Baseball runs deep in the Strunc family
June 28, 2018 - Coastal Plain League (Coastal Plain)
Peninsula Pilots News Release
It's his first at bat of his college career at Washington State University. He looked down to his third base coach and got the bunt signal. He turns back and steps into the box and tries to bunt. Nothing. He steps back, takes a breath and digs back in.This time he decides to swing the bat, and ends up launching the ball out of Bailey-Brayton Field for a home run. From that moment forward, Jack Strunc had made a name for himself as a freshman in the Washington State lineup.
Strunc is a senior now, an infielder at Creighton University, where he is double majoring in finance and pre-medicine, where he hopes to go into medical sales. After his long stint in the MLB, of course.
Originally from Colorado, Jack is the youngest of three boys and having an older brother, Tom who also played baseball before him, Jack had someone to mentor him as a young player.
Strunc's dream was to follow in his older brother's footsteps and go to Creighton right out of high school to begin his collegiate baseball journey. However, things didn't go necessarily according to plan. Creighton didn't show interest in Jack right out of high school so he set out on a big move to begin playing at Washington State University.
He spent two years at Washington State where his numbers at shortstop were the best defensively on the team, however he decided to part ways with Washington State, but to his surprise he got a call from Ed Servais, the head coach at Creighton wanting him to come play for them.
"I got a call from the head coach at Creighton," Strunc said. "He said that he saw what I did at Washington State and wished he didn't overlook me when I was coming out of high school, and then he asked me to join the team there at Creighton."
Although it was his dream school, Strunc's transition to Creighton wasn't as smooth as he hoped. He had to sit out a year because he transferred from one D1 school to another, and transitioning to a new school and team midway through one's college career is never ideal.
However, things began looking up as Strunc got to play his first season with Creighton in 2018.
"One of my favorite memories from playing at Creighton this season was a game against Xavier," Strunc said. "I went 5-7 and had two home runs."
Baseball has led Strunc to be able to play all over the United States. From starting out in his home state of Colorado, to his time at Washington State, and then moving to play with Creighton in Nebraska. In between all of that Strunc has played summer ball in Oregon, Wisconsin, Florida and this year he is spending his summer in Virginia playing with the Peninsula Pilots. Strunc admits that the west coast has his heart, but he loves that he has had the opportunity to see so many different parts of the country just by playing the sport he loves.
"Bend, Oregon was one of my favorite places to play," Strunc said. "I love the west coast."
Baseball hasn't always been kind to Strunc, however. He has been told twice in his life that he will never play baseball again. When he was younger he broke his elbow and twice dislocated it, he rehabbed from that and came back with a stronger arm then he had before. However during the 2018 season Strunc got a blood clot in his shoulder and it turned out to be thoracic outlet syndrome, which is a condition in which there is compression of the nerves, arteries, or veins in the passageway from the lower neck to the armpit.
He took a few weeks off from baseball to rest his shoulder, but with the help of a compression sleeve that pumps the blood back into his heart while he is playing, Strunc is back on the field playing like he never left.
Strunc attributes much of his success and drive in life to his older brother Tom. They grew up inseparable and had the bond of baseball to share. They never got to play together in high school, but the opportunity arose when they played summer ball together for the Green Bay Bullfrogs. One of Strunc's fondest memories of that summer was when he threw the second out of a double play to his brother who came from the mound to cover first base.
"There was a runner on base and the guy at bat hit a ground ball to the first baseman," Strunc said. "He threw it to me to get the out at second and then I go to throw it to first for the second out and I see Tom covering the bag, I threw it to him to get the out. That's been one of my favorite memories playing baseball."
Through all of life's ups and downs, one thing has remained constant for Strunc, family and baseball. Where his baseball career will take him next is still up in the air, but with one more year of collegiate ball left to play he has a chance show off his skills and be picked up by a major league organization.
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