Brice Turang’s path to the Shuckers

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - At the age of 19, Shuckers shortstop Brice Turang had just wrapped up his second season in the minor leagues. He spent following year at the Brewers’ alternate training site, as the pandemic wiped out the Minor League Baseball season. A situation that many would see as a missed year without game action.

But not Turang.

“Take the best of it. We didn’t get to play, but it was still an awesome experience being able to hang out with those guys and learn so much, and just treat it like it was every-day baseball,” he said.

Since the Shuckers’ first home series, Turang has hit well over .300, including a five-game stretch in which he hit .429, drove in four runs and stole three bases.

“Nothing changed. I didn’t change anything. I just kept doing what I was doing, and it just continued to go,” he said. “Balls started finding holes. I started hitting balls hard, and that’s all I can do.”

Turang is the youngest infielder for Biloxi by three years - but he’s no stranger to playing against an older crowd. He grew up with four older siblings - all of whom played college sports - to a father who spent two seasons in the majors, and a mother who competed in the College World Series. A family that he described as ‘all love,’ just not afraid of a little friendly competition.

“Any game - whether it was tag, Monopoly, any game - we would be competitive as all get out,” Turang said. “We would fight, yell, scream at each other. It helps me on the field here.”

That natural drive, paired with his experience in 2020 and picking up from some of his seasoned Shuckers teammates, Turang is hitting his stride individually - even after a season unlike any other.

“Jamie (Westbrook), Cam (Devanney), we got (Tyler) Friis, (David) Fry, you learn from each other in every aspect of the game,” he said. “Maybe they have different input from you, and you hear it out and learn. You learn from anyone you want to learn from. We have a good squad here.”

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