Sheredy steps up to mound
Arkansas pitcher brings winning repertoire to UCLA
By Yoni Tamler
When Kevin Sheredy and the UCLA baseball team met it was love at
first sight. After all, the two were a perfect match: Sheredy,
having pitched for two fruitless years at the University of
Arkansas, needed a change of venue, and UCLA was in need of a
reliable closer to solidify its bullpen.
Enter Cape Cod, Mass., the fish-stick capital of the United
States. The city is home to (predictably enough) the Cape Cod
League, where Sheredy played last summer.
"Cape Cod was amazing – nothing like I would have expected from
a summer league. I would work at baseball camps during the day and
then go to my games."
As is happened, six other current Bruins played summer ball in
the same league. Two of them – juniors Tim DeCinces and Ryan Lynch
– wound up with Sheredy on the roster of the Cotuit Kettleers.
"The first week we got over to the Cape I had to catch bullpen
for him," recalled UCLA catcher Tim DeCinces. "I’ve caught some big
leaguers before, and I thought to myself this was the best stuff
I’d ever caught. His balls exploded to home plate, he had command
of all his off-speed pitches … I was kind of overwhelmed at how
good he was. Then later when he said he had gotten his release from
Arkansas, I got on the phone with (UCLA head coach) Coach Adams and
said, ‘We gotta get this guy.’"
Such was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. After leading
the Kettleers the league championship and being selected to the
league All-Star team last summer, Sheredy has appeared in UCLA’s
first three games of the young season. He recorded his first save
as a Bruin on three pitches in a Feb. 3 win over UNLV.
"I love it here. Irregardless of what happens in the draft, I
know that I’m going to keep coming back and take classes at UCLA as
much as I can," Sheredy said. "After school and baseball is all
over I would love to settle down and have a house in Southern
California."
If Sheredy sounds hyper-satisfied, he has every reason to be.
He’s in a new school, in a new state, in a better baseball program
(Arkansas is unranked; the Bruins are No. 10), and what he
considers an entirely different culture.
"Arkansas was so country," said Sheredy, a Michigan native. "It
was, what I thought to be, years behind the times in the sense that
it was the most backwards place that I’ve ever visited, let alone
go to school."
Sheredy’s reason for attending Arkansas in the first place?
"I wanted to play in the SEC at the time, and I didn’t know what
Arkansas was really like because I had used up all my recruiting
trips," he said. "I just assumed that it would be like any other
college."
Sheredy’s discontent with the South reflected in his pitching.
In two years with Razorbacks, the right-hander posted a 1-7 record
with an ERA of 6.82. Now that he has found a home in Westwood
Sheredy is as pleased as a wide-eyed tyke.
"My role on the team is everything I expected," Sheredy said
from his hotel room in Kona, HI, where the Bruins are on a five-day
road trip. "It’s exactly what I want."
As expected, UCLA wasn’t the only school in the running for
Sheredy’s services last summer. Both Arizona and Texas recruited
him, but Sheredy said it came down to his role on the team.
"Both schools were looking for me to be a starter," Sheredy
explained. "Coach Adams asked me more what I wanted to do. He
didn’t tell me what I was going to do, which made me feel real
comfortable."
Standing at 6-foot-4-inches, Sheredy certainly has the leverage
to bring the heat late in games. He also includes the breaking
ball, slider and change-up as part of his repertoire, which Sheredy
used to save seven games (fifth in the SEC) as a freshman.
"Kevin sets hitters up with his off-speed pitches and then just
blows it by them," said fellow Bruin hurler Nick St. George.
"He’s fit in really well with the team too," said Sheredy’s
buddy-across-the-plate, DeCinces. "It’s kind of tough to come in
third year when you’re as talented as he is, but he’s getting along
great."
Thanks to the efforts of DeCinces, Lynch and Adams, UCLA has
found in Sheredy a true closer and another piece to the puzzle.
Daily Bruin File Photo
Kevin Sheredy
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