Indiana University pitcher and Columbus East graduate Cole Gilley winds up to throw a pitch against Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament May 22 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb.
Submitted photo
Cole Gilley made the most of his opportunity one last time in front of his home state fans.
Gilley, fifth-year senior from Columbus East, went 10-3 on the mound in helping Indiana University to a 32-24 overall record. He hopes to continues his baseball career professionally, but it will be a waiting game to find out if the phone call eventually happens.
“Overall, it went really well,” Gilley said. “Obviously coming in, the coaches believed in me. It gave me a bunch of confidence to go in there, and it was nice having all the coaches believe in you and obviously, having good defense behind me, as well. Overall, it was a good experience.”
Gilley played at Indiana State from 2021-24 and redshirted the 2022 season after having Tommy John surgery on his torn UCL. He came back for the 2023 season as the Sycamores made a run to the College World Series Super Regional that year.
Indiana University pitcher and Columbus East graduate Cole Gilley throws a pitch against Xavier Feb. 15 at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Ariz.
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Gilley graduated with a major in marketing at Indiana State with a concentration on sales and a minor in human resources. After getting his undergrad degree at the Terre Haute campus, Gilley made the decision to transfer to IU for his final remaining year of eligibility. He picked up a grad school certificate in public management.
Gilley had a more packed schedule and a lot of traveling when he transferred to the Hoosiers. With the addition of four West Coast teams in USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington joining the conference last year, there were much longer flights. It was different than at Indiana State, where most of the road trips were long bus rides.
“It was really cool. Going up to UCLA was awesome. USC came here. We drove to Penn State, but we took two buses so that was a big difference from Indiana State,” Gilley said. “At Indiana State, you never really flew unless it was Super Regional that one time, and flew one other time to Florida. Here at Indiana, you flew a lot more. It was easy though because we got there early. We got there a couple days early to get used to the time change. We had some practice to get the jet lag out of you. There really wasn’t a big adjustment.
“The only real adjustment for me was, I’m not a huge fan of flying,” he added. “Getting on a plane, it was like, ‘Let’s get on the plane, and let’s get down.’”
Indiana University pitcher and Columbus East graduate Cole Gilley winds up to throw a pitch against Michigan May 16 at Ray Fisher Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Submitted photo
Gilley’s final win came in the last game of the season and his collegiate career against Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha, Nebraska.
After the season, Gilley was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team, which honors students that maintained at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA combines with athletic performance. He also was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association Second Team All-Midwest Region.
“I always had to have confidence in myself and have the confidence in everything that was going on and knowing the coaches had confidence in me, it was pretty easy to go out there and just compete,” Gilley said. “Every time I pitched, I come out here and competed for Indiana, having Indiana across my chest and finding a way to win a ballgame. Obviously, it is hard for me to contribute when I’m not playing, except being a good teammate. When I’m on the mound, it’s like I’ve got to do everything I can to put us in a position to win.”
Cole Gilley
As for his future in baseball, Gilley hopes to have the opportunity to play professional baseball somewhere.
“I had a couple conversations with some teams. I try not to look too deep into it because in reality, it is completely out of my control. In reality, you have no idea,” he said. “The process is a little weird right now because you’re having phone calls, and it feels like a recruiting phone call from college. I’m just trying to stay in shape, keep my arm in shape, keep it ready just in case it does happen. I’m ready to go out and start throwing pretty quickly. That’s the main thing right now. I just want an opportunity, and if I get a chance, I’m going to try to make the most of it if I can and see where it takes me after that.”
If baseball is not in the cards for Gilley, he will look at a career in either finanacial planning or medical sales.
“Earlier in the fall, I was looking into it more but when the season started, I got away from it and focused on baseball and the task at hand. Now it’s focusing on baseball,” he said. “If the draft doesn’t work out, I’ll figure something out pretty quickly. I basically want to be able to go out and help people.”
