“I have a brother (Ryan) that’s five years older than me. Growing up, I was always playing with him and other neighborhood kids. It was tough early on, playing with bigger guys. But it helped to get challenged by them,” he said.
“Peltier Field” had a genuine “if-you-build-it, they-will-come” feel to it.
“We’d paint the foul lines and keep the grass cut just right for it. It was a good setup,” he said.
Peltier may be playing in much nicer ballparks these days, but he’s still putting up Wiffle ball-style numbers.
After appearing in only 14 games as a freshman at Wright State last year, the Chaminade-Julienne product has swatted 16 homers from the clean-up spot, which is four off the program record and second in the Horizon League.
Peltier also is tied for fifth with 47 RBIs and sixth in steals with 19 (in 22 attempts), both team highs. He’s hitting .300, too.
The Raiders (30-15, 21-3) go into their final home series against Northern Kentucky this weekend having already clinched their seventh-straight regular-season title (one off UIC’s league record).
“Last year was a struggle. I wasn’t playing as much the second half of the year. But I was in the weight room a lot with some other redshirt guys and coach Gehrig (Anglin), who was running our ‘Breakfast Club,’” he said, referring to the pre-game lifting sessions and other competitive drills that sometimes started at 7 a.m.
“That was the turning point for me. I really grew a lot physically and mentally.”
Peltier — the JP stands for Jonathan Preston — put about 20 pounds on his 6-3 frame and weighs 200.
That might explain the power surge. He didn’t hit a single homer last season, and foes could usually wave the outfield in whenever he batted.
“The longball has never really been part of my game. I was always a contact guy, working the gaps and getting doubles. I’d hit home runs here and there, but it was never really my calling card,” he said.
He smashed the biggest one of the year, though, in the 15th edition of the Nuxhall Classic last month — a walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to beat Xavier, 10-8, in the championship game.
He was sick and almost didn’t play. Windchill temperatures below 40° weren’t helping, either.
“The day before (in a 10-3 win over Cincinnati), I felt weak and low on energy. The next day, I didn’t feel any better and probably was even worse,” he said.
“But it was a tight game, and we wanted to win the Nuxie pretty bad. We love competing against Ohio teams, wanting to beat them all. Sogie came up to me (in the eighth inning) and asked if I was good to go. I told him, ‘No problem,’” Peltier said.
Sogie is seventh-year coach Alex Sogard, who had seen his left-fielder deliver all year.
“His bat has been so good. He’s had so many clutch hits,” he said.
“It’s really good to see the growth he’s had — just the confidence. He knows he’s a ‘guy.’ It’s kind of crazy how he’s been in those situations. To see him come up clutch has been so cool.”
Peltier delivered a pinch-hit RBI double in the eighth. The bullpen squandered a 6-4 lead in the top of the ninth, but Peltier capped a rally with his blast over the left-field wall.
He preferred to spread the credit around, saying, “All the guys putting in good at-bats before that put me in that position.”
But he was the sole focus of the entire team once he was, as Joe Nuxhall would say, rounding third and heading for home.
“To see what it meant to everybody — it was real important for us to get that one. We hadn’t won the Nuxie in quite some time (since 2015). We wanted that bad,” he said.
As for the greeting at the plate after winning in walk-off fashion, Peltier said: “To see the smiles on your teammates’ faces and knowing you won the game… it’s unmatched.
“I’m not sure you can replicate that feeling.”
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