Marshals outfielder Connor Cox in his second season of college baseball

Connor Cox is one player who thinks the Fort Smith Marshals are starting to turn things around. After having won just once at home, the Marshals returned to Crowder Field in late June and took two of three games from Sherman (Texas), one of the top teams in the Mid-America League.

In the deciding third game of the series, a 10-8 Marshals’ win, Cox helped get things started with a two-out two-run first-inning single.

“I feel like things are starting to turn around pretty well,” said Cox, who primarily plays outfield. “I’m starting to turn around, and we’re just playing as a team. … I’m just looking to put the ball in play and get a job done. We got runners on base, and we got to capitalize off of that.”

Cox hails from Plano, Texas, a suburb just north of Dallas, and played at Plano East High School. He plays college baseball at Carl Albert State College in Poteau, and is in his first season with the Marshals. There is a connection to Cox having hooked on with the Marshals, due to his association with the team’s manager, Buddy Mercado.

“He was our hitting coach over at Carl Albert, and he approached me about coming to get better in the summer,” Cox said. “And Buddy is a phenomenal coach and a great person. That’s just the type of guy that I want to play for.”

Cox is using his experience with the Marshals in order to fine-tune his game even more for next baseball season when he returns to Carl Albert.

“It’s good for just getting some experience, get some more at-bats, and it’s great for reps, getting a lot of at-bats, getting a lot of reps in the outfield,” Cox said. “You just want to get at least one percent better every day.”

Cox is also wanting to build off his first season at Carl Albert.

“We, unfortunately, never made the playoffs (at Plano East); we were in a pretty tough district and played some high-level competition, but at Carl Albert, we had a pretty good year and went to our conference tournament,” he said. “We had a little run there, so it made it more special for me.”

Baseball has always been Cox’s sport of choice from an early age, which he learned from his father. When Cox isn’t playing baseball, he also likes hanging out with his family – he also has an older sister and an older brother – and his dog, a Golden Retriever. What Cox also likes about baseball is just the competitive aspect of the sport.

“I love competing, I love to win and it’s just great because, you know, you can be competing in the field, competing in the box, competing on the mound,” Cox said. “So that presents opportunities to go out and compete.”

In a recent game against Texarkana, Cox had a four-hit game.

“It just felt like it came naturally to me; it was impressive,” he said. “I just let the game come to me, and I just did my job. … I had a double, and I think I had a few (runs batted again) so again, I just put the ball in play.”

Cox wants to continue putting the ball in play the rest of the summer with the Marshals, as he continues to refine his game in preparation for his second season at Carl Albert.

“It’s just all about keep repeating and keep repeating it. Repetition is what’s important, and then we’ll start getting as many wins as possible.”