Freshmen baseball player Tyler Lehman was looking forward to having an extra year at Francis Marion University to complete his Biology major and he had anticipated that the additional redshirt baseball season would allow him more time to work on his game.

The heavily-recruited dual-position player—with a preference for infield over pitching—became part of the Patriots’ baseball team during the early-signing period of 2007.

“Francis Marion gave me the best offer and I wanted to go to a smaller school,” Lehman said.

He was originally supposed to be a part of FMU’s deep pitching staff and in November 2007, he received a redshirt in order to reserve his arm for when the talent thinned out.

“I wanted to get stronger and [being redshirted] would help with school because I could focus on graduating in five years instead of four,” Lehman said.

However, after pitching all fall and playing in scrimmages it became obvious that Lehman’s game did not need as much work as he first thought. He was already performing well, according to FMU head coach Art Inabinet. He was hitting good and Lehman’s already adept abilities were impossible for the coaching staff to ignore.

“He doesn’t act like a freshman and he doesn’t play like a freshman,” Inabinet said. “He’s very mature.”

So—as they often do—the plan changed.

Lehman was un-redshirted a week prior to the opening of the 2008 season and now starts with the seventh nationally ranked Patriots at second base, a position originally thought to be secure with two seniors.

Now, with the Patriots off to a 14-3 start, Lehman is batting .303 with two stolen bases, three runs scored, and four runs batted in. He has hit safely in eight of his 11 starts, and has committed only one error in 14 games.

It took more than a preseason, however, for the second basemen to recognize his own talent. He started playing T-ball when he was only four, but it was not until his freshmen year of high school that Lehman realized he may be better than the average player. Even now, his on-the-field success is never flaunted.

“Tyler is a very shy kid,” Inabinet said, “I didn’t see any visible emotion—joy or fear—when I told him he would be playing this season. He just performs.”

The 19-year-old York, S.C., native also performed well in high school under Northwestern High School head coach Mitch Walters, who was a college teammate of Inabinet.

“[Walters] is probably my biggest inspiration in baseball,” Lehman said.

During his senior year at NHS the Trojans went 25-5. Lehman’s team participated in the All-Region Tournament where he was an All-Tournament selection and won the Captain’s Award as well.

With accomplishments like those Lehman—who said he does not wash his hat until he has a bad game—may need to rethink his tradition.

This season he is nearly error-free so when that “bad game” finally does come around he may need the help of his grandmother, who Lehman said is his biggest fan, to get the brim clean.