devout Christian, Billingsley taught a weekly Bible study for elementary school students while attending Magnolia. He managed to successfully juggle a heavy schedule, as he was feted as a Member of the National Honor Society while also pitching for the Chiefs.

Billingsley actually didn’t start pitching, though, until he was a junior at Magnolia. He went 12-2 with a 1.75 ERA his first season. His second year, as team captain, he went 10-0 with a 0.54 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 51.2 innings and was named MAIS (Modern American International School) Player of the Year.

Billingsley won back-to-back state championships his junior and senior season when the Chiefs went 37-0 and 33-5.

Bulldog Pride

Apparently pre-ordained to attend his long-beloved Mississippi State in Starkville, just over two hours away from home, Billingsleywas a psychology major. He red-shirted in 2014 and threw out of the pen for two years before he got a chance to start last season after arm injuries wreaked havoc on the Mississippi State pitching staff.

In the summer of 2014, he played for the Bethesda Big Train in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League, where he was named an all-star. He finished 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA, striking out 16 in seven relief appearances while holding opponents to an .068 batting average in 14.2 innings of work. His 2015 was marked by surgery to remove bone chips from his throwing shoulder.

In 2017, his junior season, Billingsley made 16 appearances, 13 of them starts, and collected 52.2 innings pitched. He developed into a Sunday starter for the Bulldogs