The day before Dan Walker took the mound against Wisconsin-Whitewater, his roommate asked the Marquette club baseball ace if he had ever thrown a perfect game.

“There’s no way in hell I could ever do that,” Walker responded. “That’s something that people pitch their entire lives for, and they never get the opportunity to experience.”

Roughly 24 hours and 21 consecutive outs later, Walker had thrown the program’s first ever perfect game in a 1-0 win over the Warhawks on March 31.

The left-handed junior struck out eight of the first nine batters he faced, was helped out by a few impressive plays in the field and finished his March 31 outing by striking out the final two batters.

The cold weather conditions helped Walker, who was dealing with a sore elbow and stiff shoulder. Walker prepared the same way he always had before a start, sitting by himself at the end of the bench.

He came out firing, relying on his fastball which tails away from left-handed hitters and in on right-handed hitters. Senior Jordan Clark was behind the plate for Walker’s start and said he could tell early the lefty was locked in.

“From the beginning, Walker had his fastball control and good movement,” Clark said. “He was on an entirely different level, keeping hitters off balance with great location and a good mix of his pitches.”

The Golden Eagles pushed across the first and only run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, an RBI double by Brian Collins. But the next half inning, Walker almost lost his perfect bid.

Whitewater third baseman Brian Neuwirth led off the fifth inning with a shallow fly ball to center. Marquette centerfielder Joe Horrigan was playing deep, but the sophomore ran in and made a diving catch to preserve the bid.

“I ran in, and going through my head I was thinking, ‘Don’t be the reason that I screw up a perfect game,'” Horrigan said.

Horrigan recorded the other two outs in the fifth inning where Walker threw just four pitches.

Walker said he first entertained the thought of a perfect game in the second inning, but the nerves did not kick in until the sixth inning. But another strikeout, a ground ball out, and another fly ball out to Horrigan put him three outs away.

“In the seventh inning, I was shaking,” Walker said.

Those nerves almost got the best of him.

Sitting just two outs away from perfection, Walker dug himself into a 3-0 count against catcher Ty Johnson. But Walker’s focus helped him recover, throwing three straight strikes to record his twelfth punch out of the game.

Fittingly, Walker also struck out the final batter of the game.

“I really just tried to block out everything else. When I did throw balls, I couldn’t get in my own head or else I’d get down on myself,” Walker said. “If you let it get to you, you’re going to mess up.”

Making the afternoon all the more special was that Walker’s parents, Keith and Laurie Walker, were in the stands for the first time since his freshman season. Dan’s father had been his coach for 11 years.

“My dad was probably the proudest guy in the world that day, and my mom was tearing up,” Walker said. “It was pretty cool.”