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When Clint Robinson was a young, wide-eyed, freshman on the Troy baseball team in 2004, the unquestioned leader of that Trojan club was a fourth-year senior named Wade Miller.
Miller, who's name is sprinkled all across the Troy baseball career record book, knew then that Robinson had a chance to be a special player for the Trojans. Now, three seasons later, the Dothan native is rewriting many of the very same records that Miller established during his four seasons in Troy.
"You could tell, even when he was a young player, that Clint had the kind of work ethic that it takes to be a great player," Miller said. "It makes it special for me to have the records broken by a guy that I played with, and it was an honor for me to have played with him."
For Robinson, the records are nice, but are not the thing he is focused on.
"They do mean a lot to me because it makes me feel that all of the hard work I have done over the last three years have paid off," Robinson said. "At the same time, the only thing that really matters is that the team win. When I broke the hits record at Western Kentucky (3/31) it didn't mean much to me because we were losing the game."
With the 2007 season turning toward the home stretch, the Trojans face an uphill battle in defending their 2006 Sun Belt Conference title. Troy enters play this weekend with a 17-13 overall record and a 7-5 league mark, which is good for fourth in the league race, two games behind co-leaders Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette.
Still, the 2007 season has been a struggle for the Trojans, who finished the 2006 campaign with a 47-14 record for the year. Robinson said the teams struggles have come from a combination of factors, but mainly from the entire team not playing up to its capabilities.
"As a team, we are not swinging the bats the way we are capable," Robinson said. "The older guys on this team, like myself and Ian (Craze) and Josh (Dew) and Edgar (Ramirez), we all need to do more to get this team going. Hitting is like yawning, it is contagious, and it is up to the seniors on this club to get things going."
Robinson has been doing his fair share of leading at the plate. He leads Troy with a .374 average this season, good for ninth in the Sun Belt. He also leads the team in runs (34), hits (46), doubles (10), home runs (11), RBI (42) and total bases (89). His slugging percentage of .724 is 150 points better than the next best Trojan.
"Clint is having the kind of year this year that I have thought he was capable of," Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. "Clint is the kind of player who comes to work every day. I am very proud of what he has been able to accomplish during his career at Troy because his contributions have been a big part of what our program has been able to accomplish on the field."
The type of season Robinson is having has moved him well within striking distance of several more career marks. He already own the record for hits (216) and times hit by pitch (24), which he broke on March 18 at Florida Atlantic when he was hit twice in the same game.
Entering this weekend's series against nationally-ranked Coastal Carolina (27-3) Robinson is only 18 runs shy of breaking that mark (158) and is just 24 total bases shy of that record (381). If he stays healthy throughout the season he will also break the career marks for games played (204) and at bats (691), and will finish in at least the top five for doubles, triples, home runs and RBI.
"Getting that hits record is nice because Wade Miller is a buddy of mine," Robinson said. "He said when I was a freshman that I had a chance to break it. He's planning to be here for the series against ULL and said he was going to kick my butt for breaking his records."
Robinson said of all the records he is close to breaking, the one that is the safest in the triples mark. He entered the 2007 season tied for sixth in school history with five triples, three shy of the career mark of eight set by Ed Nix during the 1984 and 85 seasons.
Half-way through the season, he is still three shy of the mark.
"I think that triples record is safe," Robinson said. "For me, getting a triple is pure luck and I really need someone to mess up in the outfield to get one. I put more emphasis on getting doubles."
Robinson's numbers this season have produced recognition in the form of Sun Belt and National Player of the Week honors. During one hot streak he homered in six straight games and drove in 24 runs over an eight game stretch. He has cooled off somewhat of late, but has still hit safely in 12 straight games and in 20 of the last 22 games. In fact, he has only been held hitless in a game three times since an 0-for-4 against Arkansas in the season-opener.
"I have noticed that pitchers have started pitching me tougher recently," said Robinson, who has split time between hitting third and fifth in the batting order. "It seems like more pitchers and pitching me backwards than they used to, but it doesn't seem to matter where I am in the order."
With a red-hot Coastal Carolina team coming to Troy this weekend, followed by Louisiana-Lafayette next weekend, Robinson said the most important thing for him is to see the team play better. The Trojans will have to step up against the Chanticleers, who are ranked in all four major national polls, including a high of 14th in the Baseball America poll.
Coastal also comes into the weekend riding the nation's longest win streak at 15 games. Their three losses this season have come against ACC and national powers North Carolina, N.C. State and Clemson.
"For this team, right now, we have to focus on the small things," Robinson said. "We need to find a way to win the next pitch, the next inning and the next game. If we can start doing those things, then the long-range goals will take care of themselves."
For the left-handed hitting Robinson, the challenge in Friday's opener against Coastal will be in solving the Chanticleers' ace pitcher, senior left-hander Andy DeLaGarza, who sports a perfect 7-0 record and a 1.37 ERA in eight starts this year.
"I get excited to play against the best competition out there, and I am glad that we are playing at home for a while," Robinson said. "Hopefully, we can have our biggest crowds over the next two weeks because having that large crowd cheering for you gets everyone in the dugout excited. If we can get that support, maybe we can start playing more like we are capable and we'll be able to give the fans something to cheer about."
And that is what at least one fan of both the Trojans and Robinson hopes will happen by the time he comes to town to see the team play next week against the Ragin' Cajuns.
"I am really happy for Clint and I am looking forward to being there next week to see him play," Miller said. "These days I am just a fan, and I'll be out in the outfield cheering him on."
