Christian Durbin (12), being congratulated after belting a playoff home run, has emerged as one of the top players on Seneca Valley's WPIAL championship baseball team.

JACKSON TWP — From on a whim to on a roll — that’s the story of Christian Durbin’s spring sports season at Seneca Valley High.

It was February and Durbin had just wrapped up a great individual career for SV’s boys basketball team.

“We just missed out on the playoffs,” he said of the hoops season. “There’s no AAU basketball for someone my age and some of the baseball players said I should come out for the team.”

Fast forward four months. The Raiders (17-3-1) recently won the program’s second WPIAL title and will face Peters Township today in a state quarterfinal playoff at North Allegheny High School.

The team’s leading hitter? Durbin, of course.

The senior rightfielder is currently batting .490 (25-for-51). In the last two games — the WPIAL finals win over Peters Township and a PIAA first-round win over McDowell on Monday — Durbin totaled four hits, two runs scored and seven runs batted in.

Oddly enough, Durbin has spent most of the year as SV’s No. 9 hitter.

“We had him in the ninth spot earlier in the season and he was hitting the ball really well, so we moved him to second in the order,” said Raiders’ coach Eric Semega. “He struggled a bit and we moved him back down.

“But he is seeing the ball so well and has so much confidence, there’s nobody I’d rather have at the plate right now with runners in scoring position.”

Durbin didn’t play any organized baseball in ninth or 10th grade, but joined palomino and fall baseball teams over the last two years. Still, he had some ground to make up this spring.

“I knew that I’d be behind everybody else,” he said. “I’ve practiced hitting pretty much every day this season. To start, my stride was humongous and my hands weren’t where they needed to be. I owe a lot to my dad. He helped me fix my swing.”

Durbin cracked the starting lineup after hitting for a high average in the team’s scrimmages and non-section games to begin the season.

“I got a call from Coach Semega and he said that I had earned a chance to start,” said Durbin. “I just wanted to go out and show what I can do.”

The vast majority of Durbin’s hits this season have been singles, but he has recently showed some pop in his bat with a home run and a triple over the last two games.

“It’s good having him down there in the ninth spot because he turns the order over for us,” said Semega. “He’s swinging the bat with a purpose.”

Durbin’s success at the plate has caught the attention of Liberty University in Virginia.

“I’m still planning on going to Grove City College and playing basketball, but I did get an invitation to be a walk-on at Liberty,” said Durbin.

Durbin’s older brother, Brandon, was a member of Seneca Valley’s PIAA title team in 2007.

The former has thought about bringing home his own state championship medal. He and the Raiders are three wins away from making it happen.

“That would be so neat,” said Christian Durbin. “I think we’ve got a good chance to do it.”