Archive: Toledo Rocket Success Stories

By: Chris Cullum, Associate Director of Athletic Communications

TOLEDO, Ohio - Brant Hunt's love for baseball and drive to succeed academically made the University of Toledo the perfect fit for him.

Hunt, who hails from the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nev., is a junior on the Rockets' baseball team and a biochemistry major in the University's BACC2MD program, the University of Toledo's early medical school pathway program offered to high-metric high school students.

Hunt's journey to Toledo as a student-athlete was a bit atypical. A two-time all-state baseball player in high school, he knew he wanted to play collegiately. But as a bright young man with a desire to pursue a career in medicine, he made it his goal to enroll in a Baccalaureate-MD Program to give himself a leg up on the process.

Only 43 institutions in the U.S. offer such a program. Luckily for Hunt, the University of Toledo is one of them.

"I wasn't going to go anywhere I couldn't play baseball," Hunt said. "But the fact that I could do both here made Toledo the perfect fit."

Despite living on the other side of the country, Hunt had connections to Toledo and the state of Ohio. Growing up, he would visit relatives in Canton, Ohio during the summer, and he still has relatives from his mother's side in Northeast Ohio.

Not to mention, Hunt had already played baseball for a team with Toledo roots.

"The first year I ever played little league I played for the Toledo Mud Hens," Hunt said. "It was the only year we used minor league teams for our little league team names. And mine happened to be the Toledo Mud Hens."

Quirky coincidence aside, Hunt deemed the University of Toledo a perfect fit. He decided to reach out to Toledo's head coach Rob Reinstetle about walking on to the baseball team so he could keep his dream alive.

"Brant has always been very driven and is a very persistent young man," Reinstetle said. "When he was in high school he sent me a number of videos of himself playing baseball and shared a lot of information.  At the time we didn't need a catcher, but things change in recruiting all the time and Brant was the beneficiary of that. He could have simply quit reaching out, but he was very diligent in his pursuit of playing college baseball. In the end it worked out great for both Brant and the Toledo Baseball program."

If the thought of being a student-athlete while participating in a rigorous academic program seems overly ambitious, know that Hunt, who was the Valedictorian of his graduating class at Silverado High School, has his priorities in order.

"I just make sure I carefully schedule everything out," Hunt said. "I don't let myself sleep in and I don't have a ton of free time. When I get up in the morning I always make sure I get something done before my day really starts. Life will always have its challenges, but I managed sports and academics in high school as well. I know that high school might not have been as rigorous as college, but I worked just as hard and it prepared me for this."

A catcher, Hunt is in his third season with the Rockets in 2023. His hard work paid off recently in a game vs. Western Michigan when, stepping to the plate as a pinch hitter, he sent a 2-0 pitch out to left field for his first career home run. The reaction from Hunt's teammates reflected the amount of respect they have for their hard-working teammate.

"It was an unforgettable experience and seeing my teammates' reactions was awesome," Hunt said. "I work very hard and do the best I can to lead by example and it was awesome to see the support I had from my team."

"Brant is a great example of what a student-athlete should be," Reinstetle said. "He works his tail off every day at baseball and always manages to get all his work done and keep a very strong GPA. I have no doubt that he will always be a successful person in his life after baseball."

An easy person to root for, you can thank Hunt if you ever see Midnight Blue and Gold on the Las Vegas Strip.

"After being here for a couple years they all know about the Rockets and they follow the team," Hunt said of his family and friends back home in Nevada. "So there are some Toledo fans in Vegas now."

Hunt, who carries a 3.76 GPA, is expected to earn his bachelor's degree next spring and is right on track to pursue his professional dreams once he hangs up his spikes. He is in the process of applying to medical schools, with his ultimate goal to one day become an anesthesiologist.

So the leap of faith that Hunt took three years has turned out to be a great one.

"Coming to Toledo," he said, "has been everything I thought it would be and more."