Adriana Sanchez
Social Media Director
Sam Czel, a junior on the baseball team is making a comeback from last season.
Last season he played in eight games, scored two runs and stole three bases. Now the six foot, two hundred pound baseball player has more home runs than anybody on the team.
“I obviously didn’t perform to the best of my abilities last year so I took it upon myself to fulfill the spots of the couple of the seniors we lost last season,” Czel said.
During the off season he worked on his hitting and spent lots of time in the weight room. He also said he wanted to be in his best physical shape so he kept up with running.
“My success is attributed to my hard work in the off season and wanting to put the team in the best position possible to be able to succeed,” Czel said.
Czel said the team has noticed improvements. “A lot of my teammates have noticed my improvements and are glad [of] the hard worked I put in,” he said.
Although he said he doesn’t have any personal goals, he wants to continue his success with the team. “As long as I put the work in and succeed in the field then the success of the team will follow. I don’t care how I do unless the team wins, that’s the most important aspect to me,” he said.
Czel likes to see good stats but that’s not the main thing on his mind. “Having good numbers are something nice to look at but as long as I have the ability to put the team in the best positions possible, that’s all that matters,” he said.
Czel said baseball is a mental game. “Our coach really preaches mental toughness and leaning on each other for mental support,” he said.
Czel that with being a Safety major and an environmental studies major, time management is key to success. He said his studies comes with a lot of course work but it’ll pay off in the end. “With practice, games, team lifts, it’s kind of a lot to handle, but I feel like that mixture is setting me up to succeed further down in my life… future careers,” he said.
Czel started playing baseball when he was five years old. His dad was into the coaching aspect so he started playing on teams at a very young age. When Czel was a freshman in high school, he and other teammates were asked to play in Virgin Beach for the Virgin Beach Waves. Czel said him playing for the team helped him develop his skills.
Czel decided to become an Owl because of the Occupational Safety major Keene State offers and he still wanted to play baseball. He was looking into Central Connecticut State University before committing here.
Keeneowls.com reported Czel has 21 runs, five home runs and .344 batting average.
Head coach did not respond in time for deadline.
Adriana Sanchez can be reached at asanchez@kscequinox.com
