As appeared in the Hamilton Journal, by Jay Morrison
HAMILTON —
Jerry Young is an athlete, not an actor, but the baseball diamond still feels a
little bit like a stage this summer.
Young, a 2005
Badin High School graduate and member of the Hamilton Joes pitching staff,
recently finished his redshirt junior year at Lipscomb University in Nashville,
Tenn. And he doesn’t plan on going
back for his senior season, which makes Young’s stint with the Joes an audition
of sorts for other programs looking for a big, strong right-hander.
“I’ve only
thrown about 17 innings in three years down there, so I’m looking to transfer,”
said the 6-foot-6 Young.
“I’m just
looking for a place where I can get the most pitching opportunities. I’ve got some places I can go, but pitching
well this summer will help me get in the door at some other places.”
Because of
NCAA transfer rules, Young can’t go to another Division I school without
sitting out a year. And with just
18 hours remaining before he completes his double major in marketing and
management, taking a year off isn’t really an option.
Young said he
plans on returning to Lipscomb in the fall to finish up his schoolwork before
transferring to another school for the baseball season. “I don’t think he’ll have any trouble
at all catching on with another team,” Joes coach Darrel Grissom said. “He’ll
be in somebody’s program.
“He has a real
command of the game when he’s out there,” Grissom added. “And when he’s not pitching, he’s a real
clubhouse kind of guy. He’s always
in the game, and he keeps everybody else in the game. He’s really emotional and vocal, and he
keeps everybody excited.”
In just a
couple of weeks with the Joes, Young almost has as many innings as he did in
three years at Lipscomb. He’s thrown 10 2⁄3 innings with a 1-0 record and a
stellar 1.69 ERA to go along with eight strikeouts and nine walks. “This is definitely going to help if I
can keep a less-than-2 ERA and keep the strikeouts close to one per inning,”
Young said. “I don’t have any negative to say about Lipscomb. I’m just looking for a new opportunity.”
Contact this
reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.