STARKVILLE — On July 6, Garrett Lewis was out on the Tombigbee River when the phone call came.
“I was in the boat with one of my buddies,” the Starkville Academy senior pitcher recalled. “I answered the phone, and they said, ‘Hey, this is the coach at Tennessee-Martin. We’d like you to come for a visit and everything.'”
While playing in Atlanta during the summer with the East Coast Sox travel team, Lewis said, he had piqued UT Martin’s interest. His campus visit went well, he got an offer, and after talking things over with his family and friends, he committed, becoming Starkville Academy’s first Division I commit since, well …
“I can’t remember the last one,” Starkville Academy baseball coach Thomas Berkery said.
When Lewis signed his letter of intent to UT Martin on Wednesday morning, he knew he was in rarified air — but the impact still hadn’t sunk in.
“I don’t really think it’s hit me yet,” he said.
He still finds it hard to believe that UT Martin happened to be around at his games in Atlanta — games with 10 p.m. starts, no less.
“It was just kind of lucky that they were there and everything,” Lewis said.
The Skyhawks clearly liked what they saw from the right-hander, who has the capacity for high-end velocity before too long.
“This could be somebody that really blooms into a mid-90s guy as he grows and matures,” Berkery said.
While Lewis’ collegiate future lies in baseball, he’s been able to round himself out by playing other sports. He’s a safety and wide receiver on the football team, which plays in the MAIS Class 5A semifinals this week, and he throws the discus in track and field meets.
“I saw a lot of potential, a lot of future for him,” Starkville Academy football coach and athletic director Chase Nicholson said. “I just didn’t know what sport it was gonna be.”
Lewis set his sights on baseball, and it paid off. He committed to UT Martin on July 26.
“He set the expectations for himself, was able to accomplish that, which is always good,” Nicholson said. “He’s a dude. I love the dude. I’m happy for him.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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