Honors and Awards
•First-team Academic All-District 7 (2014, 2015)
•Three-time All-Summit (1st team - 2014, 2015; 2nd team - 2013)
•Academic All-Summit (2014, 2015)
•Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-American Team (2013)
•Summit League Winter/Spring Academic Honor Roll (2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15)
•Summit League Distinguished Scholars List (2013-14, 2014-15)
•Summit League Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence (2013-14, 2014-15)
•Summit League Player of the Week (April 21, 2014)
As a Junior (2015)
First-team All-Summit, which made him Omaha’s first three-time All-Summit pick…First-team Academic All-District 7 and Academic All-Summit…Started all 52 games at shortshop…Batted .308 with eight doubles, two triples, a team-leading eight home runs, 42 runs scored, a team-high 42 RBI, 25 walks and nine hit-by-pitches…Led UNO with a .490 slugging percentage…Ranked in the top five in the Summit League for home runs (third – eight), triples (fifth – two) and hit-by-pitches (fifth – nine)…Owned 17 multi-hit games and a team-best 11 multi-RBI games…Was a perfect 3-for-3 with his first homer of the season vs. Chicago State (Feb. 21), scoring twice and driving in two runs…Went 3-for-4 with two home runs vs. Saint Leo (Feb. 26)…Finished 3-for-5 with an RBI vs. North Dakota (March 7)…Went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple, a walk, three runs scored and four RBI vs. South Dakota State (March 15)…In his next game, vs. North Dakota State (March 20), posted a 4-for-5 effort at the plate with a double, a home run, a walk, four runs scored and five more driven in…Finished 2-for-4, scored three times and drove in another run vs. Western Illinois (April 5)…Had a 2-for-4 day at Fort Wayne (April 11), adding three RBI and a pair of runs scored…Went 3-for-5 and scored once at South Dakota State (April 18)…Homered against Incarnate Word (May 21) en route to a 2-for-4 day with three runs and two RBI…Homered again vs. UIW (May 22) for a 3-for-3 day with a run scored and three RBI…Named to the Summit League Winter/Spring Academic Honor Roll, Distinguished Scholars List and Commissioner’s List of Academic Excellence.
As a Sophomore (2014)
First-team All-Summit...First-team Academic All-District by CoSIDA/Capital One...Academic All-Summit...Started every game of the season, leading the Summit League in regular-season RBI (48) and total bases (112)...Also ranked second among conference players for hits (64), doubles (17), home runs (nine) and slugging percentage (.599)...Batted a team-best .342 and led the Mavericks with 18 multi-hit and 12 multi-RBI games...Also had a 24-game reaching base streak...Went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI vs. Chicago State (Feb. 28)...Finished 2-for-3 at Grand Canyon (March 7) with a run scored, three more driven in, a home run and two walks drawn...Led the way vs. Air Force (March 15), going 2-for-3 while scoring twice with two RBI and a triple in the opening game...Had a 3-for-4 day with a run and two RBI vs. Dartmouth (March 20)...Came up 3-for-5 with two runs tallied, a season-best four RBI, two doubles and a homer vs. South Dakota State (March 30)...Closed the series at Bradley (April 20) with a 3-for-4 day and a pair of doubles, scoring once and driving in a trio of runs...Honored as Summit League Player of the Week on April 21...Drove in a season-high-tying four runs vs. Fort Wayne (May 10)...Named to the Summit League's Winter/Spring Academic Honor Roll, Distinguished Scholars List and Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence.
As a Redshirt Freshman (2013)
Selected to the Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American Team chosen by Collegiate Baseball…Second-team All-Summit pick…Ranked third in the Summit League with a .352 batting average…Added 20 runs scored, eight doubles, 18 RBI and eight stole bases…His 23 walks drawn were fifth among conference players…Went 3-for-3 with two runs scored, an RBI, a walk and a stolen base at Minnesota (March 13)…Finished 2-for-4 with a double at Air Force (March 19)…Was 4-for-5 with a run and a career-high five RBI in the series finale with North Dakota State (April 28)…Went 4-for-4 with two runs, an RBI and his first career home run at Iowa (May 7)…Had a 3-for-5 day with a run scored and an RBI in the series opener with South Dakota State (May 16), the weekend in which Omaha claimed the Summit League regular-season championship...Named to the Summit League Winter/Spring Academic Honor Roll.
Mount Michael Benedictine
Lettered three years in baseball at Mount Michael...Named first-team Class B all-state by the Omaha World-Herald and first-team Class B Super State by the Lincoln Journal Star after batting .522 as a senior…Helped lead his team to an American Legion Class C state championship...His junior year, led the state in homeruns during the summer season...As a freshman, threw a shutout in the Legion state tournament...Also lettered two years in basketball…Graduated with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.
Personal
Born on Aug. 4, 1993 in Omaha, Neb., to Denise and John Taylor...Has two siblings, Jackson and Meredith...Father was a two-year letterwinner in baseball at UNO and was an All-NCC selection in 1981...Hobbies include swimming, playing basketball and intramural sports…Member of the UNO Chancellor's List and Dean's List...Majoring in IT innovation.
