Just beyond the left-center field fence at Trabuco Hills’ on-campus baseball field stands a goal post on what is a practice field for the Mustangs football team.
Chad Crosbie can be seen hitting home runs in that direction during batting practice most days.
“I guess that’s my lucky spot,” he said after Tuesday’s practice. Perhaps for good reason too, as Crosbie has excelled in both baseball and football at Trabuco Hills High.
Despite a rough season on the gridiron – the Mustangs finished 3-8 this season – Crosbie still maintained good numbers, posting 1,396 all-purpose yards as a running back and returner.
In the fall 2014 season, Crosbie’s efforts helped the Mustangs win a CIF-SS Southwest Division football title. The now-senior remembers the hard work put in place to earn that championship. Now, he and teammate Cooper Uhl are applying that to this year’s young Mustangs baseball team.
“That translates big time,” Mustangs coach Michael Burns said. “It’s the CIF experience, the grind of the season. Baseball is so much about mental toughness and we did a lot of weight room stuff in the offseason to develop that.”
Because of football, Crosbie already had the size and athleticism. The balance of football and baseball has helped him stay in peak physical condition.
Crosbie, now batting leadoff in the spring, has reached base safely in 19 of the team’s 22 games this season. In addition, his role is being patient at the plate in order to give tips to his teammates about their approach against opposing pitchers.
It’s one of the aspects of baseball he’s spent countless hours developing, but it’s paying off. After a 6-9 start to the 2016 campaign, the Mustangs have won six of their last seven ballgames, including a series win over defending Sea View League champion San Clemente.
The Mustangs, a game ahead of San Juan Hills in the league standings, are poised to win their fourth league title in school history and first since 2011.
“(It) would be big for the school and the baseball program,” Crosbie said. “We want to put that fourth banner up.”
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Crosbie’s father, Rick, was a multisport athlete growing up, playing baseball, football and soccer in high school.
However, Rick Crosbie stopped playing during his high school days. When Chad started playing sports and mentioning that his dream was to be a baseball player, Rick made sure to instill in him the drive and motivation to work harder than anyone else.
“He would always tell me that he regrets not putting in the extra work,” Chad Crosbie said. “He really motivates me to work harder than everyone else.”
Chad Crosbie’s first love was football. He played both at a young age, starting with tee-ball and youth football.
Crosbie initially fell in love with the pace of football, getting to run through people and tackle. The physical nature of the game made it that much more fun, not to mention the feeling of winning a Super Bowl during his youth football days.
He admits he didn’t appreciate baseball early on. The slower pace made the game boring at times. Crosbie’s Little League teams didn’t see the same success as those on the gridiron.
Before eighth grade, he made a choice to focus solely on football, a decision he soon regretted.
“I missed it,” he said. “I got back on the field the next season and I loved it and asked myself, ‘Why did I ever take this for granted?’ From that point on, I became a baseball player.”
That’s not to say Crosbie gave up on football, but his feelings had shifted. Realizing how much baseball requires him to think, football became secondary when it came to pursuing a collegiate scholarship.
Crosbie arrived at the Trabuco Hills baseball program with plenty of athleticism and raw talent, but at the time, he was a football player on a baseball field.
Before his sophomore season, Burns had Crosbie play with varsity during fall and winter games.
“He was fast, strong and had a good arm,” Burns said. “We knew we needed to throw him in the mix. He was a little rusty, but I think it was good for him. It showed him how far he needed to come to be a varsity baseball player.”
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Before the start of his junior season, Crosbie made a decision that has shaped who he is as a baseball player.
After noticing a close friend commit to play collegiate baseball, Crosbie joined the SoCal Birds, a local travel ball team, in early 2015.
While his father instilled in him the initial drive to work hard, seeing other top-notch players in action with the Birds showed Crosbie just how hard he needed to work in order to become an elite player.
The first few months helped in earning Crosbie a starting spot as a junior. Now in his second season with the Birds, he’s been more confident during his senior season.
“With the experience and playing in travel ball and scout ball in the summer and facing a bunch of top prospect pitchers, I feel I can pick up the ball a lot faster than I did last year,” Crosbie said.
Burns noticed a change as well. Crosbie started joining more summer workouts, balancing baseball with football. He began working harder in the batting cage, focusing on the mechanics of his swing.
“He had a transformation. He started trying to play a little more baseball after that sophomore experience,” Burns said. “It’s hard because football is very demanding in the summertime and fall. I noticed he was here a lot more with us in the summer.”
The extra work has led to a commitment to UC San Diego, where Crosbie will play baseball next season.
For now, he’s focused solely on helping his team win a league title and make a run in the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs.
As the team’s leadoff hitter, Crosbie has multiple assignments – getting on base, being patient at the plate and watching a pitcher’s entire arsenal and providing that information to the rest of his teammates.
Crosbie’s OK with that pressure and has thrived more often than not. On a team that had plenty of inexperience heading into this season, he accepted his leadership role early.
“Everyone talks about these pitchers that throw 95 miles per hour, but I want to be the guy to get a hit off them,” Crosbie said. “That excites me and I feel like it builds confidence for the rest of my teammates.”
The Mustangs will have their Sea View League lead challenged today against Mission Viejo and next week against San Juan Hills. Crosbie will be ready to face staff aces in Mission Viejo’s Tanner Bibee and San Juan Hills’ Nick Hernandez. Coaches often talk about approaches at the plate by instructing players to wait for their pitch, stay back on the ball and drive it.
As a left-handed hitter, the field goal post beyond the left-center field fence provides a perfect target for Crosbie and with all the work he’s done in the cage, he has no problem consistently sending the ball in that direction during batting practice.
His leadership through his work ethic has helped the younger players on this year’s team.
“Knowing what that felt like and putting all that hard work into the football season was so brutal, but to feel that feeling of a championship was worth it,” Crosbie said. “Now that we’ve come together as a baseball team, we have a chance to do that as long as we keep working hard.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-2247 or npercy@ocregister.com
