On Tuesday afternoon Greeneville senior Noah Murray got to celebrate a new opportunity that lies ahead with his friends and family after signing to join the baseball program at Walters State.
Murray is excited about joining one of the country’s best junior college programs that regularly competes for national championships and sends players to some of the best Division I programs.
“I’m excited to further my career and have more opportunities open up,” Murray said. “I feel like Walters State has good coaches and a good program. I feel like it’s a place I can go and develop. What I’m most excited for is to go into a program that wins and develops guys. I think they can make me a better player and hopefully in a couple of years I have a chance to go to a four-year school.”
The Senators have advanced to the NJCAA World Series 10 times since 2003 and won a national championship in 2006. They have finished second in the nation once and third four times. In that same time span they have won the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association 17 times.
This season Walters State is 53-6-1 and currently in the NJCAA District Tournament. It just beat Pellissippi State 12-1 in the TCCAA Championship Game.
Murray has been part of plenty of winning while at Greeneville. He was an important part of the Greene Devils 2023 state championship team and last year’s team that made the state tournament. The Devils are now 30-8 this season after winning District 2-3A and Region 1-3A. They will be looking to earn a third straight trip to Murfreesboro on Wednesday in a state sectional series with Seymour.
“We just have to play the game that we have been playing,” Murray said. “We’ve been pretty dominant both offensively and defensively. If we can keep that up, hopefully we can bring some hardware home.”
Murray has spent most of the past four seasons behind the plate at catcher for Greeneville, and he plans to continue that role at Walter State. Since his freshman season he has been a tough defensive catcher who has made some really good pitchers even better. This year Murray’s offense has taken a noticeable step, and he credits that to the work he and coach Andy Collins have put in in the batting cage.
“Coach Collins and I have been in the cage a lot, any free time I’ve had. We’ve made some tweaks and figured some things out that could be better. And that has translated into the game,” Murray said.
Murray will look to get some experience against college competition early, and plans to spend his summer playing in the Appalachian League or another summer league to hone his craft.
Murray wants to study civil engineering at Walters State, and then construction at a four-year school, while hopefully continuing his baseball career.
“My dad teaches construction and that has always been a part of my life. It’s something I enjoy, in the summer I work construction. It’s something that I enjoy and feel like I can do well,” Murray said.
