Athlete of the week: Lincoln East’s Joey Senstock

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) —Channel 8’s athlete of the week belongs to Joey Senstock from Lincoln East.

The spartan senior’s high school career has been nothing short of successful.

In three years at starting varsity he’s averaged .336, totaling 89 hits with 9 Home Run’s and 72 RBI’s, and helped lead the Spartans back to the state tournament.

This season, he leads the team in runs batted in with 30.

“Everything I’ve been through with these guys has just been amazing,” said Senstock.

But, that might not even be the best part of his game. Lincoln East Head Coach Mychal Lanik says he’s a key piece to the spartan defense.

“We call him Mr. Reliable. We count on him when the ball is hit to him and he always makes the play,” said Lanik. “He’s probably taken 15 or 20 hits away this year. He’s just an elite defensive player.”

The 6′ shortstop will join Nebraska next season.

But, before he can get there, he’s still got some baseball left to play.

Lincoln east is now 29-3 on the season after their A-1 District Final win on Saturday, and are heading into the state tournament once again.

This team has been in the state championship the past two seasons, winning in 2023.

Senstock is hoping they can repeat some of that same magic.

“Definitely winning the 2023 state championship was a special one,” said Senstock. “Just hoping we can repeat that this upcoming weekend.

Lincoln East is set to faceoff against Papillion-LaVista at Tal Anderson Field at 10:00 a.m. Friday.