By Ali Sisk
A childhood past time that started on the t-ball field has proven to be very rewarding for IVCC’s athlete of the month, center fielder Cory Newman.
Baseball has always been a large part of Newman’s life: "I remember playing baseball in my back yard with my older brother when we were little," the Apache freshman said.
A graduate of Ottawa High School, Newman played baseball for his four years there. During the 1998 season, he led his team to the state tournament for the first time in the school’s history. As a senior, he claimed the batting title and was named the team’s MVP, not to mention being selected First Team All Conference for both his junior and senior seasons.
Newman is taking no time to adjust to the college level game; at the beginning of his first season he is already hitting over .400, and he is the leadoff hitter for the Apaches.
Coach Bob Koopmann, who is very pleased with Newman’s performance, said, "He’s the spark plug of the team. Cory goes out there and gets everything started."
Koopmann explained that Newman is followed in the batting order by Jason McStoots, who is also batting over .400, and "they always get on base."
Not only is Newman a strong offensive player, but he backs it up with his defense. His greatest strength as a center fielder is his throwing arm.
"The teams that we have played against don’t expect that," Koopmann said. "They can’t hit to him; he gets everything."
Newman is optimistic about the season.
"I didn’t really know what to expect," he said. "The team is really coming together. We have a lot of good players and we should have a shot at going somewhere in our conference."
A business major, Newman plans to transfer to a university to continue his baseball career.
"I’d love to play baseball as long as I can, hopefully at a Division I school next, and we’ll see what happens from there," he said.