Sport: Lacrosse
Born: July 3, 1996
Towns: Roxbury & Denville, New Jersey
Trevor Baptiste was born July 3, 1996 in Newark, NJ and grew up in Roxbury and Denville. Quick and powerfully built, he was an excellent swimmer as a boy and was also a standout in lacrosse. While attending Morristown-Beard, a private school about 15 minutes from his house, Trevor became the star of the Crimson lacrosse squad. As a junior in 2013, he was named an UnderArmor All-American. As a senior, he captained MBS to a 19–3 record. The team made it all the way to the Non-Public B state finals, losing to Immaculata. He scored 42 goals in 22 games and added 22 assists.
Trevor graduated from high school with an even 100 goals and was spectacular in face-offs, winning upwards of 70 percent. This skill put him on the radar of several top college programs, including the University of Denver, which offered him a scholarship during his 2014 senior season. Trevor had been set to play for Franklin & Marshall, a D-III school.
In his first college game for Denver, a preseason match against the Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse, Trevor his the team to an eye-opening 15–7 victory. He won 10 of 13 faceoffs against the pros. The Pioneers officially opened their season against Duke, the defending national champion. Trevor dominated in faceoffs, leading the Pioneers to a 17–13 win over the Blue Devils, who had knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament the year before. By the end of the 2015 season, Trevor had a new nickname: “The Beast.”
Trevor was a first-team All-American midfielder in each of his four seasons at Denver and was in the running for the Tewaarton Trophy, which is bestowed upon the college Player of the Year. That spring, he was a key to Denver’s first NCAA title, along with Ryan LaPlante, Zach Miller, Mike Riis, and Wes Berg, who was named the 2015 tourney’s MVP. The Pioneers beat Maryland in the finals. It marked the first time a school west of the Mississippi had won the NCAA crown, and Bill Tierney was named NCAA Coach of the Year.
The Pioneers made the NCAA Tournament in each of Trevor’s final three college seasons. They lost in the first round in 2016, made it to the semis in 2017 (suffering a narrow loss to Maryland) and, in Trevor’s final game, fell to Albany 15–13 in the 2018 quarterfinals.
Trevor was the first overall pick in the 2018 Major League Lacrosse draft. He was selected by the Boston Cannons, one of the original six MLL clubs from 2001. Trevor joined a team coached by Mike Quirk that had lost several key players over the previous year. They finished a disappointing 5–9. In 2019, Trevor joined the newly formed Premier Lacrosse League, suiting up for Atlas LC. He was an All-Star and was also named Faceoff Man of the Year. The 2020 PLL season, scheduled to start over Memorial Day weekend, was postponed because of the coronavirus and Trevor played in only three games after the restart.
In 2021, Trevor won his second PLL Face-off Man of the Year award. In 2022, he won the award again, and was also named the league’s MVP.