GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — It was a moment to remember. Historic, too.
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East Carolina University’s Parker Byrd became the first person to play in a Division I baseball game with a prosthetic leg. He pinch-hit for Chaz Myers in the bottom of the eighth inning of Friday’s season-opening 16-2 victory over Rider at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
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Byrd drew a walk on a 3-1 pitch that set off a wild round of applause, cheering and yelling from the 5,221 people in attendance. Byrd happily trotted over to first base. He was replaced by pinch-runner Jason Janesko, who eventually scored on a bases-loaded walk to Colby Wallace to give ECU a 13-2 lead.
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Social media was obviously loving the moment, too.
ECU went on to score five runs in that inning, its final time at the plate before Rider was retired in the top of the ninth inning to end it.
Byrd, now a sophomore, was involved in a terrible boating accident in July of 2022 in Bath. It resulted in the amputation of his right leg and led to dozens of surgeries to get him to where he is today. Last March, a grant from the Challeged Athletes Foundation allowed him to be fitted for his prosthetic, which was done in Chicago by David Rotter, one of the top prosthetists in the country.
