It ‘takes a lot of toughness’: Clemson commit thriving in two sports for Dutch Fork
Playing two sports in high school keeps Ty Olenchuk pretty busy. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
In the fall, the Dutch Fork High junior quarterbacked the Silver Foxes to their third straight Class 5A championship under coach Tom Knotts. As a pitcher-outfielder on the baseball team, Olenchuk hopes to help Dutch Fork to a deep playoff run after the team got off to a slow start in Region 5-5A.
“Every day after school, you have some of kind of practice or weight training. It is extremely tough on your body, but with the fun we are having you can’t stop it,” Olenchuk said last week after practice. “As soon as I am done with football, I’m ready to go” to baseball.
“Baseball is my No. 1 sport. I have said that plenty of times and out here is home. Baseball is more of a chill sport. Kind of stress relieving getting off the football field with coach Knotts. It is a simple transition and we are doing well.”
Olenchuk committed to Clemson baseball in the summer before his sophomore year and remains firm in his pledge to the Tigers. He talks with Clemson coach Monte Lee regularly and attended their opening ACC series against UNC, and he plans to be there again this weekend.
Football has a bigger share of his attention, especially after the numbers he put up last season. Olenchuk threw for 3,804 yards and 42 touchdowns, and rushed for eight scores in 2018 for Dutch Fork.
Olenchuk plans to attend an Elite 11 football camp this summer in addition to playing travel baseball with the Evoshield Canes National squad.
“I’m super surprised. On the baseball field, I would always excel and be in the top of the class,” Olenchuk said. In football “I played defensive line all throughout middle school and no one gave me much hype or a shot. I didn’t expect to be excelling at this place in both sports. So, to be here it is a blessing.”
There are a lot of things that carry over from each sport, Olenchuk said, especially the two positions that he plays — quarterback and pitcher.
You also have to have the ability to move on to the next play, especially when it follows an interception or giving up a homer.
“Being quarterback, you are the main guy on the stage. Being a pitcher, you are the one guy people are looking at just like when you are a quarterback,” Olenchuk said. “You bring a lot from it and the winning mentality and what it takes to win on the baseball field for sure. Football takes a lot of toughness and out here takes a lot of toughness.”
It’s the toughness and competitiveness that Dutch Fork baseball coach Casey Waites likes from Olenchuk, one of four football players on the baseball team, especially when he is given a chance to pitch every week. Olenchuk is 2-0 with two saves, a 1.86 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings this season. His fastball also has been clocked at 91 mph this season.
“Ty is like a lot of our two-sport athletes. They are mentally tough and have been in big games,” Waites said. “When you put your guy out there, your team believes they are going to win. That confidence is just as critical me teaching skill.”