Skyline baseball: Sam Trout feature

On Feb. 13, I wrote an article about Sam Trout, a former Skyline baseball player who earned a scholarship to play at Yakima Valley Community College. This article will appear in the soon-to-be-published Skyline 2011 baseball yearbook.

Sam Trout:

Eagles’ pitcher was also a hitting star
and helped team to region crown

By Bruce Smith
Matchup

Sam Trout can remember a lot of outstanding plays on the baseball field in his life. But there was one that stood out.

On a sunny late afternoon April 27, Trout walked up to the plate at Cottonwood High School. The Eagles held a one-game lead in the standings, but they trailed 4-2. The bases were loaded and the Colts had just inserted their best pitcher to try to get out of the jam.

His first pitch was outside. Trout didn’t budge. However, the famous story of “Mighty Casey” didn’t hold true on this day.

Trout smacked the next pitch high into the air to deep left-center field. He took off running toward first base as the ball bounced on the warning track and ricocheted off the green-tinted fence. When it was over, Trout was standing on second base and three runs had scored.

“That was a big hit,” Trout said. “It was a pretty cool finish for me.

“When we won that game, it meant we had won region,” he added. “It was the first time (for Skyline) in seven years. I’ve been on good teams before, but we didn’t get it (the region title). But to get it my senior year was a big deal.”

That was just one of many big plays for Trout, who batted .475 and was also Skyline’s best pitcher. He won seven games during the season and was almost always asked to pitch the Eagles’ biggest games. For his efforts, he was named Region 2 Most Valuable Player and was selected first team all-state.

“Sam also played great shortstop. He had really good hands,” said Skyline coach Erik Hansen. “On the mound, he was awesome. That first time through region he looked really good. The second part he pitched good, but there was a time when we had him on short rest. I think there was a fatigue issue more than anything else.”

For Hansen, it made a lot of sense to use him as much as possible. Trout’s combination of an 86 mph fastball, curve and changeup made him one of the state’s best.

But his success actually started years before. Trout said he had played baseball for as long as he could remember. He also played basketball, but focused on baseball when he entered high school. He often worked out with his dad, John, who also arranged for him to begin learning from an area coach, Gary Cleverly.

“When I was younger, I didn’t pitch too much, but when I was 11 or 12 (years old), I started pitching. I had a good arm but some people started to notice it.”
And Skyline benefited.

The Eagles finished 18-8 in Trout’s junior year. Trout said the highlights included a game-winning hit over host Desert Hills in an early season tournament at St. George. Later that year, he came to the plate in Skyline’s 5A state tournament game against American Fork. The bases were loaded with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning in a scoreless game.

He was hit by a pitch, which forced in the winning run and ended the game. Not the outcome he had hoped for, but it was good enough.

“I was really nervous,” he said. “It happened so fast. I just remember I was the hero.”

After his Skyline career ended, the good fortunes continued. Trout was selected to an all-star game with Utah’s top players. He pitched three scoreless innings and struck out five batters at Ogden’s Lindquist Field. He also was 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of doubles as his team won, 13-4.

His efforts catapulted him to bigger and better things.

He tried to earn a scholarship to play baseball at the University of Utah, but the Utes’ coaches asked him to get in more work, so he went on to Yakima Valley Community College (Wash.). Trout said it was his goal to play there and then return home to the Utes.

“It has been one of the coolest things I’ve had happen in my life up to this point,” he said. “It was a big accomplishment.”