Double duty has its rewards for Martin
Baseball is a mentally grueling game for any player, but Wheaton's Trey Martin is pulling double duty. Not only is the senior playing first base and pitching, he is doing both at an elite level.
After five games in seven days, the Wheaton North graduate was named the CCIW pitcher of the week and named to the D3Baseball.com team of the week as both a pitcher and first baseman. While Martin has earned the conference award a number of times throughout his career, the website's honor is coming for the first time not only for Martin but for the Wheaton program. He is also the first player in the history of the website's team of the week to be named as both a pitcher and position player.
"I felt pretty good this past week," Martin said. "It was nice to be able to contribute both offensively and on the mound."
Martin's contributions over the five games were extensive. At the plate he hit .409 with 12 RBI. His power, which often comes slowly in cold weather, was on full force with 2 doubles and 3 home runs. In his only appearance on the mound for the week, he kept Illinois Wesleyan scoreless in a 2-hitter. Martin struck out a career-high 13 batters and the team needed every one of them to win 1-0.
"Honestly, I was just really happy to get the win." Martin said. "We had lost the first two games of the series. I'm not going to say it was a must win, but it was a big one for us to turn around."
Martin, a preseason All-America, said the team is starting to find its grove in conference play. While it didn't get all the wins it wanted, the Thunder snuck past both Augustana and Illinois Wesleyan without being swept and is finding its strenghts as a team, Martin said.
As a dual threat Martin needs to wipe the mental slate clean in order to focus on the next task. In order to prevent overworking his arm, Martin often pitches the second game of a doubleheader after playing first in the opener. Because of this, Martin said he needs to refocus on the next game almost immediately after the first ends.
Even with all his success, Martin is quick to share the accolades with his teammates.
"I've got a bunch of good hitters surrounding me in the lineup. I've been seeing a bunch of good pitches to hit because they can't pitch around me," Martin said about his offense, while the fielding was no different. "The defense was doing so well behind me, it was really a good team win for us."
North Central:
The Cardinals have named a coach for their innaugural men's volleyball season. Kyle Exline will lead North Central when it takes the court for the first time in the 2015 season. The former Division I volleyball player will spend this season recruiting.