FRUITPORT – A year ago, Fruitport’s Trevor Rusnak was kind of the Babe Ruth of the local high school baseball scene – a husky kid with some extra pounds who hit the ball extra hard.

He checked in at 6-foot-3 and 280 pounds and drilled seven homers, which is a lot in a high school baseball season.

This year his numbers are lighter in both respects.

He clipped about 45 pounds from his weight, and only has two home runs as the regular season nears its conclusion.

That’s not a step back for Rusnak, though. Quite the opposite, in fact.

He has become a better all-around hitter, athlete and leader for the Trojans, who are having another great season at 26-6 and are preparing to make another run in the state tournament.

As of last week, Rusnak had a sizzling .434 batting average – around 100 points higher than last season – and a .505 on-base percentage.

In 83 at bats, he had 22 singles, 12 doubles, one triple and one homer with 33 runs batted in. He added his second home run in a game in Traverse City on Friday.

The increased productivity allowed Rusnak to reach two major career milestones this season, surpassing the 100 hit and 100 RBI mark.

“This year I honestly didn’t want to focus as much on power,” Rusnak said. “That will come. My mentality has been more about spraying the ball to all fields, because the more I am on base, the better it is for the team.

“Hitting homers was super exciting, but it can get to the point where you are only trying to hit homers, and that can go downhill fast. That happened to me when I was younger, and I wanted to get away from that before it started to happen. Homers were great, but having more guys score with doubles in the gap is super exciting, too.”

Rusnak thinks his weight loss has definitely helped him become a better hitter and all-around athlete, and just a healthier person in general.

“Honestly I wasn’t feeling comfortable about how I felt or the way I was looking,” he said. “My overall health just didn’t feel right. I was really determined to lose weight and get better on the field.”

The trimmed down Rusnak has been able to do more things this season. Instead of just playing first base, he has moved over the play a little third base as well, a position that requires more mobility and quicker reflexes.

While he will never been a speedster on the basepaths, Rusnak has also stolen six bases in six tries, which is pretty good for a really big kid.

“I have never been super quick, but this year my movement feels a lot better,” he said. “I feel a lot more mobile.”

Fruitport head coach Nick Reed said the lighter Rusnak has been better all the way around.

“Offensively he’s been great, and he’s really taken his leadership to another level,” the coach said. “He lost a ton of weight in the offseason, and he’s healthier, stronger and not as tired at the end of games. It really helped him become a better player.

“He’s been growing up and maturing, too. He’s become a vocal leader and helps get the guys where we need them to be. He’s also a very hard worker, and the guys follow his lead in that aspect, too.”

Getting past injuries

Rusnak is having the time of his life this spring, largely because his senior year of varsity sports turned out to be more abbreviated than expected.

He was a starter on Fruitport’s conference championship basketball team as a junior, and was fired up for another season when an injury took him out of the lineup for most of the season.

He was healthy toward the end, and was in uniform when the Trojans won their first district basketball title since 1938, but was never able to play the role he hoped to play.

“I don’t know exactly how it happened, but my right foot started bothering me real bad,” Rusnak said. “I got it x-rayed and they said nothing was wrong, but it got worse over time. I finally got an MRL and they found a stress fracture. I was out until almost districts.

“It was very frustrating. That was not how I wanted my senior year to go. But I used the opportunity to try to be a vocal leader and be there for the guys whenever they needed it. The mental part is a huge part of being an athlete, and a lot of guys don’t have anybody to talk to when they start to struggle.

“We had a lot of young guys on the team and sometimes their droughts kind of brought them down. I just tried to let them know, that’s how it goes, they are going to have their ups and downs.

“That was the only way I could contribute at that point. It was such a special team, and as much as I tried to be there for them, there were there for me, too.”

Rusnak had an injury scare during the baseball season, as well.

Besides being the Trojans’ slugging first baseman, he is also one of Fruitport’s top pitchers – alternating with junior Hudson Hazekamp to give the team what Coach Reed calls his “1A and 1B” options on the mound.

Rusnak was pitching against rival Spring Lake  when he felt discomfort in his left arm and had to leave the game. Everyone was holding their breaths, hoping his season on the mound – or his season altogether – was not in jeopardy.

“It was just throbbing in pain,” he said of his pitching arm. “Luckily it was not my UCL. I just got a big knot in my bicep tendon. I went to the chiropractor and got it rubbed out. We were just erring on the side of caution.”

Rusnak has been pitching just fine since returning to the mound.

For example, he allowed only three hits and struck out nine in a win over Comstock Park, and allowed only two hits while striking out 11 in a win against Belding.

As of last week, Rusnak had pitched 21 innings with a 2-1 record, allowing only 16 hits and nine earned runs, and amassing 35 strikeouts compared to only nine walks.

“He’s a strike thrower,” Coach Reed said. “He hits his spots. He has a good slider and changeup and keeps guys off balance. We shut him down for a week or two (after the arm pain). We were just being cautious with that.”

Trying to win a few final trophies

Rusnak has now reached the climax of his high school career, and very much wants to help deliver a few more trophies for the Trojans before he’s done.

Fruitport is having another great season, but there have been points of disappointment.

The Trojans hoped to repeat as champions at the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association tournament, but lost a 3-1 extra-inning heartbreaker to Mona Shores in the finals.

They hoped to win an O-K Silver conference championship – something they barely missed out on last year – but fell just short again with three conference losses.

The Trojans also obviously wanted to beat archrival Spring Lake, in the game where Rusnak left with arm discomfort, but everything came unraveled and they suffered their worst loss of the season, 10–0.

Now comes the Division 2 state tournament, starting with districts on Saturday at Oakridge. The Trojans will play a semifinal game against Orchard View, and a victory would put them in the championship game later in the day, against Spring Lake or Whitehall.

Rusnak and his teammates would love to wrap things up by going on another postseason run, like they did last year when they won district and regional championships before bowing out in the state quarterfinals.

It was the first regional  baseball title in school history, and many of the players from that team are back this year.

“Conference and the GMAA are fun to win, but that’s not when we need to play our best ball,” Rusnak said. “With districts coming up, I think the guys are starting to lock in a little more and take into account the fact that we can go just as far (in the state tournament) this year, if not further.”

Getting even with Spring Lake, a very good squad, would be a top priority for the Trojans if they get to play them on Saturday, according to Rusnak.

“Ever since that night, we’ve had a fire lit under us to get revenge,” Rusnak said. “I think we can make it a close game. If both teams are at their best, it will be a close one.”