Wolverines’ Glockel brothers teammates, best friends

Matt and Trevor Glockel of East Mills are grounded.

Not in the disciplinary way, but in a way that lets others know they are boys of integrity, dedication, and goals.

The Glockels are more than brothers or teammates; they are best friends.
The dedicated duo has been playing baseball together since Matt was in the third grade.

“I actually played on his team when I was in first grade because they didn’t have enough guys on the team,” Trevor said.

With 23 names on the varsity roster, there’s no need for extra players; you work for your chance to play. The Glockel brothers are regular starters.

East Mills has many pitchers, including Matt.

“We have nine or ten pitchers on varsity,” Matt said. “Us having so many arms is a good help, and we kind of need them with the schedule we have this year.”

That schedule includes 27 games, and although the 4-8 record may not look great, the perspective changes once it becomes apparent that four losses have been against 2A teams.

“Coach wants to get us ready for what we have coming up,” Trevor said.
Matt expects the end record to look much better.

“I think we’ve made it through the brutal part of the season,” Matt said. “When you play eight games, and four of those are with 2A schools, it really can’t get much harder. That’s going to be a big help coming down the road.”

Currently, Matt Glockel has 14 hits on the season, including five doubles, two triples and one home run. He has 18 RBI. Matt’s batting average is .519, and his fielding percentage is .942. All with an injured hamstring.

Sophomore Trevor has 12 hits, including two doubles and one home run. Trevor has 12 RBI and a batting average of .480 and fielding percentage of .925.

The home runs came in the same game against Mount Ayr in the second game of the season.

“He hit his first,” Matt said with a smile. “So I knew I had to get one in the game, too.”

The brothers are not competitive against each other, but with one another. The competitive nature came out when asked about comparing performances at the sophomore level.

“Our running is about the same, but since I was a little bit bigger, I think I threw a little farther,” Matt said.

“I think I threw farther than you in junior high,” Trevor said.

“Junior high?” Matt asked. “That was a long time ago.”

“Yeah, but it still counts,” Trevor grinned.

The athletic duo are in sports year round.

“I like competing and testing how I do against other people,” Matt said. “Plus, all my friends are here doing the same thing, playing sports. Having all of your closest friends doing the same thing as you, all year round, really doesn’t feel like I’m missing out on anything, because I’m having fun with my friends, playing sports.”

Trevor agreed that being in sports is fun because his friends are there.

“I will play just about anything,” Trevor said. “I’m thinking about adding cross country next year.”

Matt has had three baseball coaches in his high school career.

“Coach Bucholz passed away a couple of years ago, and we all really miss him,” Matt said. “We were the last class he coached, and he definitely left a big mark on us.”

Jake Doyle coached the following year, and Will Comfort has coached for two.

“I think that’s one of the biggest differences in our baseball team is that we’ve had a coach stay with us for multiple years,” Matt said.

Besides the coaches, Matt had the senior class, during his freshman year, to help shape him into the leader that he is today.

“I never felt pressured to be a leader, I just try to do what the seniors ahead of me have done, which is to be a good role model,” Matt said. “The senior class, when I was a freshman, was amazing,”

And because Trevor has always been a tag-a-long, he has gained from those same people.

“It’s a hard class to follow,” Trevor said of the current seniors. “It’s going to take a lot of work to catch up, but I see myself as a positive role model and someone the younger kids can look up  to.”

Trevor hopes to fill the shoes left by his brother come fall, and openly admits that he will miss his brother.

Matt will be attending Central College in the fall and hopes to play football.

“Football is by far my favorite sport,” Matt said. “I like the one-on-one competitiveness of football because you always have somebody right across from you.

“Being from a small school, you get to know everyone really well. I think going to college, even a small one like I’m going to, the relationships aren’t going to be quite the same.”

But the relationship between these brothers will always be grounded.