Some college baseball players might express frustration if they rode the bench for most of their final season.

Trevor Thomas, from the Brighton Reservation, isn’t like those players, not even close.

When asked about his limited playing time this season – his fifth and final one at Warner University in Lake Wales – Thomas said the players in front of him deserved to be playing. He even named names – Tyler Brown and Casey Mawhinney – and pointed out they each batted over .300.

“I can’t argue with it,” he said.

Thomas’s unselfish, team-first persona is among the many attributes that draw admiration from Warner coach Jeff Sikes.

“First of all, he’s been a terrific young man. We love Trevor,” said Sikes, who has been at the helm of the team for nearly 40 years. “He’s represented our school well. He’s a great student. We just think the world of Trevor and his family. He’s been a very solid player for us. His playing [time] has been sporadic. He’s had stretches where he’s played a lot and other times where he hasn’t, and through all of those times his attitude has been consistent, his approach is consistent. He’s very much a team player. We really appreciate Trevor.”

When he wasn’t in the lineup, Thomas made sure he helped the team in other ways, including spreading enthusiasm and making sure “nobody was sitting there daydreaming.”

Thomas, a 6-foot-1 outfielder, appeared in 16 games this season with nine starts. He made 38 trips to the plate and notched eight hits and six RBIs.

Among his highlights: two RBIs in a 6-2 win against Siena Heights, one run, one RBI and one run scored each in games against Grand View and Montreat, and two hits and a run scored against Ave Maria.

His best career game at the plate may have come in 2021 when he went 3-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs and a walk against Florida Memorial. He finished the 2021 season with a .220 batting average. He had a three-hit game against Grand View in 2020.

Off the field, Thomas was among seven Warner players named this spring to the Sun Conference all-academic team.

The fifth year came as somewhat of an unexpected bonus season for players, who were granted an extra year due to the impact of the pandemic. Thomas had planned to play four years, but he jumped at the opportunity to come back while working on his master’s degree.

“I’m very thankful for that because it gave me a chance to play with this group of guys,” Thomas said.

Indeed, the team generated a memorable season by setting a school record with 20 consecutive wins on its way to a 40-18 record. That success didn’t accompany the team to the postseason, where it went winless in two games each in the Sun Conference and the NAIA tournament.

Thomas appeared in the first game of the NAIA tournament in Kingsport, Tennessee, a 4-2 loss against the University of Cumberlands, but did not bat. In the next game May 17, Thomas started in right field and went 1-for-4 with an RBI single in the fourth inning that drew Warner to within 5-4 against Madonna University of Michigan in what turned out to be his final career hit. He scored the tying run in the fourth, but Madonna scored late to win, 6-5.

Thomas, who is a graduate of Okeechobee High School, is on schedule to finish his master’s in business administration next spring. He would like to work for the Seminole Tribe’s Cattle & Ranch division and work his way up.

The son of Michele and Gene Thomas won’t soon be forgotten by Warner baseball.

“We love the family,” Sikes said. “They are the sweetest people. Trevor is just a great, solid guy. When you are an Evangelical Christian university, you want guys who fit and contribute to the atmosphere in a positive way and Trevor absolutely does that.”