“He eats a lot of steak,” said Willard Head Baseball Coach Scott McGee.
Eating steak, it’s a must for Willard senior Levi Hilton.
“Eating before pitching just…I don’t know…it just works,” Hilton said.
“He’s been known to make steak bites and keep them in his back pocket during practices and games and eats them,” McGee said.
Whatever it takes to fuel a Tiger with a mean arm.
“Sophomore year he was [pitching] 83/84 [mph],” McGee said. “An okay breaking ball. Then last year he just makes this huge jump.”
“It was a little over a year ago that I topped out at 92 [mph],” Hilton said. “Hopefully this year I can top around the 94 [mph] range.
He has four pitches, but his fastball is his go to. Leaving opponents flustered at the plate and from the dugout.
“It’s not a silence, it’s kind of just this murmur of ‘are we ever going to figure this out?’ and just fortunately no one does,” McGee said.
Last season he went 6-1 and posted a .98 earned run average. But it was two years ago when he proved his poise from the mound.
“When coach first told me I was going to be the pitcher for the state championship as a sophomore, I was like woah,” Hilton said. “I took it pretty well and it was a really fun year.”
Willard went on to win the state title, not only with Hilton’s help from the mound, but his offensive efforts too.
“Jarrett McGee drove me in, it was just a pretty cool experience,” Hilton said.
Hilton can hit the ball like he can control the zone, last season putting up a .314 batting average.
“Two completely different sides of the game, and it’s pretty cool being decent at both,” Hilton said.
“He’s going to be a main offensive contributor, I won’t be surprised if he leads our team in RBIs as well,” McGee said. “This will be his last spring to ever hit, so it’s going to be fun to watch him go out that way.
Hilton is committed to pitch only at Missouri Southern, a school not too far away from home.
“I would like for everyone to know my name and leave a legacy here at Willard of being a pitcher that was pretty good,” Hilton said.
It’s not rare to see exceptional talent from the Willard baseball program, but you can say he might be a cut above the rest.
