me was great,” he said. “Being able to share that moment with Cole, with our entire lives being baseball, to go out to the mound and look around with fifty thousand people in the stands was unreal. It was a really great experience, one that I’ll never forget.”
Credit: Peyton Stoike, Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles, ©2024
