By Von Washington III

Every year, the QU baseball team seems to have a couple new faces on the field making a difference.

This year is no different.

All you have to do is look in the outfield for number 9, Joseph “J.C.” DeMuri.

DeMuri is a junior transfer who began his baseball career at Southern Illinios University Carbondale. He played his freshman and sophomore seasons there before deciding to transfer. Quincy was one of the schools that contacted DeMuri first.

“My old summer ball coach from when I played in high school knew Coach Rabe, so when I got my release finalized from SIU Carbondale, Rabe gave me a call to set up a visit to see the school,” DeMuri said.

Soon after the visit, DeMuri committed and was ready to start his career as a Hawk.

Normally, being a transfer at a new school is not any easy thing. You have to get used to new surroundings, new buildings and most importantly, your new teammates. However, for DeMuri, his new teammates were the last thing he had to worry about.

“The guys here are awesome. Being a transfer as a junior, I didn’t know how it was going to work out trying to fit in with a new team, but they invited me in and it feels like a big family now,” he said.

Not having to worry about his teammates allowed DeMuri to lock in on his game.

In 36 games this season, he has 50 hits in 134 at bats with 40 RBIs and eight home runs, all while maintaining a .373 batting average.

Earlier in the season in the Missouri S&T series, DeMuri batted .500 (7-for-14) with two doubles, two  triples, a home run, eight RBIs and five runs scored in the four-game series, which earned him the title of GLVC Player of the Week.

DeMuri was honored to receive the award.

“It was a nice honor getting recognition like this,” he said. “It is a lot easier to receive awards like this when you have a coaching staff like I have and the guys in the line up around me that I do.”