Senior Tyler Cleveland received two new titles, Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and Southland Conference Relief Pitcher of the Year as he was ending his third baseball season at UCA. 

Cleveland confirmed that over the season he struck out 85 batters as a pitcher in only 67 innings, with 15 walks total. 

Cleveland worked hard and was able to gain more skills through his own practice and through his relationships with his teammates from his previous seasons at UCA.

“I put a lot of work in before the year and that was a good thing for me,” Cleveland said. “So, my season went really well.” 

Cleveland has been playing baseball since he was young, stating that his father was an athlete and baseball was something that he always wanted to pursue.

Cleveland has a large support system that has helped him through his past seasons, including his parents, siblings, and his girlfriend.  

“I’ve got a huge family that they’re all super tight, super close,” Cleveland said. “So I’ve got a lot of people that support me in what I do.”

Cleveland shared that he enjoys being on the team and that his teammates are some of his closest friends.

Even though the season got cut short due to the pandemic, Cleveland was still able to gain more titles for UCA, and never let it get him down.  

“Consistency is a key part of winning,” Cleveland said. “You can’t show up one day and kind of take it lazy.”

Cleveland used the past season to work hard on being the best team player he could be, not only for the coaches and his teammates, but for himself. 

Teamwork and consistency were the two most important things that Cleveland discussed regarding his past season.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in a group, if you’re struggling, you’ve got to come with the same work ethic and determination to win every day,” Cleveland said. “Because in baseball, it doesn’t matter who’s the better team, it’s who’s the better team on that given day.”

Cleveland shared that he normally does not keep track of his baseball statistics through the season, mostly to keep the pressure off during his games. 

He discussed how he pushed himself to be the best version of himself that he could be every day and plans to continue his mindset into his upcoming season on the team.

Even though Cleveland worked hard through COVID-19, playing summer ball and mastering his pitching techniques, it did have a strain on the competitive season. 

Cleveland discussed how COVID-19 impared their season as a team, and ultimately may have been the reason why the team did not press forward as hard as they intended to.

“We were struggling to win games,” Cleveland said. “Then we had to quarantine the team, and then after that, we started to pick it up, but it was kind of a late run. We didn’t have enough time to make the conference tournament.”