There's decorated. Then there's
Trevor Rucker's career at Southern Arkansas. A native of nearby Prescott, Rucker didn't have to look far to find a collegiate home on the diamond as the former Curley Wolf weaved and winded his way down Highway 371 to Magnolia where over the course of four seasons in the Blue and Gold, he would produce one of the most remarkable careers ever by a Mulerider hitter.
His opening act resulted in the Natural State product being named the 2014 GAC Freshman of the Year as well as an all-conference second team outfielder following a 56-game rookie campaign that included 50 starts. Rucker hit .342 with 64 hits totaling 23 for extra bases to go along with 37 RBI, while leading the team with 35 stolen bases. He helped lead SAU to its third-straight GAC Tournament title and the program's seventh-consecutive NCAA regional bid.
His sophomore and junior seasons each resulted in All-GAC performances as he hit north of .300 in both seasons, while combining for 119 hits with 19 doubles, five triples and 16 home runs to go along with 66 RBI and 45 stolen bases; leading the team in swipes each year. As a sophomore, the Muleriders won both the GAC regular season and tournament titles and earned an eighth-straight NCAA postseason berth.
Rucker saved his best for last as he dazzled in an encore campaign as a senior. He finished year four atop seven major offensive categories in the GAC: slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, doubles, home runs, total bases, and hit-by-pitch. He was one of just four players in all of NCAA College Baseball, and the only non-Division I player, to hit 20 home runs and 20 doubles and he was the only player of those four to add 20 steals to his statistical ledger.
With the success, well-deserved accolades followed. A first-team All-GAC outfielder and the league's unanimous 2017 GAC Player of the Year, Rucker was the consensus Central Region Player of the Year, a first team All-American from Daktronics/D2CCA and the NCBWA with second team honors coming from Rawlings/ABCA and was a finalist for both the 2017 Tino Martinez DII Player of the Year Award and the 2017 Josh Willingham DII Most Valuable Player Award. Rucker was named the 2017 Natural State Baseball All-Arkansas Collegiate Player of the Year and capped his senior season as the 2016-17 GAC Male Athlete of the Year.
A 4x All-GAC selection with five player of the week honors in addition to bookending his career with freshman and player of the year honors, Rucker was honored as one of the league's very best in its first ten years as he was named to the GAC All-Decade Team in January of 2020.
In four seasons spanning 210 games with 202 starts, Rucker hit .341 (261-for-766) with 200 runs scored, 54 doubles, 11 triples, 42 home runs, a career record at the time of his graduation, 154 RBI, 100 stolen bases, a slugging percentage of .604 and an on-base percentage of .430. Rucker remains inside the top five all-time in 11 career categories including games played, games started, hits, at-bats, runs scored, doubles, triples and home runs among others. He is among the top five single season efforts in five categories including slugging percentage, total bases, hit-by-pitch, home runs and fielding percentage.
Following his collegiate career, Rucker signed with the Frontier League's Southern Illinois Miners following his collegiate career.
