Alex Eisen/MDN Minot State utility player Trevaun Smith (top center) congratulates a teammate who scored a run in a Division II college baseball game played at Corbett Field in Minot.

Standing in the batter’s box, an injured Trevaun Smith anticipated his body could withstand one legitimate swing. Aggravating back pain essentially forced Minot State’s leadoff man to be a shell of himself.

“My junior year to start the season, I couldn’t hit,” Smith said. “I was playing in every single game. But, my back hurt so badly that before every game, I had to warm up with a trainer for an hour. I basically had one swing per at-bat, and if I didn’t put a ball in play, then I couldn’t swing again. It was really tough, but I played through it.”

In the first month of the season, Smith went 16-for-61 (.262 average) with only four extra-base hits. A significant dip to Smith’s .295 career average.

But, back pain didn’t stop Smith from causing havoc on the bases.

The speedster broke the conference record for most stolen bases in an NSIC regular season (26) in 2019 and set Minot State’s Division II record for most bags swiped in a single season (37).

Smith will depart MSU as the program’s all-time leader in stolen bases with 64. It’s a record Smith could have stretched out more had the COVID-19 pandemic not canceled the remainder of his senior season.

Smith, a four-year starter, would have also been in contention to set the all-time program mark for most games played (187, Celestino “Sal” Rodriguez). But, alas, those are only numbers.

Pushing away the possibility of a medical redshirt to come back for a fifth season, Smith is ready to move on from baseball with no regrets and work with financial numbers in the real-world.

From injuries that tried to define his career to now dealing with an abrupt ending, the journey wasn’t quite as easy as stealing bases was.

But, having now crossed home plate for the final time, the memories made along the way were worth the short-term struggles of eyeing up a particular fastball and hoping a single swing would pay dividends.

“Minot State has been the best experience of my entire life,” Smith said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Dad knows best

Smith didn’t have much interest in going to Minot State, even though the Beavers were keen to bring him in.

Coming out of high school at Humberview Secondary in Caledon, Ontario, Smith had his sights set on a private business school in Ohio.

“It was basically my dream school,” he said. “It was Division II with a full scholarship. I talked with them for probably 5-6 months and wasn’t even considering Minot at this point. Right before I was about to commit to that school, my dad came up to me out of nowhere.”

Smith’s father, Howard Smith, wasn’t convinced.

“He said something like, ‘I don’t think this is the best idea for you. You should probably look somewhere else,'” Trevaun Smith recalled. “I was like, ‘What do you mean? I’ve been practicing my whole life for this. It has my major and baseball.’ But still, he was like, ‘No, I don’t think this is right.’ So, I stopped talking with that school.”

Smith never questioned his father’s strong hunch.

“To this day, I don’t know,” Smith said on why his father didn’t want him to go to Ohio. “I haven’t bothered to ask him either since it was the best decision I have made in my life.”

Smith made a phone call and joined a talented Beavers’ recruiting class that also featured Michael Borst, Geordie McDougall and Rodriguez.

“I thought we could be the group that turns this team around,” Smith said. “I wanted to be known as someone who was a part of that group who transformed a losing team into one of the best teams in the region.”

Redshirt to red-hot

While Borst, McDougall and Rodriguez all started right out of the gates as true freshmen on the 2016 Beavers’ squad, Smith didn’t. He was slapped with a redshirt and watched the games from the bench.

Plain and simple, Smith needed to bulk up.

“I came in, I don’t know, like 155 pounds,” he said. “I played and hit well during the fall preseason, but the coach thought it would be better if I redshirted. So, I did, and I got stronger and practiced my skills more. I went from 155 to about 190 with the help of (strength and conditioning coach) Caleb Heilman. So, I really appreciate that.”

Smith exploded onto the scene the following season. In his first 12 collegiate at-bats, Smith smacked around six hits that all went for extra bases (three doubles, two triples and a home run).

New MSU head coach Scott Eul, coming in after the Beavers suffered another down year in 2016 with a 10-33 overall record, had quickly found a spark plug that he could insert almost anywhere in the lineup.

“Tre was the guy at practice that everybody loved,” Eul said. “He was shaking hands and cracking jokes with everybody. He could do a little bit of everything. So, he was that guy who immediately stuck out.”

Likewise, the Beavers caught everybody’s attention in 2017 by posting a winning record (29-22) for the first time since 1996.

“It was a thrill to finally have a competitive season at Minot State again,” Smith said. “The culture of the program finally shifted.”

Top of the dogpile

Playing through a slightly torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and then a rolled/broken ankle later in his sophomore season, which developed a stress fracture after playing on it for roughly 25 games, Smith battled through pain and the Beavers continued to rack up wins.

Smith’s most impressive individual showing happened toward the end of the season in a doubleheader where MSU didn’t secure a win in against St. Cloud State. He led off both games with a home run and finished the twin bill 6-for-7 with three home runs, a double and four RBIs.

“The other dugout was just deflated when Tre stepped into the box,” Eul said. “They were yelling at each other because they didn’t know how to get him out.”

MSU won its next eight games after Smith’s outburst to win the program’s first-ever NSIC regular-season championship with a 34-16 record (29-6 NSIC).

“It was an unbelievable moment, and I have relived that game so many times,” Smith said. “It felt like everything I had put in here at Minot State had finally paid off.”

MSU upped its school record to 36 wins during the 2019 season but finished fourth in the conference and lost in the NSIC Tournament championship game to top-seeded Augustana.

The Beavers were denied a spot in the NCAA Tournament again.

But, nobody could question the legitimacy of Smith’s toughness.

“Conference tournament two years ago, he ran into a wall, got hit by a couple of pitches, fouled two pitches off his shin and he honestly didn’t say a word about it,” Eul said. “In between innings, he was getting worked on by the trainer to stop a bloody nose and also stop the cut on top of his nose at the same time. He got fixed up, took his at-bat and played defense, then did it all over again.”

Calculated career move

Poised to make another run at a conference championship and possibly make the NCAA Tournament for the first time, Smith tried to ignore the warning signs that his senior season was going to be cut short.

Smith sympathized when he heard the MSU hockey teams lost its postseason to the new coronavirus, but he didn’t think that was going to be his future as well. A few days later, his heart sank when he saw the NCAA’s decision flash up in a group message chat.

“That’s when it became real,” Smith said. “It was really tough. We thought we could do big things this year. I’ve been battling injuries my whole career, and this year was no different, but I was doing everything I could for my team. So, it was tough to have it taken away.”

Currently healing from a torn labrum gave Smith the option to pursue a medical redshirt and come back next season. But, with schooling almost finished, Smith is ready to enter the workforce.

“I’ve been here for five years, and I got my double major in accounting and finance,” Smith said. “I’m studying for my CPA exam, and I have also applied for OPT, which is Optional Practical Training. So, I’m going to be staying in the United States for another year working. But, I’ll probably still be out there helping with the team when I can.”

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.