Friday Features: Early lessons boost UWG's Tyler Gunnin
By Mike Perrin
The University of
West Georgia’s
Tyler Gunnin has always wanted to be a baseball player. Some of his earliest memories are backyard sessions with his step-grandfather, tossing and hitting a baseball. Lessons from Gramps weren’t like most toss-and-swing sessions in most backyards.
Gunnin’s early lessons were from University of Georgia All-American and College and Pro Football Hall of Fame halfback Charley Trippi. “What most people do not know is that he played pro baseball and ever since I was a kid he would take me in the backyard and throw to me and teach me how to hit,” the 5-foot-11, 195-pound junior said. “He was the only athlete in my family.”
Trippi, now 93, is the oldest living former No. 1 NFL draft choice. After two All-American seasons at Georgia, including one alongside Heisman Trophy winner Frank Sinkwich, Trippi was the top choice of the Chicago Cardinals. His college career was interrupted by World War II, which he spent entertaining the troops at bases across the country as part of the Third Air Force football team, but when he returned he won the Maxwell Award in 1946 as the nation’s college player of the year. The next season, he played minor league baseball for the Southern Association’s Atlanta Crackers.
With a tutor like Trippi, Gunnin got a nice head start.
“I have been playing baseball since I could walk,” he said, “so it has always been a big part of my life. My mom is veterinarian and my dad works for Best Western hotels. They have supported me and spent all that money on me since I was a kid so I owe it all to them. I would not be where I am today without the support of my family and I thank God for that.”
Gunnin found his place on the mound in high school – after spending most of his time in the outfield. “I used to play outfield and pitching was just something I did on the side,” he said. “I pulled both of my hamstrings back-to-back my junior and senior years in high school (at Oconee County High in Watkinsville, Ga.). That played a huge role in me becoming a pitcher only.”
Gunnin came to West Georgia for a tryout after two years at West Georgia Technical College, a junior college just a couple of long tosses up the road from Carrollton in Waco. “I came to like the city of Carrollton and my only other offer was from a school in the middle of nowhere, so I decided to try out and maybe stay here with friends,” he said. “I’ve always looked at West Georgia as an option because I like the atmosphere of the school and I’d always heard good things about it.”
The right-hander impressed Wolves’ coach Skip Fite with his fastball, which hit the high 80s and low 90s on that day. In early February, he picked up his first save starting an amazing streak on the mound. In his first 12 appearances, Gunnin allowed zero earned runs. He gave up one against Delta State and then two more against North Alabama, but his nine saves are No. 1 in the Gulf South Conference. He’s carrying a 1.72 ERA, has yet to allow an extra-base hit in 15.2 innings pitched. Gunnin has struck out 18 and opposing hitters have a .193 batting average against him.
“I love being a closer,” Gunnin said. “The pressure of having the game on the line and knowing that you’re called upon to shut the game down is a very good feeling. My last two outings (before a perfect ninth vs. Miles on Wednesday) have been shaky, but honestly I am just doing my job. I’m here to pitch the ninth inning so there is no room for error and I have become a better pitcher than I have been in the past because of that.
“I have really settled down mentally which was my problem in the past. I am very comfortable with my team and my catcher so when I am up there on the mound I have no worries.”
Gunnin sticks to his routine when it looks like he’s going to be called upon. He starts stretching in the seventh inning – with some calming music playing in his earphones, “especially if it’s a one-run game,” he said. “I tune everything out that’s going on and focus on pitching. In my mind, it’s just me and the catcher and there’s no score. I’m just there to shut down the ninth and that’s that.”
Despite his success, Gunnin said he’s acutely aware of what he’s facing in GSC play. “It’s very different from junior college, for sure. You have guys in this league who are potentially going to get drafted and on some teams every hitter from 1 through 9 can hit. You really grow up in this league because you cannot rely on a 90-mph fastball. You have to master off speed and learn to hit zones because if you don't, you will not have much success against good teams.”
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