Growing up, Skutt Catholic right-handed pitcher Bubba Day spent his summers at Charles Schwab Field, watching the college world series in hopes of someday playing there himself.
The junior will have that chance with an SEC baseball powerhouse come 2027. He announced his commitment to Tennessee on Friday, choosing the Volunteers over offers from Florida State, Auburn and Virginia.
“The big thing for me was the coaching staff,” Day told Hurrdat Sports. “I loved every minute down there. The coaching staff had the belief in me that they could see me coming in early and getting reps as a freshman. Just giving me the chance to compete, and also just the school, everything about it, I just loved it.”
The 6-foot-4, 180-pound chucker is ranked 60th overall in the country, the No. 13 right-handed pitcher and the top-ranked player in the state according to Prep Baseball Report. He’s the No. 1 player in Nebraska, No. 52 overall player and No. 6 right-handed pitcher according to Perfect Game.
Bubba’s father, Damon Day, is the head baseball coach for the SkyHawks and previously led the charge at UNK from 2004 to 2018. The younger Day’s first baseball memory with his father is a special one.
“I think my earliest memory has got to be hitting my first ever home run at a place called Harmon Park,” Day said. “He was throwing batting practice to me, and I hit it off the score board at one of the tiny fields there, and I got to celebrate it, running around the bases. So it was a pretty cool moment.”
A young Bubba Day visits the College World Series with his family. Photo courtesy Damon Day.
Damon spoke on the challenges and benefits of coaching his son.
“It’s been the greatest honor and privilege of my life,” Damon said. “It’s not always been easy for either of us, I would say, but I think as he’s entered into the high school years, I think we’ve both found some familiarity and some comfortableness with it. I’d probably say, I’ve gotten much better as a coach off coaching your own kid over the years. I’ve been blessed to have great role models who have kind of helped me learn the ins and outs of it from coaching their own kids, but it’s just been an absolute honor and privilege to have him take me on this ride.”
Coach Day said he noticed Bubba had a chance to be special when he was 7 or 8.
“He threw the ball hard,” Damon said. “He threw it different than most 7 and 8 year olds, and then throughout the years, he’s always kind of been a really hard thrower, but I would really say that on the mound, especially this past June, down in Cary, North Carolina, at the Team USA trials, he just looked different. And then, obviously when he went to the Futures games in Atlanta, he kind of came out and did his thing, and I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is different; this isn’t just a good pitcher anymore, this kid’s got a chance to be elite.’ And then he kind of just built on it every outing from there.”
Right now, the SkyHawk has his mind set on one thing he wants to accomplish with Skutt: winning a state championship.
“Last year, we came up short, it didn’t feel good, so that’s my main goal for the year, and I’m sure it is for our whole team,” Bubba said. “It sucked last year, losing two straight to end up ending our season, so we kind of just want that chance again to get back to the state tournament.”
Day went 7-1 on the mound as a sophomore, striking out 61 one with a 1.31 ERA. He only allowed 25 hits in 48 innings pitched. At the plate, he hit .250 with 11 RBIs, one home run, one triple and one double. Skutt went 24-7 overall, falling to eventual champion Gretna East in the Class B state semifinals.
The star pitcher pointed to one thing he’s excited for when he arrives in Knoxville.
“I’m looking forward to kind of just getting to be with all my future teammates,” Bubba said. “You kind of see it on TV, it’s a fun team to kind of watch. They’re always a pretty exciting group of guys to watch play, but also, just their fans are awesome. They show out to every game, so I’m just kind of excited to be a part of that atmosphere.”
For now, Day is focused on high school ball but has big hopes for the future.
“I want to go back to the College World Series,” Day said. “I get to see it every year. I get to see what it’s kind of like for the hometown kids that get to come back. So I want to make it back to Omaha, but also just kind of getting the chance to play at the next level is a blessing, so I kind of want to go out there, have fun and just see what I can do.”
