BY HATTIE FRANCIS/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
hattiefrancis@gmail.com

COURTLAND—Southampton High School baseball standout Billy Nixon has narrowed his future choices to Bridgewater College and Hampden-Sydney College.

“I’ll just be pitching in college, more than likely,” Nixon said. “That’s what they’ve told me. They said I’ll get to play right away, so I’ve just got to make my decision.”

A four-year starter on the Indians’ varsity squad, Nixon is one with a serious work ethic who loves baseball.

“He’s worked very hard to get where he is now,” said Southampton Head Coach Wes Griffin. “He’s put himself in the position to go to school, go to college and play baseball. I just want to see him keep up the work ethic that he’s had since he’s been here. I mean if you’ve seen him throw from ninth grade to 12th grade, you know he’s put in a lot of work to get where he is.”

Nixon treats a game day just like every other day.

“I just get up in the morning, do what I’ve got to do, just go to the game and do my best,” he said. “I don’t really do anything that different.”

When traveling to away games far from home, Nixon said he prepares mentally by listening to rapper Eminem.

“He’s got one song I like,” Nixon said. “‘Lose Yourself.’ I listen to that song a lot. That one, and ‘I Won’t Back Down,’ by Tom Petty, a kind of an old song.”

During his high school career, Nixon has used the comments of opposing coaches to fuel his drive to continue working hard and get better.

“They’ve said ‘good hustle,’ ‘way to throw,’ ‘keep up the good work,’ and ‘you’re a good ball player,’ and stuff like that,” Nixon said.

“In college, hopefully, since they told me I was getting to throw right away, (I’ll) go in there and do good and keep my job out there,” Nixon said. “Go out there every time I can and do my best. Hopefully help whichever school I go to, and help them win.”

Nixon plans to major in engineering, although he’s not sure what type.

“It’s going to be kind of tough I think because it’s kind of big and tedious, (and) demands a lot of work,” he said.

The Indians got off to a 5-0 overall start, but then lost three in a row before winning two.

“I know we’ve got a great team this year,” Nixon said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys out there, and they’ve got so much talent. The only thing they can do is to keep working hard, just don’t let up.”

“All you can do is do you’re best, and if you want to go far in baseball, you’ve got to work on it every day,” he continued. “It’s one of those games. You just can’t miss a day.”