Walker, team receives holiday

Jul 03, 2010

By: The Times Herald

By TOM KERRANE
Times Herald Staff

COLUMBIA, S.C. – On Independence Day, many Americans get the chance to attend a parade in the local town.

Floats are towed down the main drag, bands play patriotic tunes, fire engines blare their sirens. It is the usual tradition on this holiday weekend.

For Christian Walker, the Kennedy-Kenrick Catholic High product got to experience all that a little bit earlier than usual.

Walker was one of those riding on a float through the town of Columbia, South Carolina on Friday. His parade was not to mark the country’s independence 234 years ago.

It was to celebrate the national championship the University of South Carolina won in baseball Tuesday, Walker being the freshman first baseman for the Gamecocks.

“When we got in from our flight (Wednesday),” Walker said of the team’s trip back from Omaha, “the basketball arena had like 15,000 people packed in it. We had a parade through town (Friday). They gave us our own holiday.”

Not bad for the first year of college.

South Carolina defeated UCLA in the best-of-three championship series of the College World Series, beating the Bruins, 7-1, on Monday and then 2-1 in 11 innings Tuesday. It was the Gamecocks’ first CWS title.

“The overall experience was unbelievable,” said Walker, who arrived home Saturday. “It is so hard to get to this point.

“Once we won the Super Regional, we knew we were finally going to (Omaha). That was a great feeling, but once we got there, we were there to win it all.”

In fact, the Gamecocks lost their opening game in the CWS, having to be perfect after that or go home in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament.

Walker, the 2008 Times Herald Player of the Year and Co-Player of the Year for baseball last year, was one of the stars of USC’s 4-3 victory over Clemson last Saturday, which put the team into the championship series. He hit a solo home run in the fourth inning and had an RBI single in the seventh to give USC a 3-2 lead in the game. Walker’s glove provided the final out as he fielded a hard grounder at first to put the Gamecocks into the final series.

“That felt so good,” he said of the game. “I bounced around in the field this year, struggled for a while and landed at first base. It just felt good to be in the lineup and I’m so glad I got to contribute.”

Coming out of high school, Walker, who was named to the CWS All-Tournament Team, was considered a probable high-round draft pick. But with the scholarship to South Carolina as a backup, the draft did not turn out as Walker had envisioned, eventually being a 49th-round pick of the Dodgers. So, he matriculated in Columbia and now finds himself a national champion.

“When we made the final decision to go to college,” Walker said, “I knew I had to do it with no regrets. Either decision, there had to be no regrets. Obviously, I have no regrets after this year.”

No regrets, and with his own parade.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 at 11:20 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.