Trevin Sonnier enters his second season in the spring of 2023 as an assistant coach for the Abilene Christian baseball program. Sonnier came to Abilene after most recently spending time on staff with Wright State University in 2020.
Sonnier was a part of a year that featured a new direction, as ACU headed into a new era as a member of the Western Athletic Conference in 2022. The Wildcats finished with 30 wins yet again, going 30-29 including 14-16 in the WAC play. ACU finished fourth in the Southwest Division of the conference, and after falling to top-seed and nationally-ranked Grand Canyon in the first round of the tournament, the team rattled off four wins in three days to advance to the WAC Championship Game. It was the first appearance for the program in a title game at the Division I level. ACU beat GCU twice in that stretch, including 6-5 in a walk-off thriller, and 15-8 the very next afternoon to advance to the championship. The Wildcats dropped a 7-1 game to NM State in the championship game.
ACU did the unthinkable in 2022, winning five games against Power 5 opponents, including a three-game sweep of Michigan State at home, as well as wins at TCU and at Texas Tech. More history was made with the latter two wins; ACU won its first-ever game against a ranked opponent on March 29 in Fort Worth, topping No. 12 TCU, 6-2. The 'Cats then did one better on May 3 in Lubbock, picking up its first-ever top-10 victory with an 8-5 win over No. 9 Texas Tech.
ACU broke 71 school records as a team or individually in 2022, most in the offensive category. Bash Randle finished as an all-conference performer, and was named to the all-defensive team at shortstop as well. The Wildcats set records for the season for slugging percentage (.484), games played (59), at-bats (2,074), doubles (124), hits (610), home runs (83), walks drawn (283), runs batted in (417), total bases (1,003), most times hit by pitch (92), and most stolen bases (80).
The game most remember is the 10-home run, 23-run performance against Marist on March 5. The 10 homers set a new record and the 23 runs is the second-most for the program.
Grayson Tatrow and Mitchell Dickson each set records for most runs scored in a single season (67 and 56, respectively), while Bash Randle had the highest stolen base percentage in a single season for ACU at .929. Tatrow's 67 runs scored, 17 homeruns hit, 47 walks drawn, and 66 runs batten in all set new records in 2022.
In 2019, he was an assistant coach with the Dallas Baptist University Patriots under head coach Dan Heefner. While at DBU, Sonnier was a key part of a coaching staff that helped guide the Patriots 43-21 record in 2019 and the finals of the Lubbock Regional.
Sonnier works with the infielders and assists with the offense.
Prior to DBU, Sonnier began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Oral Roberts University under head coach Ryan Folmar in the spring of 2018. That first year, he helped lead the Golden Eagles to a 38-20 record and an appearance in the Fayetteville Regional.
Before beginning his coaching career, Sonnier - a native of Nederland, Texas - began his college baseball career at TCU where he spent one year as a Horned Frog. He then spent his Redshirt Freshman year at Panola College, earning Second Team All- Conference honors before transferring to DBU. Sonnier was an infielder for Dan Heefner and the Patriots in 2014 and 2015. In two seasons, Sonnier helped lead the Patriots to a pair of trips to the NCAA postseason, including the program’s first ever hosting opportunity, when DBU played host to the 2015 Dallas Regional. Sonnier then graduated from DBU in 2015 and transferred to Oral Roberts for his fifth and final college baseball season.
In 2016, he played all 59 games at shortstop for ORU while leading the Golden Eagles with 11 stolen bases and posting a .308 batting average and was named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, which recognizes the best shortstop in college baseball.
Shortly after the 2016 baseball season, Sonnier signed a professional contract with the Chicago White Sox. He played two years of professional baseball, split between the Chicago White Sox organization and the Washington Wildthings of the Frontier League.
Trevin and wife Dixie have two daughters, Adeline and Rosalie, and one son, Beau.
