Daily Skiff

February 13th, 2008

BYU slugger allowed to return to team

A Mountain West Conference player of the year candidate was temporarily kicked off the Brigham Young University baseball team after his LDS Church Bishop said he wasn’t attending church enough.

Junior Kent Walton, one of the team’s leading hitters in 2007, had his ecclesiastical endorsement withdrawn in January. The endorsement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors BYU, is required to attend the university and must be renewed every year. He was reinstated to the team on Feb. 7.

“I’m ecstatic about it,” coach Vance Law said. “He’s a fine young man and we’re extremely happy to have him back. It was a long, drawn-out ordeal and we’re very appreciative of all the support from the administration.”

Walton was often absent from church because he was ill, at home or attending church with a friend elsewhere, Kenneth Walton, Kent’s father, said.

Walton led the Cougars in homers, runs, hits, RBIs and slugging percentage in the 2007 season. He’s a potential pick for the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 2:02 pm and is filed under Sports, Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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