Booneville, Miss. – Bailey Walker made the transition from the gridiron to the diamond look like a piece of cake during his debut at Northeast Mississippi Community College.
Walker finished a triple shy of the cycle during a 16-13 loss to Columbia State (Tenn.) Community College on Saturday, February 6. The Tigers also lost the first game of the doubleheader 6-5 as part of opening day of the 2016 campaign at Harold T. White Field.
The 6-2, 190-pounder earned the start in left field during both contests for Northeast after accounting for nearly 700 yards between rushing and passing with six touchdowns as a quarterback for the football team last fall.
Walker reached safely during six of his seven plate appearances in his initial appearances with the Tigers. He officially went three for five with five runs, five RBIs, one home run, one double and zero errors in the field.
The Lake Cormorant High School graduate truly showcased his baseball skills during the nightcap. He crushed a three-run homer over the left-centerfield wall in the bottom of the first inning that served as his inaugural hit at the collegiate level.
"I wasn't expecting it," Walker said. "When I hit it, I knew it was going out. It was shocking so I was smiling a little bit. Everything went well. It felt great to get that hit."
Northeast doubled its advantage to 6-0 two frames later. Tray Davis brought two runners home with a double down the left field line and then scored himself on Austin Marlin's RBI single.
The Tigers erupted for six additional runs in the fourth. Garrison Howell reached on an error to start the inning and touched home plate moments later on the second of three hits by Josh Stillman in the matchup.
Walker followed with a line drive into the gap that easily plated Stillman. Reid Carter and Howell capped the frame in which Northeast batted around with RBI base knocks to increase the advantage to 12-1.
The Tigers responded to a run by the Chargers in the fifth with one of their own in the bottom half. A.J. Rye led off with a double and later returned to the dugout after Walker's sacrifice fly.
Columbia State, which is receiving votes in the preseason National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I rankings, came to life in the final two innings with a total of 14 runs to complete the come-from-behind win and complete the sweep.
The first game was equally as good with Northeast taking an early 1-0 advantage when Stillman was plunked by a pitch and scored on a throwing error by the Chargers on a John David Poss grounder.
Stillman pushed Northeast (0-2) ahead by a 2-0 margin in the second with an infield single that allowed Walker, who walked three batters earlier with two outs, to come around the bases.
The Chargers (2-0) tacked on solo runs from the fourth through sixth innings to take their initial lead at 3-2. But the Tigers did not trail for long after an outstanding latter half of the frame.
Eric Patterson hustled across the plate on a wild pitch to bring the contest into a stalemate. Rye and Stillman came through with back-to-back hits that put Northeast up 5-3 after the sixth.
Columbia State used RBIs from Corey Herndon and Clay Simmons to jump ahead 6-5 in the top of the seventh. Eli Murphree singled to begin the Tigers' portion of the inning, but a line drive double play secured the victory for the visitors.
"We're going to grow and learn from this and this is going to make us better," Northeast head coach Richy Harrelson said. "There were some really bright spots with the way we played. We've got a good group that's worked really hard."
Joseph Caver and Trace Lee both took no decisions after brilliant starts for the Tigers. Lee went 3.2 frames in the lid lifter with three strikeouts and one walk while Caver lasted 4.1 innings with just two earned runs conceded.
Stillman was equally as brilliant as Walker offensively with five hits in six at bats, four runs and three RBIs. Northeast was perfect in the field during the first matchup of the afternoon as well.