‘Walk-off Walker’ calls game on Senior Day, Trojans escape LMCA
Little did Lake Mead Chirstian Academy know when they intentionally walked senior Kayne Horibe to load the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning who lurked eagerly on the on-deck circle.
If you’ve been a fan of baseball for a while, you’ll know storybook endings can rarely happen once-in-a-lifetime.
But on Saturday morning during the Trojans senior day exhibition against the Eagles, senior Jack ‘Walk-off’ Walker did it one more time.
“First pitch, I saw it was outside and knew they were going to go there again,” Walker said post game catching his breath. “I missed the first one and had to be ready for it.”
With a late bat on a fastball that sliced just down the left field line past the outstretched glove of LMCA freshman left fielder Ryder Schuette, the single was all it took to send the boys rushing out of the dugouts and the parents to rejoice arm-in-arm.
“We’re getting better every single day, even through tough stretches, and we’re getting ready to hit our peak at the right time,” Trojans head coach Drew Middleton said. “Starting Monday, we’ve got a two-week stretch and it’s playoff time—no holds barred.”
Middleton couldn’t have designed a better senior day lineup as the skipper purposely had brothers Tony and Vinny Whitney along with Jack and Paul Walker hitting in order behind each other.
“You kind of have parity all over the place, right? You have Tony catching for Vinny senior day,” Middleton said. “You also have Paul and Jack playing together, right back-to-back in the lineup, following base hits from each other.”
Trusting in the senior on the mound, V.Whitney did just enough as he delivered five innings of scoreless work before surrendering three runs late in the sixth inning.
For the first time this season, the Trojans posted consecutive games without committing an error in the field.
“If we can just put together a seven-inning game of clean baseball, this team can be very dangerous,” Middleton said. “That’s been our message all year.”
The Trojans got on the board in the bottom of the third inning to break up the score column after junior Jacob Selbach doubled, scoring senior Leland Delgado and junior Paul Walker before Whitney drew a walk, scoring another to give Pahrump a 3-0 lead.
Pahrump Valley carried that lead up until the final frame in the seventh when the Eagles capitalized on an earlier run gained in the top of the sixth.
Senior Danny Yeates singled to center field while Cruz Johnson flew into a fielder’s choice to Selbach in right before Schuette popped out to left field, each scoring a run to take a bizarre 4-3 lead off reliver Cody Fried as Pahrump headed into the final frame.
A leadoff double by Tony Whitney was how the Trojans established the start of their last chance to comeback.
Before you know it, in perfect poetry Whitney’s older brother Vinny singled on a line drive to left field to bring his little brother across home to tie the game at 4-4.
Senior Dominik Wilson was able to fight with two strikes, reaching first base on an error by Yeates at shortstop.
With two men on, and one out, LMCA head coach Eric Roth intentionally walked Horibe to get to next man up.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the senior on his big day had already been in this spot earlier this season as he delivered an Opening Day walk-off against Moapa Valley.
Well, Walker did it once more and the humble senior had a hard time regrouping after getting mobbed on the field by his teammates in celebration.
“It’s awesome,” Walker said. “We went through a little struggle, but we’ve all come together, and it’s been awesome to watch.”
Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@pvtimes.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.
