Sine

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Perseverance has brought reward.

Taking a redshirt season has now helped Shepherd University outfielder Trey Sine become a starter for the Rams as the team began its season in southwestern Virginia last weekend.

Sine had much success at Martinsburg High School in both football and baseball, graduating in 2020 after playing on three state championship football teams and lettering twice in baseball.

As a linebacker and the team’s punter, Sine reaped the football rewards that came his way as a state champion football player.

In his first year at Shepherd, he was redshirted and sat out the baseball season.

Then in 2022, he had only six at-bats, getting three hits in the nine games he played.

Last year wasn’t much different than the 2022 season had brought, as he appeared in 18 games with one start. He was 3-for-13 in that limited playing time.

It’s now his fourth year since graduating from Martinsburg High School in 2020.

This past Saturday in Wise, Va., Sine started all four games as the Rams’ leftfielder. He went 5-for-13 at the plate and had two doubles, as Shepherd divided the four-game series against UVA-Wise’s Highland Cavaliers.

There are not too many players who can sit out their first year in college and then play limited roles in both their second and third years before being elevated to a starting role. It takes as much patience and perseverance as it does baseball talent and will to succeed.

Hustle and desire are athletic traits that can be seen from the sidelines by coaches or fans, but are mostly difficult to measure.

Sometimes those intangibles are more important than running speed, hitting ability, arm strength or fielding ability.

Shepherd has a player whose drive to compete has given him the chance to show that his baseball skills have grown enough and are now worthy of being a contributing starter.

His chance didn’t come overnight. But it’s here. And he made the most of it starting last weekend in the distant town of Wise, Va.