BGSU baseball freshman right-handed pitcher Joey Turner and senior right-handed pitcher Jacob Turner have the privilege of doing something that all brothers dream of doing: playing a collegiate sport with each other.
“It means a lot to have a little piece of home here in my brother,” Jacob Turner said. “It’s great to be able to be out here with a family member, a brother and now a teammate.”
With Jacob Turner being in the Orange and Brown jersey for three years, head coach Kyle Hallock had a good feeling that Joey Turner would follow his brother to Bowling Green from St. Clair, Michigan.
“Joey had it pretty figured out that this is where he wanted to be,” Hallock said. “You get a good idea when you bring brothers into the program that, first, the older one is having a pretty good experience, and that allows you a chance to get the younger one.”
Having his older brother at his disposal during his freshman year of college has helped Joey Turner with traversing uncharted territory.
“He’s the best mentor I could have,” Joey Turner said. “He’s always there for me, like a great big brother would be, and he helps me through everything. He’s helped me ground myself coming into BG and made it a great place to be.”
The brothers use their competitive edge to create a dynamic that pushes both to compete to the best of their abilities.
“It’s a little tighter of a bond and a little more personal. When growing up, everything we did was a competition,” Jacob Turner said. “If he’s lifting more than me in the weight room, then I’m working to go lift more than him. If I’m running faster than him, then he’s trying to go run faster than me. We build off of each other.”
The competitive drive is evident in everything the brothers do, even something as simple as playing catch.
“You see Jacob and Joey both proving their abilities to one another, with each putting a little extra on each of their fastballs or extra bite on their breaking pitches,” Hallock said. “Iron sharpens iron in that family; you don’t have to externally motivate either one of them when the other one is on the other end of that throw.”
While the sibling competitiveness comes out between the two while playing together, it pushes both to get better. With Joey Turner being a freshman, having his brother to motivate him gives him a head start over others.
“Jacob has done a great job at shortening Joey’s learning curve from how college works, to how our program works and what he needs to do to come out here and make an impact on the field as a freshman,” Hallock said. “There’s a lot of wisdom being passed from one end to the other, and obviously, that’s what you hope for when you have an older brother.”
Along with Jacob Turner and Joey Turner being thrilled to play collegiate baseball together, their family enjoys being able to watch the brothers in the same uniform.
“They love it. I think they’re probably more excited than we are,” Jacob Turner said. “It cuts their travel time in half. Every time they come, they see both of us and it’s great for them. They love spending time with us, and they don’t have to separate time or anything. They get the best of both worlds having us both here.”
The Turner brothers and their family always had aspirations to play together at the collegiate level. Now, they are making it a reality in northwest Ohio.
“It really was just a family dream of ours,” Joey Turner said. “Our mom and dad do so much for us, so to be able to have them, our grandparents and friends come together to see us both in the same uniform, it’s really wholesome.”
Both brothers bring something to the team that Hallock sees as a leadership quality.
With Jacob Turner leading by example and Joey Turner having a fire behind him, their different styles both come back to the same outcome that everyone wants to see out of them.
“I like what both of them bring,” Hallock said. “I like them both best when they’re getting people out and punching tickets on the mound.”
After growing up learning the game of baseball together, the Turner brothers are cherishing and making the most of playing together at the Division I level just two hours away from their hometown.
