LORMAN, Miss. – As one of the biggest hitters in the middle of the lineup, senior
Kirt Cormier will board the bus Tuesday morning en route to his final SWAC Championship of his career.
Regardless of how it plays out for the Alcorn State University baseball program, Cormier has already won his fair share of battles in his career. The recent graduate has had to overcome two injuries that nearly ended his career, and the loss of his father upon arrival at Alcorn.
Cormier grew up in the small town of Douglas, Arizona that straddles the border between New Mexico and Mexico. He grew up in a house with eight siblings.
"Most people take residency in Arizona so that they can go to school in the United States. It has its problems just like every other town. It's a border town so a lot of drug running and stuff like that which is a major obstacle for people trying to better themselves and take the next step. A lot of people I knew growing up got caught in that where they need money so they run drugs."
Cormier played baseball his entire life. He began his collegiate career at El Paso Community College in Texas. He was having a big freshman year when he hit his first bump in the road, tearing his PCL in his knee, effectively ending his season 17 games in.
Cormier lost more than just the second half of his season, but he also lost a lot of the Division I options he had on the table.
"I had everybody who was going to offer me or talk to me leave me alone because I was a catcher. Once a catcher hurts his knee, you're not in a good spot," Cormier said. "Once I got hurt, I was just looking for a place to play and Alcorn gave me an opportunity, I'll always be thankful for this. It was 'you're hurt but we want to give you a chance' and that's all I ever really wanted, needed."
Cormier was offered a scholarship by Alcorn head coach
Bretton Richardson and arrived on The Reservation for his sophomore year. However, just under a month before the 2017 season started, tragedy struck as Cormier lost his father due to a brain tumor on Jan. 18.
His father, Ken Cormier, was always his biggest influence on how he views life and treats the people in it. His dad taught him to be a 'God-fearing man' who could 'try to bring light into a dark world'. It's a different way in which to carry one's self where people can tell your personality and how you treat others through actions, not words.
Cormier contemplated returning to his hometown and not coming back to Alcorn.
"We had our first game Feb. 17 of that year, so I came back, I didn't want to come back because he [his dad] was terminally ill but he said I needed to come back because this is my life and I have to live it," Cormier said. "After I got the phone call that he passed, I left a day or two after that, was gone for two weeks and everybody thought I wasn't coming back but I came back and Coach Richardson put me in the lineup."
Cormier made an immediate impact in his first season with the Braves. He led the team in slugging percentage (.412), while batting .282 with eight doubles and 19 RBIs.
Cormier's success carried over into his junior campaign in 2018. In the first weekend at the MLB Urban Invitational in New Orleans, he got off to a blistering start with a .545 batting average with two home runs and four RBIs in three games.
He even earned his favorite nickname of "White Lightning" that opening weekend as the not-so-fleet-of-foot catcher recorded the first stolen base of the campaign.
However, disaster would strike yet again for Cormier not long, thereafter, breaking his foot to cut short another promising campaign and forcing him to take a medical redshirt.
After a year-long recovery period, health was finally on Cormier's side here in 2019, starting in all but one the Braves' 43 regular season contests and placing among the SWAC's best in walks (28) and runs scored (42).
Though, Cormier's role on the team goes beyond the statistics. He's noticed over the years that a couple of his teammates were also struggling with sick family members and sought his help. While the pain of losing his father was still prevalent, he found a way to help others in their own time of crisis.
"Being available for them to come to me and ask, 'how do I cope with this, how do I handle this?' that trust that they had that I would give good advice, that's what I'm most proud of here at Alcorn. Anybody can swing a bat and hit a baseball, but not very many people can have that ability to help other people, especially when it comes to words of wisdom and that aspect."
Looking back on what his biggest highlight of his athletic career, the selfless Cormier touts his little brother's freshman soccer goal on his dad's varsity high school team. It doesn't sound like much but the magical goal had an unexpected outcome.
"My dad was the high school soccer coach and at this time when he was sick he couldn't stand by himself, it was really bad. Once he [his little brother] scored my dad stood right up and it was something special because he built that soccer program into one of the best in the state. He saw all four of his boys score goals on the Varsity team."
While Cormier had many big moments both on and off the field with Alcorn, he always comes back to that day on the soccer pitch with his dad and brother.
"I could hit a home run in the College World Series and that [goal and my dad standing by himself] would still be more special to me than anything I could ever do."
Cormier is thankful for the opportunity Alcorn presented to him. The catcher turned first baseman may not have seen the field and been buried on the depth chart at other institutions for reasons out of his control.
"I don't know if [getting put into the opening day lineup] would've happened at a bigger school, they probably would've told me to redshirt, get myself mentally right and I think that would've been the worst thing for me to be honest," Cormier said. "As a redshirt I wouldn't have traveled or seen different parts of this country so I'll always be thankful for that because that really did help me cope with a lot of stuff and it was very difficult going around playing but it was at least something to keep my mind off of it."
Cormier graduated from Alcorn earlier this month with a Bachelor's degree in History. He plans on returning to Alcorn for two more years to get his Master's degree, while becoming a graduate assistant with Coach Richardson and the baseball program.
#FearTheBrave
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