Published: June 14, 2008 11:42 pm            

TRIBUNE COLLEGE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Jeremy Hutslar

Jeremy Hutslar is ready to leave his college baseball career in the past. He’s already begun making plans for the future.

But after a wildly successful and accolade-filled senior season at Lee University, the former Floyd Central star still had one more award left to collect.

After leading Lee to the NAIA World Series for the third time in his four-year career, putting up eye-popping numbers from his lead-off spot and taking the Charlie Hustle Award at the NAIA’s signature event, Hutslar secured his spot as The Tribune’s first-ever Floyd County College Athlete of the Year.

“I feel really lucky,” Hutslar said. “I never thought I’d turn into the player that I ended up being. I was just blessed enough to be in a situation where I could succeed, as long as I put in the work.”

The numbers make it obvious that he did.

Hutslar ended up as a part of the all-Southern States Athletic Conference academic team and was also a second-team all-conference selection for his exploits on the field. The Flames won the SSAC regular-season title, as well as the NAIA Region XIII Tournament crown.

Lee ended up taking the NAIA Atlantic South Super Region Series title, and finished second in the World Series, with Hutslar named as part of the all-Series squad.

His biggest individual prize came with the “Charlie Hustle” award, even if it wasn’t a big deal at the time.

“Our season had just been ended, so I was really pretty upset when the guy gave it to me,” Hutslar said. “But I got to thinking about it, and it is a big deal. Of all the guys out there playing, they noticed me. It means I was giving it all I had and playing the game the right way — staying positive and working hard.”

Now, staying positive is all Hutslar has. He has embarked on his professional baseball career, trying to catch on in the independent Frontier League.

This past week, he and a teammate had a trout with the Florence Freedom near Cincinnati, only to find out that the team was already set at his position — center field.

“I actually did pretty well at my tryout,” he said. “They had some veterans in the outfield already, but I just hope their coach recommends me.”

In the meantime, Lee’s all-time stolen base leader will balance the travel and tryouts with teaching hitting lessons to kids before finishing up his business degree in December.

All the while keeping the sort of attitude that helped him captain the Flames to a 53-7 regular-season record and an unbelievable 34-game winning streak from Feb. 8 to Mar. 28.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I’m calling coaches, e-mailing people and just working out and trying to stay in shape. Something will happen.”

If it doesn’t, there’s a plan for that, too. Hutslar says he and two friends plan on going into the real-estate business after graduation, and from there he hopes to open a restaurant and, one day, fulfill his dream of running a baseball academy.

Those sound like flights of fancy, but for The Tribune’s reigning College Athlete of the Year, anything is possible with the right plan.

“I’ve been so surprised,” he said. “When I came out of high school, the only offer I had was from Spalding. I ended up walking on and went to the World Series three out of four years. I have never been the most talented, but I always thought I might be able to out-work people. I worked as hard as I could, and good things ended up happening.”



JEREMY HUTSLAR IN 2007-08

• Became Lee University’s all-time stolen base leader

• All-NAIA Division I World Series team

• Second-team selection for Southern States Athletic Conference team

• Charlie Hustle Award winner at NAIA World Series

• Led team to No. 1 seed in World Series, 63-10 final record and championships of SSAC, Atlantic South Super Region and NAIA Division XIII

        

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