Walker to continue baseball career at Lenoir CC

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 24, 2016 1:47 AM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Packing up a worn leather glove, scratched up baseball bat and dusty cleats into a backpack -- and -- tossing it into a dark corner of his closet?

Hunter Walker couldn't bear the thought.

Especially after Spring Creek's season-ending loss to East Carteret in the eastern semifinals of the state 1-A playoffs this past spring.

The passion still burned within his soul.

"Whenever it was finally over after we lost out in the playoffs, it didn't feel like it was time for me (to stop playing)," said Walker, who turned down an opportunity to play at a junior college in Maryland because of the travel distance.

"You put so much time and effort into baseball. I decided to play as a long as I can because our coaches always say one day you won't be able to play. Play as long as you can and don't take a day for granted."

The question? Where to play.

Walker remembered that teammate Will Rouse had signed a national letter-of-intent with Lenoir Community College. A traditional Region X power, the tiny JUCO school is an easy commute from Seven Springs, a the sleepy little town tucked away in the southern part of Wayne County.

He called the coaches and attended a private workout. The 30-minute session consisted of scooping up ground balls at shortstop and zipping throws to either first or second base. He displayed his talent inside the batting cage.

Once the workout ended, Walker briefly talked with the coaches as they toured the campus and weight room. They discussed the academic curriculum and the head coach warned Walker that most players will eventually cut themselves from the team for different reasons.

Walker quickly assured the coaches that wouldn't be one of those players. He accepted their walk-on invitation a couple of minutes later.

"Hunter was a huge part of our conference championship teams the past two years," said SC head coach Heath Whitfield, who had a total of four players -- including Kane Geelen (St. Andrews) and Sawyer Smith (Averett) -- to sign this season.

"He was a catalyst for us at the top of the order and was probably one of the most fundamentally-sound infielders we have ever had. (I'm) very glad to see him get a chance to continue his career."

There was a little incentive, too.

Most of the talk from the parents was that the Gators, who lost four pivotal seniors the previous year, would be lucky to win half of their games and even make the playoffs this season. Opposing coaches shared the same opinion.

Walker and his teammates buckled down.

"You can't just really count a team out, especially the kind of ball we play -- small ball, hit-and-run, bunts," Walker said. "People think you've got to drive the ball out of the yard to win ballgames, but we won plenty of games without getting the ball out of the infield."

Despite entering some games under-matched, the Gators showed some grit and fight, which has been synonymous with Whitfield-coached teams over the past three decades. The players had fun, but worked and improved every day.

The reward was a second straight Carolina 1-A Conference regular-season title and 19 wins -- a program-best, single-season record.

Walker finished his prep career with a .332 batting average, 59 runs scored, 29 RBI, 21 stolen bases and just 20 strikeouts in 227 total plate appearances. He's not sure if he can duplicate those numbers at LCC.

He's confident he can play.

"I know the pitching is going to be different up there," Walker said. "My strong suit would be to have a good at-bat every time, may not getting on base, but moving the runners around. I feel confident on just about any defensive play.

"I'm just after a shot (to play) so I can show them everything I've been taught by my coaches at Spring Creek on how to play the game."

Time to get some more rawhide string for the glove, clean up the bat and shine those cleats. There's a few innings of the greatest show on dirt left to play.