Southeast junior infielder Trevor Ezell has started off the 2018 baseball season in great form, leading the way for the Redhawks with a .455 batting average, the 16th best average in the nation, despite missing almost all of last season with a back injury.
After two seasons in the infield at Southeast Ezell was already a decorated player in the Ohio Valley Conference. In 2015, he was member of the All-OVC Freshman team and he was then named Second Team All-OVC as a sophomore.
An injury then derailed his junior season. Ezell was only able to play in nine games for the Redhawks before being shut down for the season with an injury to his L5 spinal vertebrae. On June 2, Ezell had surgery on his lower back to repair the vertebrae.
Ezell missed about eight months of baseball due to the injury and surgery. Ezell said from that point forward he would have to work hard to become the player he was in the past. In 2015, Ezell led the Redhawks with 77 hits while starting all 59 games, then went onto break the school’s single-season runs record with 70 in 2016.
“You know I just really worked on getting reps, getting a lot of them, and I get a lot of reps from both sides of the plate,” Ezell said.
So far this season, Ezell has two home runs, and 16 RBIs to go with is .455 average. However, he has been limited to play in the field, and has been primarily used as a designated hitter.
Ezell might be back in the lineup, but the injury and recovery is still a part of the process for the redshirt junior.
“I kind of stay away from the squatting a lot, and the deadlifting, some of the scarier stuff,” Ezell said of working out.
Ezell is not one gloat about his quick recovery and success, crediting his longevity in the program and his experience.
“I just have a lot of experience on all these guys,” Ezell said.
Ezell was granted a medical redshirt from the NCAA last year, which means he still retains one more year of athletic eligibility after the 2018 season.
Ezell might be off to a hot start, but it hasn’t translated into immediate team success. The Redhawks are 5-11 overall, 2-1 in the OVC and 0-7 away from Capaha Field. Ezell recognizes his role as a veteran and team leader to try to turn things around.
“You know it’s about just letting these younger guys know that every little thing we do here, it’s important,” Ezell said. “That’s what we got to do, and we got to keep working hard.”
The Redhawks return to action when they travel to UT Martin to take on the Skyhawks for a three game series from March 16-18.
