President Theodore Roosevelt is often credited with coining the phrase, ‘Speak softly, and carry a big stick.’

That might just as well be the Notre Dame High School baseball team’s motto this season.

The unranked Nikes are off to a 4-0 start, including a 16-0, four-inning rout of West Burlington in an SEI Superconference South Division game Tuesday at Falcon Field.

The Nikes pounded out 12 hits, including four home runs, and junior Jaxon Sadler did the rest, shutting out the Falcons in three innings with relief help in the fourth.

No rankings, not matter. The Nikes prefer to let their bats and gloves do their talking.

“I think we’re overlooked. They didn’t have us in the rankings at all, which doesn’t bother us. We’re ready to go,” said Notre Dame junior shortstop Caden Schwenker, who was 3-for-3 with a pair of home runs, scored three runs and drove in four. “We want to come out and jump on the bats real early and keep them going throughout the game.”

“I feel like we should be ranked. We’ve beaten some good teams. We just haven’t gotten the credit for it,” said Sadler, who set the tone by striking out the side in the bottom of the first inning after the Nikes scored twice in the top of the frame.

“I knew we were going to be good, I just didn’t know we were going to be this good at the start,” Notre Dame head coach Chris Chiprez said. “We tell the guys we almost prefer not to be ranked. I prefer the underdog role. We tell our guys to go out there and treat every game like it’s a state championship game and go out there and compete.”

Notre Dame (4-0 overall, 1-0 South Division) wasted no time in jumping on West Burlington starting pitcher Brock Thuleen. Spencer Brent was hit by a pitch and Schwenker followed with a towering home run to left field.

The Nikes’ bats were just warming up.

“I think it started at the end of the 2022 season. We had a fall ball season last year. These guys — every one of them — they eat, drink and sleep baseball. You can’t get them out of the cage, out of our indoor facility,” Chiprez said. “It almost is to the point where we have had to kick the guys out of the cage because they will not leave. That’s not a bad thing. I attribute it to their work ethic and all the offseason work they’ve done.”

Sadler sat the Falcons down with three strikeouts in the bottom of the inning.

“That’s what we wanted to do. That’s how we want to start the game,” Sadler said. “We had a game plan and we had to stick to it. We went and watched them (Monday) night and got a good idea how to throw to everybody.”

The Nikes broke the game open in the third, sending 15 batters to the plate, banging out 10 hits, including home runs by Isaiah Crow, Dylan Kipp and Schwenker.

By the time it was over, the Nikes’ lead had ballooned to 13-0.

“We just came out trying to get base hits and they happened to go out,” Schwenker said. “We’re just going to keep playing our game, playing to our level and try to win games. That’s the goal.”

West Burlington (1-1, 0-1) got singles from Kody Allen in the second and Thuleen in the third.

After pulling out a thrilling one-run game to open the season Monday, the Falcons’ bats were silent against their crosstown rivals.

“There’s nothing I could say to Brock. He was pitching it where I wanted it and they just put good swings on it. That’s just the way baseball goes sometimes,” first-year West Burlington coach Aaron Brown said.

“This is a good early test for us. They’re a a good team. Even when I was in high school they were a good team. Always looking out for Notre Dame. Watching them take infield and watching them practice is usually one of the better ones to watch.”