Carmichael-Walsh 15-homer game

Walsh, during the thug days

The epitome of power. If we’re playing jeopardy, the question to that answer is what were the 2001 Holy Whites considered? Never before and ever since has this league seen a team that had so much muscle bottled inside those plastic bats. Sure, if you were to assemble a team with Carmichael, Walsh, Creighton, and Cain, you’d be pretty sure to have a more powerful team, but under current team rules, teams like that are near impossible to build.

Carmichael picked Walsh at #4 in the 2001 draft despite the fact that Walsh had never been an impact player in his rookie 2000 season. That is, the 2000 regular season. In the 2000 postseason, Walsh found his stroke and simultaneously put Creighton on his back en route to the championship. Carmichael banked that Walsh would bring the thunder into the 2001 season as well and came out looking like a genius. Walsh would go on to hit .355 that sophomore season and finished fourth in the league in homeruns with 33.

Seven of those homeruns came in one game against the Young and the Restless in the most awe-inspiring display of power the league has seen. Awe-inspiring because Walsh hit seven homeruns in one game, breaking the record of six in a game? No, awe-inspiring because Walsh didn’t even lead his TEAM in homeruns that game. Scott Carmichael wound up with EIGHT homeruns in the game as he and Walsh beat up Y&R pitching and took the game 20-8. It was the most runs scored in a league game since 1998 and, oh yeah, it was all done at the Byrd House, considered by many to be a “pitcher’s park.”

Others have come close to the mark. Seth Yoder, that same year, hit six in a game, and did it in only three innings. With the Horsemen leading, they didn’t get to bat in the fourth, where Yoder would have a shot to hit a couple dingers off “never gonna be a Cy Young” Derek Byrd. Yeah, the opponents were once again the Y&R. But no one on Seth’s team came close to doing what he was doing. Never before have two teammates combined to do so much damage, and it doesn’t look like it will happen to this extent in the forseeable future.