Walton Named KCAC Pitcher of the Week
After his latest gem in what's been an excellent start to his senior season, senior left-hander Alex Walton was named the KCAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week for the week of February 26-March 3, the conference announced this week.
It's the first weekly KCAC award for Avila Baseball this season and the first conference honor of any kind for Walton, the senior lefty from Tulsa, Oklahoma. And the award comes after Walton's best outing of the year in what's been a career year for the third-year Eagle so far: a career high seven shutout frames in the final game of the series as Avila shut out Ottawa 6-0 to wrap up the series sweep.
There's no doubt that Walton has been great this season. After he pitched in relief in Avila' season opener, he's been a starter exclusively in 2024, and Avila has won four of his five starts – the lone exception came in a 3-2 setback against Dakota State where Walton threw five scoreless frames. He now leads the team with four wins, and is one of the NAIA's leaders in ERA with a spotless 1.00 exactly heading into next weekend.
"I am so proud of this kid and how hard he's worked to establish himself as one of the top arms in our league!" head coach Matt Carpenter posted on X this week following the unveiling of the award by the KCAC.
When Walton came to Kansas City from Oklahoma, he was exclusively a two-inning maximum pitcher. He set personal career bests nearly every time he pitched in 2023 as he continued to up his innings totals, and continued to stretch out into a starter this summer pitching in the Ban Johnson Collegiate Baseball League in Kansas City, where he blossomed into a league All-Star as one of the league's best starters.
That's all culminated in this spring season, where he's thrown four or more innings in all five starts, including three outings of five or more, and now this, a complete seven innings of excellent work, with a complete-game shutout to boot, on Saturday afternoon against Ottawa. Complete-game shutouts, even in a seven-inning contest, are rare at this level of college ball, and the Eagles now have recorded two over their three conference series this year, with Walton now matching Cashen Schranz's exploits against Bethany two weeks prior.
Walton allowed only four hits – all singles – against the Braves, and gave up just two walks against three strikeouts. His defense helped him out when necessary: despite allowing a couple of baserunners, Walton faced the minimum 12 Braves hitters through four innings Saturday thanks to a double play turned by Ronnie Nowak and a caught steal from Rusten Traxler. Ricky Dober made the biggest defensive play of the game in the fifth inning, however, sacrificing what could have been a sure out at first base and instead aggressively throwing home to Traxler to cut down Jeremy Freeman trying to score. The gamble paid off: the shutout was preserved, and Walton cruised through the final two innings to earn the victory, wrap up the series sweep for his team, and take home a weekly award for Avila Baseball for the first time in 2024.
Up next, Walton and the Eagles will head east to Springfield, Missouri to face off with league newcomers Evangel. That series has been adjusted due to weather: the Eagles and the Valor will now play games on Saturday and Sunday instead of Friday and Saturday. For more details and links to watch and follow along, stay tuned to Avila Athletics on social media and our website, avilaathletics.com.
