At 23 years old and in his fifth season with the Bowling Green State University baseball team, Kevin Leady is soaking it all in.

He appreciates every opportunity he gets to take the mound for the Falcons, and even those three-hour bus rides don't seem so bad anymore.

Leady, a former three-sport star at Eastwood, has been through more adversity than most college athletes after recovering from two major injuries. If Leady chooses, he can play baseball again next season for the two-time defending Mid-American Conference regular-season champions after being granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.

The 6-3, 195-pound right-hander has earned his teaching degree and will graduate on May 8.

“I've been looking forward to that,” Leady said. “I've gone to school for a reason, to get my degree, and it feels great.”

Leady secured a student teaching position this year and teaches math and science to fourth-graders at Haskins Elementary in the Otsego school disrict.

“I love it,” Leady said. “It's awesome. It's what I love to do.”

Leady's mother, Tammy, teaches at Eastwood Middle School; his sister, Cori Boos, is a math teacher at Bowling Green High School.

Leady will have to make a difficult decision after graduation. Does he take that sixth year of eligibility and play baseball next season, or does he try to secure a full-time teaching position? He is certified to teach grades 4-9.

“I'm going to weigh my options and see what happens,” Leady said. “It's nice to have that option. With the job market the way it is, especially with teaching, if I did get offered a job I would sit down and talk with my parents (Dan and Tammy) about coming back to school and playing ball. In a way, I don't want to give up baseball. I'm having a pretty good year - knock on wood.”

Leady, a co-captain, is 6-1 with a 3.77 ERA in 59 2/3 innings and has allowed 61 hits and 17 walks, with 49 strikeouts. Leady went seven innings and gave up four runs (three earned) on nine hits last Sunday in leading BG (18-18-1, 9-6) to its eighth straight win, a 12-5 victory at Ohio University.

“Kevin's had nine starts and they've all been quality starts, and that's huge,” BG coach Danny Schmitz said. “All of his conference starts (5) have been very good. He's got three (different) pitches and he can throw all of them for strikes. He holds runners very well and he fields his position very well. The team has a lot of confidence in him.”

It's taken a long time to get here for Leady, who played in 31 games as a freshman outfielder and pitcher in 2006. A year later, he played in only seven games before suffering a season-ending ankle injury.

“I was sliding into third base and my foot got caught,” Leady said. “I sprained it and it turned into a fracture. I sat out the whole season and it was terrible. We didn't have a good year and I wanted to play. Not being able to play baseball is tough.”

In 2008, Leady made 11 starts with eight relief appearances for the Falcons, who won the regular-season MAC title. He tied for the team lead in saves (3) and opponents' batting average (.262), which was ninth-best in the MAC.

Leady was named a team captain in 2009, but elbow problems put that season on ice. Literally.

“I came back in the fall and I'd never felt better,” Leady recalled. “I threw one time in the fall and finished the inning, and I came off the field and told our trainer my elbow hurt. After that, it just got worse. So I took a couple weeks off and threw again.”

The elbow pain persisted, so Leady went to Cincinnati to consult with the Reds' team doctor. The doctor informed Leady that he had a torn UCL, a ligament that stabilizes the elbow. The doctor then performed Tommy John surgery to repair the UCL.

“That's not a three- to four-month thing,” Leady said of the recovery time. “That's a 15-month thing. It was almost 20 months between starts for me for Bowling Green. I don't wish that surgery on anybody. I started rehab the next day, and the rehab is very long and grueling.”

Leady said he never doubted he would rebound from the surgery and pitch for the Falcons again. He was given a medical redshirt last season.

“I knew for a fact I would be back,” Leady said. “The doctor told me the people who put in the time with rehab can come back and be even better. That was my mindset from the start. I knew I would come back and be better.”

Schmitz was impressed with how hard Leady worked to come back from elbow surgery.

“It's a tough thing and it's frustrating,” Schmitz said. “As an athlete, anytime you're not on the field is very frustrating. To basically go through two years where you compete very little, if at all, you have to give him credit. Kevin worked his tail off. He had almost a year and a half of recovery time, which played a major part in his success this year.”

Leady, who throws a two-seem fastball, curve, and change-up, credited the surgery for his results on the mound this spring. He earned MAC Pitcher of the Week honors in early April.

“I have so much more movement on my pitches than I did before,” he said. “I don't know why. Maybe it's a gift from up above. I throw a completely different ball now than before I had surgery. My goal every time I pitch is to go as deep as I can and give our team a chance to win. I don't care if I don't win a game, as long as we win.”

Whatever decision Leady makes at the end of this season, he knows he has his family's blessing. But the time he has remaining to make that decision is running out.

“That's what's tough about it,” Leady said. “I'm 23 and I'm not a freshman anymore. I'll have a college degree and I could be in the real world making money. Whatever happens, happens. I'll be guided either way, and whatever decision I make I will have to stick with.”

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