After a successful first-year in college, Emmaus High School gradaute Trey Hinkle wanted to make a change. The 2015 graduate suited up for Centenary University baseball in his first college season. And he immediately made an impact at the Hackettstown, NJ, school.

He was named to the ECAC Division III South Region First-Team and was the D3baseball.com Mid-Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year.

But after the season, he decided he needed a change, and transferred to Bloomsburg for his sophomore season. This spring Hinkle appeared in nine games on the mound, going 3-3 for the Huskies.

“The adjustment has gone very smoothly from coming from Centenary,” said Hinkle. “There’s a great group of guys here so I was able to click with them very quickly and they were able to make my transition a good one. The talent this year is definitely tougher than back at Centenary. The thing that made me switch schools was the size and cost. Centenary was smaller than Emmaus, so it was very hard to adjust to a smaller school and I didn’t like that. The competition here is just so much better top to bottom. Every team we play is just loaded with talent and it makes you work so hard to be the best that you can be. I love that because I love competition.”

Hinkle got his first start on the opening weekend of the season down in Williamston, North Carolina, in game two of a doubleheader against Pitt - Johnstown. Less than a week later, he picked up his first win of the season, going eight innings in a 7-3 victory over the College of St. Joseph’s.

“The game versus St. Joseph’s was my second start of the year down in our Virginia tournament,” Hinkle said. “That game I was just hoping to pitch well and get us the win in any way, just so I could show the team what I could do and sort of earn some respect from them in a way. I also wanted to prove to them that although I am a transfer from D3, I’m capable of pitching here in D2. At that time the team hadn’t really seen me pitch in a game, so to go out and throw eight innings and pick up the win was huge for me and my confidence and I was glad to show the team what I could do.”

Coming out of Emmaus Hinkle was recruited as a pitcher and an infielder, but before the start of his freshman season at Centenary, Hinkle decided to focus on just pitching, and it’s worked out just fine to this point.

The Huskies finished up the regular season last weekend, splitting a pair of games at Kutztown University. Hinkle pitched in five Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference games, picking up a win against East Stroudsburg University.

Hinkle played most of his career at Emmaus under then head coach John Schreiner, and the 17-year ex-Green Hornets coach played a big part in his success.

“Playing for Emmaus definitely prepared me for college in many ways, especially in my early years with Coach John Schreiner,” said Hinkle. “Coach Schreiner was probably the toughest coach I’ve had throughout my baseball career, but he is also my favorite. He brought out the best in our team with every practice. He was a very straight-forward guy and would let you know when you’ve made a mistake, but that’s what made our teams great. His coaching style prepared me for college in letting me know that the best player will play and that if you don’t work hard enough you won’t play. He didn’t care if you were the best player on the team, if you made a mistake you sat and the next guy got his chance. His coaching style brought out the best in me and has made me the type of player I am today.”