Slugging Spartan

By Casey Geier:

If you’ve been to any baseball games this season, chances are you’ve seen number 35 crack one over the outfield.

Shane Timmons has been the Spartans main run producer the past two years, leading the team in homeruns and RBIs.

Timmons started his baseball career at the tee ball level and quickly grew a passion for the sport.

Despite being from southern California, Timmons was a big Mets fan as a kid.

“Growing up my favorite baseball player was David Wright. I just liked the way he played and looked up to him,” Timmons said.

Timmons moved to first base last fall after being a second basemen and designated hitter his freshman year.

He has enjoyed the change in culture since Jason Hawkins took over as the head coach this season after former coach Dave Nakama went 66-162 in his four seasons. Hawkins won the Pac-12 tournament last season as the head coach of Utah and has been a contributor in SJSU’s improvement.

“Throughout sophomore year and into this year, I’ve been developing more and more as a hitter, and coach Hawkins coming in has really helped us as hitters, teaching us new things and helping us grow,” Timmons said.

Timmons’ stats have continued to improve this year. He has already doubled the amount of homeruns he had last year with eight on the season, to go along with an increase to 36 RBIs.

“Shane’s been one of our most consistent guys, doesn’t matter what the situation is,” Hawkins said. “He’s done a great job all year of being the same guy day in and day out.”

Timmons is a believer in superstitions and — following a win — will try and do the same exact thing the following day, including wearing the same clothes, after he washes them.

Junior infielder Kyle Morrison has lived with Timmons off campus since freshman year. When asked to describe the first basemen he said he’s like a tank.

“He’s also a huge gamer,” Morrison said. “It’s pretty funny to see him on the field and then at home playing video games, he’s competitive both ways.”

Timmons brought up the importance of being close with his teammates on-and-off the field.

“At the end of the day we’re all friends, but once it comes down to it and we’re in a game, we can talk to each other however we want to make sure we keep competing,” Timmons said.

Morrison mentioned how dramatic the change from high school baseball to college is, with more traveling and the added time commitment. It’s important for the upperclassmen on the team to give advice to the newer guys.

“Shane’s not the loudest guy on the team but he’ll make his thoughts known,” Morrison said. “He’s more of a leader by example.”

Hawkins had the players go through leadership training this past fall and Timmons said that it’s been a boost for the team.

“It’s really helped us hone our skills in leadership and it’s important to have good leaders on the team to help us stay on track and do the right things on and off the field,” Timmons said.

Timmons’ goal is to make another appearance in the Mountain West Tournament and win it before he graduates in two years.

With the team currently in last place in the Mountain West, this goal is ambitious to say the least.

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