ALBANY, Ga. – The abrupt end to the remainder of the 2020 NCAA spring sports season around the country has hit especially hard for senior student-athletes, many of whom had plans of celebrating senior days, competing one last time for conference championships, and graduating.
Over the course of this week, ASU Athletics is highlighting a number of these student-athletes who have been integral members of their sports programs, on and off the fields of competition.
Malik Barrington is a junior college transfer and is a right handed pitched on the baseball team. On the field, he has pitched a total of 18 games with 96.1 innings pitched, 107 strikeouts and 47 walks. Barrington has a 10-6 win/loss record. Over his career he has thrown 456 pitches.
Read more on Barrington and his journey below:
Q: What made you choose Albany State as your college destination?
A: As a junior college transfer Albany State recruited me from my previous school and the thing that made me choose this school is that when I spoke with the coaches on my visit I knew they had my best interest at heart and that they would get me prepared for the next level in my life whether it be as a professional athlete or as just a man.
Q: What is your favorite memory as a Golden Ram?
A: My favorite memory so far is seeing the maturity and growth that my fellow senior teammates made from one year to the next. We all knew that this could be our last season on the field and some of them really stepped up and lead the way whether it be on the field or off of it.
Q: What is your major and what would you like to do with it after graduation?
A: My major is business management and with that I plan to go to culinary school after graduation then once I have graduated from there I look to try and open up my own business with my brothers with that being a restaurant back in my hometown of Jacksonville Florida.
Q: What is the hardest part about not being able to finish this season?
A: The hardest part was just the uncertainties about my future as an athlete there is so much that I wanted to do and accomplish especially as a team this year. I think the not knowing what the next move is was the hardest thing for me.
Q: The NCAA is offering eligibility relief for senior spring sports athletes to receive another year in their chosen sport. What would that opportunity mean to you?
A: With the NCAA offering eligibility relief to us seniors I feel that is a blessing in disguise because I know I had some flaws that I wanted to fix whether it was big or small that would take some time to do to prepare me for the next level but having another year to train and get stronger, faster, and smarter than the previous year and come back even better than before, I think that is one of the greatest opportunities we could have asked for even though it came at a cost, All we can do is use it to our advantage.
