By STEVE KRAH
Baseball is a big deal at a small place and Daniel Taylor wants to do his best to see that continues in his new role as head coach at Union County High School in Liberty, Ind.
A veteran of six years in the Patriots program, including the past two as varsity assistant to Jordan Ashbrook, Social Studies teacher Taylor became head coach in October.
Union County (enrollment around 400) is a member of the Tri-Eastern Conference (with Cambridge City Lincoln, Centerville, Hagerstown, Knightstown, Northeastern, Tri, Union City and Winchester).
“Our conference and sectional is loaded with baseball,” says Taylor. “It’s really fun conference to play in.”
The Patriots are part of an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping in 2024 with Eastern Hancock, Hagerstown, Knightstown, Northeastern and Shenandoah. Union County has won eight sectional titles — the last in 2018.
While the last couple of seasons have been below the standard, UC has produced 13 seasons of 15 or more victories since 2008.
Taylor led minimal activity at the end of the fall IHSAA Limited Contact Period and the winter has had participants lifting weights and also spending in the gym two days a week hitting and loosening up their arms.
“We’re taking it slow,” says Taylor. “(In-season athletes) will start throwing programs on their own just to get the arms in decent shape before the season.”
With the pitch count rule (1 to 35 pitches requires 0 days rest; 36 to 60 requires 1 day; 61 to 80 requires 2 days; 81 to 100 requires 3 days; and 101 to 120 requires 4 days) and a season that sometimes features six games in a week, Taylor knows you can never have too many players who can take the mound.
“At a small school, especially early in the season, your depth is really tested,” says Taylor.
Recent Union County graduates to move on to college baseball include Class of 2019’s Nate Webb (catcher at Ohio Northern University) and Denton “Mook” Shepler (University of Indianapolis corner infielder).
Taylor says he hopes there will be a few more college players in the current crop.
One of the things that struck Taylor when he came to Union County and coached under Jeff Mathews besides the trees in left and center field and the breeze that often made the baseball fly were the names of all the all-state players on the Bill Webb Field fence.
“(Mathews) expected success,” says Taylor. “It was a culture that was built. That was special. You don’t find that everywhere — especially at smaller schools.”
The varsity field is situated next to Union County Youth League (a combination of Liberty and College Corner) and UCHS softball diamonds.
“That place is bustling with baseball and softball come May,” says Taylor. “I love it.”
During the interview process, Taylor emphasized the importance of the feeder program. That includes middle school baseball, which was started two years ago as a club sport and has 20 to 25 players taking part in the spring before rolling into summer league.
To increase exposure with youth league players, Ashbrook began recognizing youth players on the field between games of a high school doubleheader and Taylor plans do the same kinds of things. There is a desire to host a summer youth clinic and another one during the preseason in 2025.
“I want kids to see the program and I want them to see the high school players,” says Taylor. “I remember when I was young I saw the high school players as big brothers and you wanted to grow up and be like them one day.
“The more you are exposed to baseball at a younger age the more it leads to the goal of what the program should be.”
Taylor notes that players in the Class of 2018 and 2019 came up together beginning at the youth league level.
Winning is also a tradition with Union County softball. That program produced its ninth sectional title in 2023 and earned its third regional crown in 2021.
Taylor is a 2012 graduate of Preble Shawnee Junior/Senior High School in Camden, Ohio, where he played baseball for Arrows head coach Michael O’Diam.
“He’s the reason education or coaching ever became a thing I was interested in,” says Taylor of O’Diam. “He was a great guy. He wasn’t going to lie to you. He was going to you. He would tell you straight how he felt, but he wasn’t demeaning. He built you up.
“He’s the reason I am where I am today in large part.”
Preble Shawnee is about is about 20 miles east of Union County High and it’s where all three of Taylor’s 2024 staff — varsity assistant J.J. Hatmaker and junior varsity coaches Caleb Barrett and Dylan Hatmaker — graduated. Taylor coached Barrett and the Hatmaker brothers at Preble Shawnee during his last two years of college.
“I think they will be a huge asset for our kids,” says Taylor. “They will be good examples for them to be around. They’re going to bring a high Baseball I.Q. level to the program.”
After high school, Taylor went to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and was a double major in History/American Politics and Sports Journalism. He was a sports director for student radio and was an intern with the Cincinnati Reds for one season.
Along the way, he changed his path and went into the teaching graduate program at Indiana University East in Richmond. He is currently instructing in Government and Economics while working toward masters degree in Education Administration from American College of Education (all courses are online).
In his sixth year of teaching, Taylor started at Union County Middle School then moved to Union County High two years ago.
On social media, there’s a Union County Patriots Baseball Facebook page. The Twitter/X handle is @UCPats_Baseball.
Daniel and wife Schyler have two children — son Karson (4) and daughter Gracelyn (2). Schyler Taylor is a nurse manager in Richmond.
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