The Sinclair Community College baseball team has something to brag about.
The OCCAC Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Coach of the Year are all from Sinclair.
Outfielder Marcus Heath was named Player of the Year after batting .433 with 9 home runs and 58 RBI.
“This ranks pretty high up there. I’m pretty excited about it and my family is pretty excited about it,” said Heath.
“It was a goal of mine, to win player of the year,” said Heath.
According to coach Dintaman, Marcus may be named All-American and Academic All-American soon.
“He had a monster year for us, and was the most-feared hitter in our lineup,” said Dintaman.
Dintaman won Coach of the Year for the third straight year after leading the Tartan Pride to another OCCAC Conference Championship.
“You win the conference, you get Coach of the Year,” said Dintaman. “We just made a new bylaw, at least with our coaches about it.”
Dintaman guided the Tartan Pride to a number 23 overall ranking in a Division II NJCAA National poll after going 32-17 in the regular season.
“It’s more than just a one man show. It’s four other guys working with you every single day to try and get better, but it comes down to the players in the end,” Dintaman said. “You could be the best coach around and do everything right, but if you don’t have the players to execute and make the plays, you’re not gonna win games. I’m very fortunate to coach some very good student-athletes and kudos to them for getting the job done.”
One of those student-athletes is right-handed pitcher Austin Pressly, who after going 5-1 with 27 strikeouts was named Pitcher of the Year.
“It feels great. I’m glad all the hard work paid off,” said Pressly. “It’s far behind being drafted and now going to a Division-1 school, but it definitely means a lot.”
“A key part of coach Dintaman’s coaching focus is on the mental game,” Pressly said. “He really pushed it upon us, and with me especially it’s helped me overcome things that are out of my control.”
Dintaman said Pressly was one of his first big recruits.
“It’s been fun to watch him improve his game and become the pitcher he has become. He just knows how to pitch.”