A week ago during a home game against Jeffersonville, Charlie Longmeier came up to bat for Seymour with Bret Perry on first base.

Longmeier corked the ball down the right field line, and by the time he reached third base, he had just made history.

With that RBI triple against the Red Devils, Longmeier set the Seymour school record for career triples with 10 now in his career.

“I was aware of it,” Longmeier said. “It was always in the back of my mind, but at the end of the day, I was just trying to hit the ball as hard as I could and make good contact, so it wasn’t my main focus, but it was in the back of the mind a little bit as the season went on.”

The record had been standing since 1968 when Steve Riordan finished his career with nine triples. Longmeier came into this season tied for second on the all-time list with eight. He was tied with four other former Owls.

The top 10 names on the all-time triples list all finished their careers with between seven and nine triples, and with Longmeier only being a junior, he hopes to put some distance between his name and the others.

“It’s really cool, but I expect to keep expanding it, and I’m going to try to make it so I can always have it,” he said.

So what makes Longmeier so good at getting to third base off of one hit? Speed plays a factor, and he has plenty of that, but he also believes batting left-handed has been an advantage.

“Being a lefty, I think it’s a little bit easier because if I pull it down the line, with my speed, I think it’s pretty much a triple every time as long as I hit it pretty well,” Longmeier said. “I just try to pull it to right field and run as fast as I can.”

Longmeier typically has a good feel for if he can get to third base once he sees the ball put in play, but he’ll always look over at head coach Jeremy Richey down the third base line just in case.

“Usually, I know it (when it comes off the bat), but if it’s close, I’ll look at coach Richey when I’m getting close to second base and just listen to him and run as fast as I can,” he said.

Not only are triples rare, but aside from a home run, it can almost guarantee a run if someone else is on base — like Perry was against Jeff — or set up Longmeier with a chance to score in the inning.

“It can be really big because I think it’s probably one of the hardest things to do in baseball, so if there’s anyone on base, they’re obviously going to score ahead of me, and then I can usually score on a passed ball or a base hit or something like that, so I think it’s a big momentum shift,” Longmeier said.

Longmeier has been a key hitter and base-runner for the Owls so far this season, and he already has committed to play Division I baseball at the University of Evansville when he graduates.

So far, the Owls are 7-4 this season, with two of those losses being decided by one run in extra innings. Longmeier feels like the team is focused on getting better the rest of the way.

“I think we’ve been really good this year through about five innings,” he said. “I think we can easily be undefeated right now. We’ve been in every game we’ve played, so we‘ve just got to keep getting better and get ready for sectional because we want to make a run.”