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Springfield’s best excelled in 3 sports
Eynon went 7-0 on the mound
By Brian Dzenis
NEW MIDDLETOWN
Shane Eynon is struggling to imag ine his life without sports.
The three-sport star at Springfield High School has hung up his gear for the final time after the Tigers baseball team fell to Jeromesville Hillsdale in the Division IV regional final on June 1.
The Vindicator’s Male Athlete of the Year won’t pursue any sports while majoring in engineering at Youngstown State. Since he was in fourth grade, Eynon has jumped from sport to sport all year round.
“I think it’s going to hit me at the end of summer when I go back to school and I have to watch the football games up in the stands,” Eynon said. “It’s going to be very different.”
Eynon’s No. 12 was ubiquitous in every season of his senior year. He was a three-way football player as a tight end, linebacker and punter. He was the lone senior on a basketball team that made a Div. IV regional final and was undefeated on the mound in the spring.
“My role on all three teams was basically to be a leader. Going to such a small school, you have to have trust and faith [in your teammates] at any time of the game,” Eynon said. “There’s some freshman, sophomores and juniors and I had to lead them.
“You have to be there for them, keep their heads up if they make a mistake.”
Eynon was big on bringing teammates together in the summer with the idea that the cohesiveness will pay off when the school year starts.
“We had a big message group for the football players — there was like 20 of us — we would get everyone together. Then for basketball, I started a group message for everyone and we would all hang out,” Eynon said. “We had a group message for baseball and being in such a small community, we all grew up together, played together and we were all really close.”
While leading others, he also found success for himself as well. On the football field, he was a third-team All-Ohio selection. He turned 15 catches into 342 yards and eight touchdowns, including an impressive one-handed grab in the back of the end zone during a 20-17 loss to McDonald.
He also collected 52 tackles — including 10 for a loss — and averaged 34.8 yards a punt.
Despite failing to make the playoffs, the football season was Eynon’s favorite of the three.
“It’s the longest [season]. We start in June and run through October and we were just always there with each other hanging out in the lockerroom,” Eynon said. “During doubles, we would wake up at 6:30 a.m., have the first practice, eat after the first practice and then sit around to the next practice.
“We literally hung around until [head coach Sean Guerriero] yelled at us to go home.
“I don’t think there was a closer team than the football team. We were a close basketball team and baseball team, but in football, we were always around each other.”
The latter two seasons saw more success and moments where Eynon provided the Tigers a huge boost.
Eynon averaged 14.9 points and 8.2 rebounds during the season and was an honorable mention for All-Ohio as he took on more of a scoring load near the end of the season.
In a 62-50 regional semifinal win against Greenwich South Central, Eynon scored 24 points and made 13 rebounds. The basketball team saw its biggest improvement in record in his tenure going from 14-10 to 21-6.
In the baseball district final against Warren JFK, Eynon had the walk-off single to win the game 8-7. For the season on the mound, he was 7-0 with an ERA of 2.63 with 42 strikeouts, earning first-team All-Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference honors.
As he views it, they were memorable plays, but his teammates could have done the same.
“Being at a small school, it’s crazy how many athletes you can have on your team. I’m confident that anyone on my team can make those plays,” Eynon said. “I’d be just as happy for them as I am for me if I did it. I’ll make the play if my name is called, but I’ll support you if it’s your turn.”
With big catches, hits and games, Eynon has seen and done nearly everything a high school athlete can do.
“I don’t have any regrets for my senior year or any past year. I think I exceeded expectations,” Eynon said. “I didn’t expect us to go this far in any of the sports.”