By Michael Miller, UC Communications
Kerrington Cross found a love for baseball at just 5 years old growing up in Brownsburg, Indiana.
He received several scholarship offers, but one thing made the University of Cincinnati stand out from the rest: its cooperative education program. With a passion for engineering that nearly matched his love of baseball, Cross was determined to pursue both of his interests in college.ย
“UC allowed me to do both baseball and engineering,” Cross said.ย
Now the Big 12 Player of the Year is hoping to hear his name called in Major League Baseball’s draft on July 13-14.
Cross said the connection he formed with the coaching staff at UC made it the right fit for his athletics career while the academic programs in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science suited his academic goals.
“When I came to UC, I loved the campus, I loved the coaches, and it made it really easy to fully commit,” Cross said.
Through UC’s cooperative education or co-op program, students split the year between full time study and full-time employment in their chosen field. For many student athletes, the time committed to their sport can feel like a full-time job, making the addition of co-op experiences a unique challenge.ย
For Cross, discipline and time management were key to his overall success. He spent all of his co-op semesters working at L’Oreal’s 24-hour manufacturing site in Florence, Kentucky, outside Cincinnati. The company offered him flexibility in his schedule, ensuring he would be on campus in time for practices, workouts, and team meetings.ย
“L’Oreal really put trust in me and helped me as a student athlete, and so did the team. My coaches made adjustments and worked with my schedule, even if it meant practicing and lifting by myself,” he said.ย
Cross worked hard, setting his mind to succeeding both on and off the field, which didn’t come without adversity. He shares that during challenging academic semesters, he wold channel that stress into his energy on the field, helping him to deal with high intensity games. Baseball had its own challenges. During his freshman year, he redshirted and was initially not slated to travel with the team the following season, but he wasn’t discouraged. Instead, he worked harder, proving himself to the coaches, and went on to play in every game that season.ย
In his senior year, Cross wasย named Big 12 Player of the Yearย after hitting .396 with 12 home runs, 50 RBIs, 65 runs scored, 50 walks, a .647 slugging percentage, and a .526 on-base percentage, finishing with a career ranking third all-time in UC history. One of the top third basemen in the country, Cross was a Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist.ย ย He made Bearcats baseball history, with his 219 career games played ranking eighth all-time at Cincinnati.ย
“Finding out I was Big 12 Player of the Year was surreal,” he said.
Since graduating from UC, Cross has been preparing for the MLB Draft. In June he was named a College Baseball Foundation All-American.
“My time here at UC was much more than just baseball,” Cross said. “My off-field experience made me who I am today, and the people I met here allowed me to thrive.”ย