THE CLOSER

Patience, dedication and a lot of hard work have paid off for Whitley County graduate Jeremy Taylor. Four years ago University of Cumberlands Coach Brad Shelton signed the Colonels leftie and Thursday Taylor lined up beside five teammates who played their final regular season game at Doyle-Buhl Field.

“It has flown by,” Taylor said. “It is unbelievable how fast it goes.”

Injuries off and on during his career kept Taylor from seeing a lot of playing time, but he stuck it out and worked his way into a “closer” role for the Patriots this season. “It was just nagging baseball related injuries. Every time I start doing good there is an injury,” he said. “Right now I am having some back problems, a pulled muscle and back spasms.”

Taylor has played in 11 games for the Patriots this season and has a team-leading four saves on the mound. He has thrown 15.1 innings allowing 15 hits, eight runs and has an ERA of 4.70.

He has struck out 15 batters, walked eight, gave up two doubles and four home runs, (one of which came in Thursday’s game against nationally ranked Tennessee Wesleyan). He has a 2-0 record going into the post-season.

“I am finally making an impact,” he said. “Just to be a part of this team and make a contribution has been wonderful. “I’ve had to wait my turn, stick it out and work hard.”

“I was able to get my feet wet last year, pitch some innings,” said Taylor. “Now I have an important role, to go in and try to shut them down in the late innings.”

He is hoping his current injury doesn’t keep him off the mound. “I go to the training room every morning and have treatment at night. I am not going to let nothing effect the end of my career here.”

“Jeremy is a guy that is a perfect example of hard work, dedication and all those traits that you look for in an athlete,” said Shelton. “He has come here paid his dues, worked hard.”

“He started contributing last year some and this year has been a big part of our success,” said Shelton. “He is a good person too. We are glad he has been in our program the last four years and it is nice to have a local guy come here, stick it out and do well.”

“He had been a contributor this year and hopefully he will end his career on a positive note and will be able to look back and have a lot of good memories about playing here,” said Shelton.

During his career at the Cumberlands, Taylor pitched for the junior varsity and played some outfield. “He started getting more stronger and gaining more confidence and was able to throw strikes. The biggest adjustment for him was throwing the ball out of the zone in high school. The guys would chase those pitches and he had to realize when he got here the hitters were a lot more disciplined and weren’t going to chase that pitch every time. He know now that if he gets ahead in a count he can still get a guy to chase the ball a little bit off the plate but he has to work around a zone more than he did in high school.”

“He has made that adjustment and has been really good at doing it,” Shelton said.

Taylor agreed. “It’s not going to happen overnight. You have to be patient.”

“You will never know when your time will come and when you get that chance you’ve got to go out there and give it your all.”

Taylor will get his degree in public health next year and has been asked by Shelton to stay on as a student assistant coach. “It will be good to have him around, he is a great teammate. All the younger guys like him and it is good to have a guy like him that knows the people in the community and knows a lot of the players, he can help us with recruiting locally.”

“Any time we can keep a guy, a senior that has been a positive part of our program for another year, it will give him some experience coaching and it will help our program as well,” Shelton said.

“I definitely want to coach around here somewhere when I finish with my degree,” he said. “This is a great opportunity.”

Taylor said he would give anything to do it all over again. “It’s been a blast, the last four years went so fast. Being around all my teammates and these coaches has been unbelievable, I love it.”