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Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
(article posted by Jeremy Rushing, Student Sports Information Assistant)

Apr. 21, 2014 - Staying consistently solid in the field is no easy task in college baseball for many reasons: hard hits, tough hops, sun and unpredictable weather conditions are just a few. These are all everyday challenges posed to players who have been at their position for several years.  Normally an outfielder, North Central College junior Sam Klein has been forced to hold his own at a new position, third base.
           
After injuries left North Central with nobody to play the hot corner, and a cornucopia of outfielders on the roster, head coach John Fitzgerald and the rest of the coaching staff decided to move Klein to the infield, and he hasn't disappointed so far.
           
"It's been going smoothly," says Klein about the transition to third.  "The coaches put me there because they know I can handle it."
 
Having played infield in high school and at the beginning of his North Central career before moving to his more permanent home at center field, Klein isn't completely unfamiliar with third.  This undoubtedly factored into the coaching staff's decision to choose him as the replacement third baseman.
           
"I feel like I'm a pretty versatile player," says Klein.
 
After over a dozen games at his new position, Klein successfully fields nine out of every ten opportunities that come his way.  The Burlington, Ill. native has spent almost half the season at the new spot, but it's still a transition for him and will continue to stay that way through the latter part of the team's schedule.
           
There are many challenges Klein still faces on a daily basis in transitioning to a completely new angle on the field.  These are challenges that Klein has been working at, but are impossible to change over the course of a single section of a season.
 
"The biggest challenge is staying down the ball and seeing the ball into your glove at all times," explains Klein.  "In the outfield you have to be athletic and get a good jump on the ball and run under it, but in the infield you have to be more reactive and be more specific with your footwork."
 
Those who have seen the Cardinals play this year know that the move defensively has not hurt Klein's offensive output in the slightest. He leads the team with a .402 batting average, 41 hits, three home runs, and 21 runs batted in.  He also leads the team in slugging percentage (.588) and on-base percentage (.470). The sport management major has also been deadly on the base paths, leading the team with five stolen bases.
 
While such an extreme move is a lot to take in for an upperclassman, one thing you'll never hear from Klein is a single complaint. 

"There have been some injuries, so the coaches told me that I had to play third base," says Klein.  "I haven't questioned it and I'm just trying to make the most of it."

Owning an overall record of 17-10 and sitting just one game out of first place in the College Conference of Ilinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) standings after a three-game sweep of CCIW rival Illinois Wesleyan University this past weekend, the Cardinals host a non-conference game against Aurora University on Tuesday before a three-game series with Wheaton College on Friday and Saturday.