CARROLLTON - In 2016, then Carrollton Hawk sophomore Kolten Bottom received IHSA Class 1A First Team All-State baseball honors as a pitcher. It was a deserved award with a 10-1 record and 0.88 E.R.A. Stats like are hard to find anywhere at any level in high school, let alone for a sophomore. Fast forward a year later, and yet another sophomore on the Hawks baseball team received the same award.
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Three-hitter, left fielder, and pitcher Nathan Walker was named to the All-State First Team in a quiet manner so quiet that he only found out through a text instead of finding it through IHSA resources.
“It was pretty awesome,” Walker said. “I woke up, my dad texted me and sent me a picture of the all-state team. It wasn’t on the [IHSA] website, so we didn’t know if it was the real one, but I just assumed that it was the real one and that was pretty exciting.”
It turns out Walker wasn’t the only sophomore to make the list. Nearby in Jacksonville, Routt Catholic sophomore Drew Winters received First Team honors, and it was his dad who forwarded the picture of the list to Walker’s father, Sean who then texted it to Nathan.
“His dad sent the picture to my dad because we’re friends and that’s how we found out.”
A season ago, Walker mainly batted second, but head coach Jeff Krumwiede swapped him around to the cleanup spot or the three-hole. Walker thrived. He collected 48 hits, batted 422., drove in 38 RBI, and hit three home runs during the season, which saw him become the Hawks best hitter through the course of the season.
So far in his high school career, Walker has only gotten better but started out well his freshman year. He batted 305. with 46 runs, 36 hits, 37 RBI, and two home runs.
Carrollton started out the season at 12-0, and one point was 21-3.
“I wasn’t expecting us to do that well to start off, but after we had won a couple in a row, I thought we had a chance to go long ways because we were doing pretty good.”
But, like all baseball teams, they hit a road bump in the middle of the season when Walker and the rest of the team had a hitting slump, which effectively cost them some wins.
“A little bit halfway through the season we had a three-game losing streak. We only scored one run for five games in a row.”
However, the streak ended very late in the regular season, and Walker played a huge role in that.
“We played Brown County, and we scored only one run again until the eighth inning. I hit a two-run homer, and we won. We kind of came out of the slump after that.”
His favorite moment of the season wasn’t hard to pick. Carrollton came back to defeat Nokomis 4-3 to win their third straight regional championship on their home field no less. Although it was a disappointing day individually for Walker, who went 0-for-3 at the plate, he has fond memories of how the game went down.
“That was crazy,” Walker said. “Jeremy [Watson] had that 1-2 count and drew a walk, which was big because he’s not a big walk guy. He drew the walk and Bowker hit that double.”
Bowker tied the game on a RBI double, and then Kyle Watters completed the job with a single to left field. Just about all of the players believed they would find a way to win down 3-1 late on, but it was Walker who had doubts.
“I thought we were done,” Walker said with a laugh. I was pretty upset during the bottom of the seventh when they [Nokomis] scored those runs [in the fifth inning], but then we pulled it out of our butt.”
Carrollton advanced to the sectional semifinals and dispatched Bunker Hill 15-4, but met Valmeyer in the sectional finals and lost 7-4. The Pirates would go on to lose in the IHSA Class 1A State Championship. For Walker, Carrollton was beaten by the better team that day.
“We wanted them to win state so we could say we got beat by the best.”
As for the game, it still stings that Walker and the Hawks couldn’t get to state, which was their objective before the season started.
“I was surprised we were winning, but in the third inning, they scored four. That was a real heartbreaker.”
Carrollton finished 26-7 on the season, but Walker and just about everybody following the Hawks will envision a better season to come with only four players graduating and just about all of the key players coming back.
“We should be pretty good next year,” Walker said. “Everybody will work to get better.”
As for being a left fielder, Walker is also a pitcher and throws left-handed despite batting right-handed. He will be part of the Hawks pitching staff who were all underclassmen this past season. If coach Krumwiede wanted to, he could roll out a starting pitching staff with five starters just like in the big leagues.
“I gave up runs, but I’ll probably pitch against the not-so-good [teams] just to save our pitchers for the better teams,” Walker said.
Walker throws a fastball and a curveball but mostly throws fastballs. However, he plans on adding another pitch to his repertoire.
“I just throw fastballs most of the time. Every once in awhile I’ll throw a curveball, but not a lot,” Walker said. “That’s something I got to work on over the summer just trying to get more speed and get a changeup.”
So far this summer, it’s mostly been working on the farm, playing baseball and football for Walker and looks to be a key player on the gridiron in the upcoming season. Walker plans on playing basketball as well making him a tri-sport athlete, and the Hawks summer program starts in July, which adds to his already busy schedule with football and baseball going on. All the while he went through a growth spurt and now stands six-feet tall. Despite currently playing two sports, he still gets plenty of easy mornings.
“I’ve been able to sleep in most of the time. On Saturday I had a 7-on-7 in Jacksonville at eight o’clock in the morning and Sunday I played baseball for a travel team. One of their kids got hurt, so I went and played a couple of games."
With basketball and football going on this summer and throughout his high school career, baseball is Walker’s best sport without question. If you don’t believe it, then Walker now has proof to show for it.
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