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East Carolina's Parker Byrd makes college debut after losing leg in boating accident

Jack Baer
Staff writer
·4 min read
6
GREENVILLE, NC - MARCH 04: Backstop at Clark-LeClair Stadium in a game between the St. John
East Carolina delivered a special moment with Parker Byrd on Friday. (Photo by Greg Thompson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

East Carolina baseball player Parker Byrd made history Friday, but the moment wasn't about history. It was about perseverance.

A year and a half after having his right leg amputated due to a boating accident, Byrd made his college debut, taking the field with a prosthetic leg in the eighth inning of his team's season opener. He is the first athlete to play in a Division I baseball game with a prosthetic.

Naturally, he received a standing ovation from the Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium crowd in Greenville, North Carolina, as he walked to the plate as a pinch-hitter. He drew a walk in his lone plate appearance in a 16-2 win for the No. 11-ranked Pirates.

You can see his family watching him at the plate.

Byrd was set to begin his college baseball career in 2022 after graduating from Scotland High School in Laurinburg, North Carolina. He was considered a top-25 recruit in the state of North Carolina by Perfect Game, which gave him a grade of 9, denoting a "highest level college prospect" who could be selected in the first 10 rounds of the MLB Draft.

But the July before his freshman year, Byrd fell off a tube during a boat trip. As Byrd approached the boat, his ski rope reportedly got caught in the propeller, which then hit his leg.

The results were horrific. Friday's ESPN broadcast noted that Byrd had to undergo 22 surgeries in the span of 45 days, including the amputation of his leg. A Facebook post by his mother at the time pulls no punches about what Byrd and his family went through, explaining that he was dealing with "unmanageable" pain in his calf and the muscle was dying due to a lack of blood flow:

"We need prayers. We need so many prayers, now and in the days to come. We pray that he has a safe surgery. We pray that there is enough tissue to keep it mid calf. We pray that the infection stays away. We pray for the next days ahead. He will need more surgeries in the upcoming days because they are leaving the stump open to watch the tissue. We pray for pain control. We pray for P’s heartbreak and his state of mind. This is just incredibly hard."

Byrd didn't play his freshman year, but he kept working, with the whole team anticipating his first at-bat as his sophomore season began.

ECU head coach Cliff Godwin knew what the moment meant, as he told reporters after the game, and he confirmed that Byrd would see more plate appearances going forward:

"It's been a long journey. It's one of the proudest moments I've ever had as a coach. He's going to get some more, but he's worked his tail off. It was super-emotional. Jimmy Paylor, the umpire behind home plate, told me when I was making the change he's been umpiring for 17 or 18 yearsm and it was the coolest moment he's ever been a part of. He said he was tearing up back there, like I was when he was running off the field."

Jim Abbott, who pitched 10 seasons in MLB despite being born without a right hand, also took notice.

Byrd said he went to the plate hoping for a fastball but was surprised by a breaking ball, then got nothing more that he could hit for the rest of the plate appearance. He was lifted for a pinch-runner after reaching base and received another ovation, as well as an exuberant reception from his teammates, some of the many people he thanked after the game:

"This crowd, these fans, these people, my family, my teammates, coaches, I cannot be more thankful and blessed to have the opportunity I had today. People believing in me, it's unreal. I really can't put it into words. It was phenomenal."

ECU's next game is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET Saturday against Rider.