The old adage “wait until next year” would have to be one that Hugo junior Trystunn Fleeks will apply to his baseball fortunes.
“I was really disappointed with how things went this past season,” said Fleeks. “We only won three games and even though we beat the top teams in our district, we lost games to lesser opponents, and this was really an important year for me to shine.”
Trystunn, who also plays point guard on the Buffaloes basketball team, started playing both sports in his early years and likes each for different reasons,
“I like basketball because it’s more of a hype game and I like baseball because I’m better at it. I taught myself how to play catcher and how to pitch but I never really learned the fundamentals well until later,” said Fleeks. “My freshman year I was the backup catcher and designated base runner. My sophomore year I did most of the catching and pitched a little and that was the best season I’ve had. I had a coach that stayed on me about doing the little things and not focusing so much on the big things. We also had a senior in Jack Gilliam who taught me a lot. That coach left though and this year the transition didn’t go so well.”
Trystunn points to basketball coach Darnell Shanklin as having a big influence on him.
“He’s been here such a long time and I really respect that. He’s really teaching me how to take my game to the next level.”
Shanklin points to Fleeks’ unselfish attitude as main cog in the Buffaloes basketball system.
“Trystunn is a guy that comes off the bench for us and brings a lot of energy and plays great defense,” said Shanklin. “He does a lot of the little intangibles that don’t show up in the stats and he’s really important to us. He accepts his role, doesn’t have a big ego and does what’s asked of him.”
Trystunn plans to spend the summer playing for coach Shanklin on the court and on the diamond for his summer league team in baseball while doing some extra strength and conditioning work so he can be ready for that next year to come while counting on his good character to help propel him to success.