Badgers add local flavour
The Brock Badgers have added local product Cole Carpenter. Photo by: BROCK UNIVERSITY.
The Brock Badgers baseball team didn’t have to search very far for two of their latest recruits.
The Badgers recently added St. Catharines natives Cole Carpenter and Griffin Whitehorne to their roster for the 2020 Ontario University Athletics season.
“It’s always been something coach (Marc) LePage has encouraged in terms of assistants looking into our backyard to try and find potential recruits that can help us out and make that connection with the local community,” assistant coach Jon Marcheterre said. “In general, you always want to recruit well in your backyard.
“In the time I’ve been part of the coaching staff, we’ve had local guys who were key contributors to the team. With both of these ball players, they are going to get an opportunity to make the team and hopefully find role and in time become impactful players.”
Carpenter is a Grade 12 student at St. Francis who earned a bronze medal at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) AA basketball championships earlier this year.
Whitehorne, a Grade 12 student at Sir Winston Churchill, is also an accomplished volleyball player who took home a silver from OFSAA with the Bulldogs last fall.
“We see these two guys as talented young local ball players who have success in the classroom and in different sports. Both are OFSAA medalists in other sports so you see some athleticism and hopefully that can translate,” Marcheterre said.
Carpenter, a 6-foot-2 infielder, played last season with the Great Lakes Gators (Buffalo) after previously suiting up for the St. Catharines Cobras and Niagara Falls Falcons.
“I kind of wanted to stay in my hometown,” Carpenter said. “I thought it would be nice to play in front on my parents and some of my friends and also the relationship I have built with Mr. Marcheterre over the past years with him coaching me in high school. I think those two factors were pretty important to me when I was making my decision.”
Carpenter plans to study business administration (co-op) and is happy to have his future mapped out.
“It’s definitely a relief now so I can focus on my sights ahead and know what I have to do to get to where I want to be,” he said. “It takes the nerves away from having that question mark about your future and what you’re going to do. I think now it’s over with I can start to prepare and work for what I want in the future.”
Carpenter is prepared to fill whatever role is asked of him.
“I know I have to work hard this summer to prepare myself to get to that stage. I’m not coming into the season expecting anything huge. I just want to help the team where I can and do my part and develop my role for future years.”
Whitehorne is a 6-foot-6 right-handed pitcher who played for the Burlington Bulls of the Elite Baseball League of Ontario last season and wants to work in law enforcement.
“Obviously, school is a big factor for me and they just got a criminology program this year which is what I wanted to go into,” he said. “That made my choice a little easier and I had worked out with the team a couple of times and I got to know the guys and the way they do things and the community they have there.”
Whitehorne is doing his best under the circumstances to get prepared for the season. He recently purchased a net to throw into and is doing drills sent to him by Brock pitching coach Fabio Del Rio.
“I’ve been doing those every day hoping to be as prepared as I can for my first year and obviously continue to develop with the team,” Whitehorne said. “It will be a work in progress but I’m excited.
“I’m doing my best with what I have. Anything is better than nothing.”
Marcheterre said both players impressed him with their attitude.
“A real priority for us in the recruiting process is character,” he said. “In fact we try to recruit character more than talent. We can find talent. It’s finding guys who are going to go in for the 6 a.m. optional hitting throughout the winter. We’re not on campus full time as a staff so you need guys you can trust who are doing their job in the classroom.”
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