Crest’s Trevor Church is slated to have a big summer season on the mound for the A Iola Indians.
The surging sophomore was featured sparingly for the Indians last summer, but with a year of Legion experience under his belt, he is now ready to put forth his best.
“Last year kind of taught me what kind of pitches I can throw to older kids, and they were smoking some of the pitches that I left up in the zone,” Church said. “Hitting-wise, facing harder pitching was pretty tough sometimes.”
When Church wasn’t with the Indians last summer, he featured for the Iola Mustangs baseball club 14U traveling baseball team. Playing for the Mustangs allowed Church the opportunity to compete against talent his own age.
Playing against younger competition means less velocity on the mound, and batters with less power. Adjusting between the two levels of competition was a battle for Church.
“I was just trying to realize that I was playing a couple years up, and to not get too frustrated with the results,” Church said.
Church’s father, Travis, was in his corner whenever the youngster needed a pick-me-up from a learning experience with the Indians.
“I was just telling him that he had to be patient,” Travis said. “He was a really good hitter when he was playing at his own level. I don’t really know if it was that he was outmatched, or overwhelmed and not comfortable yet. The pitching was good, but it wasn’t untouchable for him. But sometimes you feel you have to play at a higher level when you go against older kids.”
Although Church wasn’t the key arm or bat leading the charge for the Indians last season, he enjoyed the ride to the state tournament. The A Indians reached the semifinals of the state tournament before losing to Larned 4-2.
A fun summer of baseball only built up more hype for Church’s first season of high school baseball. He competed for the Lancers during both football and basketball, but was denied the baseball season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I felt like we could have been pretty good, so I was pretty frustrated when it got canceled,” Church said. “I felt like we had a chance to at least go to state.”
Even though Church didn’t have a summer season, he still found time to improve his game. He joined Lancer teammate senior Zach Beckmon to improve his pitching and become better conditioned for the summer season.
“We had a program with some long toss, and some mound work,” Church said. “We probably went four or five days a week from the time baseball was canceled and the Legion season started.”
Church says his uncle and high school head coach Roland Weir has had a big impact on his overall improvement on the diamond. With his uncle in one ear and his father in the other, he’s received lots of constructive criticism.
“I just tell him he needs to be consistent in what he does, and keep his mechanics in line,” Travis said. “Even though you might be throwing a different pitch, it needs to look the same every time.
