Tyler Vaughn wrapped up a terrific four-year varsity career for the Anna-Jonesboro High School baseball team this spring.

As a senior, he batted .474 at the plate and had an ERA of just 0.71 on the mound for the Wildcats. Vaughn is The Southern’s Baseball Player of the Year.

“This is really a huge honor for me,” said Vaughn, who allowed just five earned runs all season. “A lot of people that have been close to me have won this, and that really pushed me to work hard for this.”

Vaughn is a fierce competitor on the mound, and he can throw four pitches. But he admits his changeup is still a work in progress.

“I’m really comfortable throwing the fastball, curve and slider,” Vaughn said. “I’ve really tried to develop the changeup this year, but I didn’t throw it as much as I wanted to. I’ll really have to work on throwing it in college to make me a better pitcher.”

Division I college baseball is also in Vaughn’s future. He’ll suit up for Belmont University in Nashville next season.

“I’m thrilled about pitching at Belmont, and they have a good coaching staff, and coach (Matt) Barnett is the one who saw me throw in Memphis when I was pitching for the Missouri Bulls last summer,” Vaughn said. “He liked me from the get-go and called me the next day. A few weeks later I committed to play there. I like the campus because it’s nice and really small, and I’ll be able to know just about everyone there.”

However, Vaughn knows he’ll have to make some changes to his game to succeed at Belmont.

“I’ll have to get adjusted because I’m coming in as the young guy again,” Vaughn said. “I’m basically starting all over, and I’m going to have to work on not trying to overpower people because that’s not going to work at the next level. I’ll really work hard on mixing pitches at the D-I level.”

Anna-Jonesboro’s head coach, Jake Alley, knew Vaughn had the potential to be a tremendous player from early on. Vaughn won a sectional game on the mound as a freshman.

“We started his freshman year off, and the first day we saw him throwing in the gym we thought he was pretty good,” Alley said. “You always hear things, but you like to see it for yourself. So he got a varsity jersey, and he never had a JV jersey, and we kind of slowly brought him along. He was facing teams that weren’t so good at first, but then toward the end of the year he was winning a lot of good conference games. We had confidence in him as a ninth grader to help us win big games.”

Former Anna-Jonesboro standout Brady Wright, who also played for the Missouri Bulls, now plays for Southeast Missouri State University. The Redhawks are in the Ohio Valley Conference along with Belmont University.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing Vaughn play for Belmont against Wright for SEMO,” Alley said. “I’ll definitely be at that game next year. I’ll probably have a SEMO hat on and a Belmont shirt when I go to that game.”

Vaughn is ready to begin the daily grind of Division I college baseball.

“I’m excited and a little hesitant at the time,” Vaughn said. “Going from a small high school to a Division I baseball program is a huge step up, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m ready for the challenge.”

Article written by Scott Mees--The Southern