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Sports

O'Fallon Patch Spotlight Athlete Of The Week: Josh Wheeler, Rawling Tigers Baseball

Senior-to-be at O'Fallon Christian High School has returned to the Rawlings lineup after battling a fractured hip injury for most of the summer.

Even though he knew something wasn’t quite right, Josh Wheeler tried to play through it.

His teammates and coaches at were counting on him to be available everyday, so he tried to play through it.

His hip and back area hurt all the time. His swing wasn’t right. And some days it was even difficult to walk.

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But he knew people were counting on him, so he kept pushing. 

“Then one day, we just decided we had to get it looked at,” Wheeler said. “I couldn’t believe it when they told me I had a fractured hip. That’s something old people get, not (a teenager).”

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But it is what happened to the then-Christian High junior utility man, who still isn’t even sure how it happened.

Turns out though, Wheeler probably played half the high school season with the injury, and still managed to be one of the most productive players on the field for the Eagles, after hitting .324, with 14 RBIs, and ranking second on the team in extra base hits (10 doubles).

“I just tried to do what I could to help my team,” Wheeler said. “But the injury really kinda messed up my swing, and my average kinda went down a little bit at the end.”

Wheeler’s lack of mobility and dip in average due to the injury, were probably key factors in Christian High’s dip in wins at the end of the season also.

The Eagles finished the year 13-13, but gave a glimpse of what their season could’ve been had they had a fully healthy roster, when they bumped off 18-6 Orchard Farm in a 14-3 route in the first round of the district playoffs.

Eventually, Christian High School lost in the district championship game to Lutheran St. Charles.

But that defeat has only fueled a fire that has Wheeler and the rest of his Eagles teammates already excited about the 2012 season.

“I know we’re glad to have him back this summer,” Rawlings Tigers head coach Aaron Burd said. “We’ve been slowly working him back in. But we’re trying to keep his bat in the lineup. He’s a good little hitter, and we need him to get going.”

Wheeler, who was supposed to be one of the team leaders for Rawlings’ 17 and-under club team this summer, hasn’t played much this summer because of the injury.

In fact, he just got cleared to get back on the field last week, and the Christian High senior-to-be said he still doesn’t feel right at the plate.

“My swing is off,” Wheeler said. “But I’ll get it back. I just gotta keep working.”

With the summer almost over, the most important thing is Wheeler is healthy again and more ready than ever to be the guy his teammates and coaches can count on in every situation.

“I just try to have a team-first attitude and be real positive all the time,” Wheeler said. “We’ve got some good guys on our team, definitely fun to be around.”

The same could be said for the Christian High team, which might’ve led the area in dugout fun last season, and only loses two seniors for next year.  

Wheeler will no doubt be counted on heavily in 2012, as will sophomore-to-be slugging champion Eli Dilday, and fellow seniors-to-be Jackson Brook and Josh Matejka.

But the catalyst will almost certainly be Wheeler, who’ll most likely take over the leadoff hitter’s role now that senior Billy Billings has graduated.

“We’re excited about next year,” Wheeler said. “That’s why we’re all working our butts off to get better this summer. I’ve been working on my upper body, trying to get stronger. I wanna have (a great senior year).”

And if what he did his junior year, on essentially one good leg, is any indication, then there’s no doubt that Josh Wheeler, this week’s O’Fallon Patch Spotlight Athlete of the Week, will get the job done.

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