Cousineau at Mott, commits to MSU

FLINT — Since spending his redshirt freshman season with the University of Arkansas baseball team, 2008 Davison grad Trevor Cousineau’s existence has been shaken up like a snow globe. Once the Razorbacks released the former Cardinal and four of his teammates from his eight-semester scholarship, Cousineau’s first order of business was to find his way home, a task made easier by Davison baseball coach Timm Rye and his connections at Mott Community College.

“I obviously benefit and I thank coach Rye. He called me out of the blue this summer and told me Trevor was coming home. While he had offers from other places, Trevor wanted to play in Michigan,” said Mott coach and 1993 Davison product Shawn Brown. “People overlook the fact he passed up $120,000 to play at Arkansas after the Cleveland Indians drafted him in the 31st round. I commend he and his family for not taking the easy way out. We all want to live the dream, but get your education first.”

Since joining the Bears earlier this year, Cousineau’s future prospects are once again bright, recently committing verbally to play for Michigan State University starting in 2011 after spending 2010 at Mott. His signing with the Spartans should be announced shortly and is the same as his offer from Arkansas — eight semesters of education.

“At Arkansas they messed with his motion. He was not coming down all the way like he was in high school and losing velocity from 90 to about 84 miles an hour,” Brown said. “That’s one thing our pitching coach picked up on right away. He’s just got to get back to his old habits. They made him throw more stifflegged. We’ll be going over the video with him to work on getting him back to where he was.”

While Cousineau’s athletic prowess has certainly helped him with the Bears during their recently-concluded 2009 commits to MSU

summer league season, hitting four home runs in 56 at-bats, he’s also bonded with teammates despite all the attention surrounding him.

“A lot of the guys on our team are from Genesee County and they already knew each other. Trevor says he feels at home because everybody knows him from before,” said Brown. “He’s a good hitter. He’ll also play some first base for us.”

With 19 pitchers on this year’s team and more lefthanders than righthanders, Mott will have a myriad of talent at its disposal, a fact of life that can make Cousineau appear as both a hero and a villian to those sharing the bullpen with him.

“Some kids, like Tyler Cobb, see playing with Trevor as a benefit because the scouts are coming out. Some of the other guys may be a little bit intimidated because everybody wants to see you fall when you’re at the top,” Brown said. “He’s a good kid and at Arkansas he had a 3.71 grade point average, but this wouldn’t have happened without the help of coach Rye.”

Despite also visiting Central Michigan University, as well as several outof state prospects, Cousineau is still draft-eligible, meaning his future could once again take an unexpected turn depending on the offer.

As for Mott’s prospects for the upcoming campaign, the team is returning most of its key players from a year before, while adding talent like Goodrich infielder Steve Hughes, Grand Blanc outfielders Darrell Wynkoop and Zach Eckblad and Lapeer East pitcher Christian Graham.

“This year could be very promising. The past couple years we hit over .300 as a team. If we get all our personnel issues handled by December, it could be a great season,” said Brown.

Other local athletes in their freshman season with the MCC baseball team include Davison’s Kevin Yoesting

OF), Lapeer East’s Bobby Frey (OF) and Brown City’s Ryan Hoff (P). Last year Mott hit .305 as a team, the fourth-best mark in the school’s 40- year history.