By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Ice hockey and baseball are on opposite ends of the sports spectrum. One is centered on fast-paced, frenetic action. The other is more methodical with flashes of excitement.
Trever Bauwens has been playing those two incompatible sports for most of his life, and the Walton-Verona High School junior has enjoyed overlapping success in both over the last few weeks.
Bauwens was the leading scorer on the Northern Kentucky Norsemen ice hockey team that reached the final four of the USA Hockey 1A National Championships in late March. It was the first time in the team’s history that the Norsemen made it that far after winning Kentucky’s annual state tournament.
“Our hockey team had a saying, ‘Make them never forget who you are,”‘ Bauwens said. “It’s something our coach said at the beginning (of the season). This was a big part of how we got to where we were.”
The hockey team’s unprecedented success delayed Bauwens’ transition to baseball. But he was behind the plate last week when Walton-Verona went 3-0 in the 8th Region All “A” Classic baseball tournament to take that title for the ninth consecutive year.
This week, the Bearcats played in the Green County Wooden Bat Tournament and won three games to reel in another championship trophy.
Bauwens was the starting catcher in a 3-1 semifinal win over previously undefeated Bowling Green and a 6-1 win over Logan County in the title game.
“When you build a connection with a team it becomes something special, and with this connection it creates success and fun moments,” Bauwens said. “Me and my teams go by this … to help us be successful in both sports.”
Bauwens went 2-for-3 with one RBI in the championship game of the Green County tournament. That lifted his season batting average to .272 (9 of 33) and gives him 6 RBI in the 11 games he has played for the 9-6 Bearcats.
This is his third season as Walton-Verona’s starting catcher. He earned that important position in head coach Andrew Sien’s first year with the program.
“He’s been my catcher since day one and obviously that’s a key spot for any baseball team,” Sien said. “He’s still coming into his own as a vocal leader, but he’s definitely been a strong lead-by-example guy.”
High school baseball teams always have a few multi-sport athletes on the roster, but Bauwens is the first hockey player on any team that Sien has coached.
When the Norsemen played in the state championship hockey game in Louisville, Sein was in the stands watching his prized starting catcher apply his athletic skills on packed ice instead of a dusty field.
“I have coached in high school for a decade now and not had a hockey guy,” Sien said. “But I like it. I hope to find another one in the next few years. Trever’s a tough kid. It’s an interesting combo, that’s for sure.”
Walton-Verona has a senior-laden pitching staff that includes Bronson Corpus, an Eastern Kentucky University recruit. Sien calls pitches from the dugout in most games, but he lets Bauwens handle that against some opponents.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” Bauwens said. “You have to think what’s right and call it. Once you study the batters and figure out what they’re weak on, it’s a lot easier to call the pitches.”
Walton-Verona has an important district seeding game against Grant County on Monday and expects to play an All “A” Classic sectional playoff game later in the week. The sectional winners will advance to the eight-team state tournament April 25-26 in Owensboro.
If the Bearcats get to the state tournament, Bauwens would like to see his teammates come together and make a run at the title like the Norsemen did at the national hockey championships.
“I wasn’t expecting us to get that far (at the national tournament),” he said. “Then we started playing and our team started connecting and I was like, ‘We’ve got a shot here, let’s keep it going.’ And we made it to the final four.”
Bauwens was the leading scorer for the Norsemen, providing 36 goals and 16 assists for 52 points as a starting forward. Last year, he had team-high totals of 33 goals and 26 assists for 59 points.
He is eligible for one more season on the 18-under Norsemen varsity team that posted a 30-13-2 record this season with players from Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati high schools.