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Friday, May 9, 2008 11:09 PM CDT
After injury-plagued year, Gilbert comes home
By BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bneilsen@jg-tc.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- For years as a kid attending baseball camps, J.B. Gilbert dreamed of playing college ball on Eastern Illinois’ field.
The Charleston graduate just did not know at the time he would do so in an Austin Peay uniform.
And his dream sure never included going through a senior season with a bum leg.
But here he is just now starting to get back to speed after fouling a baseball off his shin early this season leaving lingering effects much of his senior season.
Heading into this key weekend series in the Ohio Valley Conference race as an opposing player against his hometown college, Gilbert laments his lame shin and lame batting average but does not go so far as to blame one as the reason for the other.
“I’m not going to say that,” said Gilbert, who brings a .219 average into today’s 1 p.m. doubleheader at Coaches Stadium a year after batting .309 in his first Austin Peay season as a transfer from Olney Central College. “I don’t have any excuses.
“The difference is they have scouting reports on me now. It’s been tough. They are just playing me in holes where they think I’m going to put it and that’s where I’m putting it. I’ve been hitting it right to them.”
Austin Peay coach Gary McClure makes a bit more of a case defending Gilbert, who has 28 hits including eight doubles and one home run in his 128 at-bats.
“He got hurt early, the very first week of the season,” McClure said. “It just kind of got worse and worse. It became kind of a serious injury. At one point we thought it was fractured and he was going to be out for the year maybe. He was able to come back but he was kind of partial speed wise.
“It really hurt him offensively because he wasn’t able to stride. It really hurt him. He missed a lot. As of late, he’s been playing well and swinging the bat pretty well. A lot of it has had to with his injury.”
Through his struggles at the plate, Gilbert’s skills at second base have kept him in the starting lineup for 40 of Austin Peay’s 48 games.
“J.B had a lot of range,” McClure said. “He might still be maybe a half-step slower than he was but he’s pretty good. He’s doing a good job now. He was still very valuable to have in there because of a lot of things he can do for you. We just tried to keep him rested as well as we could.”
Gilbert has no thoughts of resting through this weekend.
His Austin Peay team and Eastern as well as Tennessee Tech are each tied at 11-10 for third place in the Ohio Valley going into this next to last weekend of the regular season.
“It will be fun,” Gilbert said. “It will be more fun with the importance of it. It’s not like it’s a nothing series.”
Regardless of the teams’ records, this would be a big weekend for Gilbert coming home to play in front of family and friends at Eastern’s field.
“I grew up wanting to go there,” he said. “I went to all the camps. Going back and playing on the field I’ve been around my whole life will be fun.”
He can hardly regret his route of going through Olney Central College where he developed into an NJCAA All-Region 24 selection batting .395 as a sophomore.
“I give J.B. all the credit in the world,” Olney coach Dennis Conley said. “He’s undersized. Everyone questioned him but you couldn’t question anything inside his chest. He was a great player for us. He was just a dirtbag who would do anything you asked. J.B. is one of my all-time favorites.”
Not only that, the undersized Charleston kid became a NCAA Division I prospect after two junior college seasons with Eastern not the only consideration.
“I loved the thought of going there,” Gilbert said. “I just had the opportunity to come here and chose to come here. I definitely thought about going to EIU. I just felt like my best opportunity to have a starting position and play would be here. (Eastern) had a good middle infield while I was getting recruited. I knew that and there was the opportunity to play here and that’s why I chose here.”
That choice had him in the NCAA regional last year after Austin Peay won the Ohio Valley tournament championship.
He is hoping for another late-season run through the OVC for another NCAA berth but realizes before long he is going to have to use his business management degree for his next career.
A former national champion in modified midget racing, Gilbert plans to continue in that sport racing sprint cars.
Pro baseball does not look to be an option.
“No, no,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed what I’ve had. It’s gotten me a lot of places.”
Now the journey has gotten him back home playing on the field where he wanted to play as a kid.
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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