Calvary’s Gushue Signs With Florida, Will Join Team In January

While thousands of high schoolers across the nation took advantage of Wednesday’s National Early Signing Day to sign their college letters-of-intent, Calvary Christian Academy baseball standout Taylor Gushue may be the only one of the bunch who will be joining his new team sooner rather than at the start of next fall’s semester.

Gushue will graduate high school early and will join his Gators teammates in January.

“A baseball player leaving early is something that you almost never hear of,” said Calvary coach Gregg Mucerino. “But Taylor is that kind of a kid. I’ve never coached a more humble kid, and I am just impressed by the way he has always carried himself.”

With his fellow classmates, coaches and parents on hand Wednesday morning, Gushue officially signed his way onto the Florida Gators baseball team.

“God has pushed me to this point, and I am motivated to work harder, to put in the work and go out and be a part of the UF tradition,” Gushue said. “It’s exciting to know I am doing something that only a small group of baseball players have ever done. It was really special to sign here at Calvary today. I couldn’t ask for anything more than what this school has already given me.”

Certainly Gushue gave just as much back, and especially on the baseball field for the Eagles, where he had a .470 career batting average and a school-record 30 career home runs. Such numbers, coupled with his maturity and catching prowess behind the plate, helped to draw the Gators’ interest as early as his sophomore year. Thanks to prior relationships that Mucerino has with many coaches in the college ranks, they needed only one tryout to be convinced that Gushue was somebody the team could not pass up the chance to add to their roster.

“They feel he is ready to help them now,” Mucerino said. “He has the maturity to handle the situation he is about to embark on.”

Gushue always looked up to his former teammates whom he watched go on to college and professional baseball, and he relishes the opportunity to now be that same role model to the younger Eagles players.

“The younger players are the future of this program,” he said. “It’s important to make sure kids are raised the right way, and that we provide a good example for them.”

One factor that helped him in his choice was in knowing that Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan is not afraid to play freshmen right away.

Gushue chose to wear the jersey number 17 at UF, a tribute to one of his favorite scriptures: 2 Timothy 1:7, which states: “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of the lord.”

“I can’t thank you all for the impact you have had on my life,” Gushue told his supporters Wednesday before signing.

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