Athlete Spotlight
|
Hometown
Dallas, Ore. |
High
School
Dallas |
Year
Senior |
Major
Exercise Science |
Brett Brunner played a key role
in Pacific Lutheran's rise to the 2007 Northwest Conference baseball
championship. The left-handed starting pitcher earned first team
all-conference honors after compiling a 7-2 record and a 1.94
earned run average. Brett's senior year started with a scary moment
when a line drive off the bat of a Redlands batter him him in
the face. After reconstructive surgery, Brett was back on the
mound three weeks after the incident.
Describe
your family. How have they helped you in your athletic career?
Well my parents are pretty cool.
Without them I wouldn’t be able to go to PLU. They have
been there for me since T-Ball when my mom was my coach until
now when I can ask my dad seemingly unanswerable questions that
he always seems to have the answer to. I also have two older brothers
who pretty much forced me to learn how to play a lot older than
I actually was. Growing up they always seemed to make it difficult
for me to succeed, which has helped me to be the person and competitor
that I am today.
Describe any hardships or
extenuation circumstances that you have faced to get to where
you are today.
Going to school in at Western Oregon University
and Chemeketa Community College was a waste of time both academically
and athletically. I did learn a lot about life in those two years
but not a whole lot about anything very important. The only real
positive that came out of those two years was meeting my future
fiancé, Stacie
Matz, while at WOU. If I had never met her I would
not have kept playing baseball and wouldn’t be where I am
today.
What factors led to your
decision to attend PLU?
Coach (Geoff) Loomis recruited me to come play baseball at PLU
out of high school but I decided against it at the time. I wanted
to play closer to home and WOU is only about eight miles from
my house. After redshirting at WOU and playing one year at Chemeketa,
I decided that I needed to get back in touch with Coach Loomis.
I called an old friend (Logan Andrews) who I knew was playing
baseball at PLU and set up a time to come watch them play and
talk to the coaching staff. After seeing what direction the program
was headed and the type of guy that Coach Loomis is and what type
of baseball he expected to be played, I decided that was where
I needed to be.
What
has been your favorite class at PLU?
It would have to be a toss-up between Racquetball
with Coach Loomis and Co-Ed Basketball with Coach Dickerson. (Assistant
baseball) Coach (Nolan) Soete was taking racquetball also so most
of the classes involved pretty heated three-man games. I wrestled
in high school so basketball is not something that I excel at
but I think Coach Dickerson knew that and didn’t really
hold it against me. I did get better at hoops though. I can even
do some of those weird ball handling drills that I would never
have imagined doing before that class.
Have you had any trouble
balancing athletics with academics?
Not really. College has pretty much been
the same for me as high school. The only difference being that
the classes are a little harder and my mom doesn’t wake
me up in the morning. Or do my laundry. Or cook dinner…
What are your plans after
college?
Right now I am just trying to get through
college. I have thought about continuing my education at WOU in
their M.A.T program but I really don’t know if I can do
another year of school. Eventually I would really like to be an
assistant college coach and a part-time scout for a professional
baseball club.
When your athletic career
is all said and done, what is it that you would want people to
say about you?
I hope they say that I was a winner, a tough
competitor, a leader, resilient, gritty and I’m a left-handed
pitcher so I have to be a little weird.
Describe your hometown and
what you miss about it the most.
Dallas, Oregon is a smaller town west of
the capitol, Salem. It is one of those places where you can go
to the store and see a bunch of people you know and a few you’ve
never seen before. It’s growing up though. Every time I
go home there is a new building or stoplight or something. I really
miss my parents and my dog Doc. They are what makes it home.
What's your favorite spot
on campus?
The baseball locker room. It’s pretty
sweet. We have a big screen TV and a couple of couches. I go in
there and sleep during chapel time and between classes.
What is your favorite restaurant
in Tacoma?
I’m a fast food junkie even
though I have the body of a greek god. I really like Taco Del
Mar, though.
What music is playing in
your ipod right now?
Better question, what song am I playing
on Guitar Hero tonight? I would say that my favorite songs to
play are Miss Murder by AFI and Talk Dirty to Me by Poison. I
can pretty much melt some faces with my skills. I’m not
the best but I can hold my own.
Read more about senior pitcher Matt
Keller.
