A glance at the Owls shortstop

Andrew Anastasio — Staff Writer

Owls senior infielder Sam Greenberg is more than just a baseball player. He’s also an active member of “Mission Stadiums 4 Multiple Sclerosis,” a non-profit or­ganization driven to spread aware­ness of the disease.

“The organization raises money for Multiple Sclerosis while actually giving people the opportunity to travel to major league baseball sta­diums,” Greenberg said. “Once my career is up with baseball, when­ever that may be, I actually plan on taking a road trip to all major league stadiums while wearing the color ‘orange’ to raise money for the charity. I got involved in it because I always wanted to travel to all the stadiums while raising money for a charity simultaneously.”

Growing up in his hometown of Guilford, Conn., baseball has surrounded Greenberg since he was a small child. In fact, his broth­er Adam Greenberg, who recently played in the Chicago Cubs orga­nization, posed as a role model for Greenberg. He said growing up and watching his brother play is what inspired him to pursue baseball.

“He was always there for me,” Greenberg said. “He was always someone I could look up to. Person­ally, I loved the game growing up, and watching him play made me love it even more. It made me want to succeed just as he did.”

In high school, Greenberg earned All-Conference four times and All-State twice. He helped lead the Guilford Indians in 2007 to not only an SCC championship but a state title as well. Fellow senior in­fielder Kyle Cummings said playing with Greenberg has been an honor.

“He’s a great teammate,” Cummings said. “He’s got great leadership skills and always has that fire in the belly to get the team up and going when we’re down. He’s always ready to go.”

Coming to the Owls in 2009, Green­berg said he chose Southern because of what the program had to offer.

“I really enjoyed coming to play with wooden bats and I had a great opportunity to come in and try and earn a spot to start right away at shortstop, which is the position I have always loved,” Greenberg said. “I re­ally liked the campus, and the coaches seemed like they wanted me right away.”

Greenberg did in fact earn a starting position immediately. As a freshman, Greenberg started 35 games while batting .285 with 37 hits and led the team with 22 stolen bases. Head coach Tim Shea said having a player like Greenberg is like having an extra captain.

“He’s a leader out there,” Shea said. “Now that he’s a senior, healthy and things are really going well for him, you can really see that he’s one of the guys that although he’s not a captain, he’s taken lead­ership on his shoulders.”

Despite being plagued by in­juries in his sophomore and junior seasons, Greenberg has entered his final stretch with the Owls healthy. He’s currently batting .238 with 19 hits and six stolen bases. He’s also fourth on the team in on-base per­centage at .378. Greenberg said his career with Southern thus far has been enjoyable with the exception of the injuries he’s sustained.

“Honestly since I’ve been with Southern, it’s been a rollercoaster ride for me personally,” Greenberg said. “The past two years I’ve been battling injuries that kept me out of the lineup. But, I’m healthy again this year, and it’s been fun.”