Stuart Jeck's HR in honor of late brother spices Nevada's 8-7 win over Outlaws

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July 4, 2012

Stuart Jeck's HR in honor of late brother spices Nevada's 8-7 win over Outlaws

By Ryan Atkinson Globe Sports Writer The Joplin Globe Wed Jul 04, 2012, 12:25 AM CDT

PITTSBURG, Kan. — The ball that blasted off his bat hadn’t yet reached the trees behind the right-field wall at JayCee Ballpark, and Stuart Jeck was already getting a standing ovation.

Jeck slowly and purposely touched all three bases before walking across home plate and pointing skyward.

Jeck’s blast in the eighth inning accounted for just one run in the Nevada Griffons’ 8-7 win over the Joplin Outlaws, but it carried much more significance.

The game just happened to be a special fund-raising event for the Tyler Jeck Memorial Foundation. Tyler Jeck, Stuart’s younger brother, died in an accident on Beaver Lake last July. Both of the Jecks are from Pittsburg and graduated from St. Mary’s-Colgan.

“That was a very surreal moment for me. It’s been a long year, a really rough year. And that was definitely a high moment,” Jeck said of the no-doubt home run. “The first thing I thought of was Tyler. I could see his face. Every base I touched was for him. It was special.”

Dave Jeck, Stuart and Tyler’s father, watched from the stands and, like the rest of the overflow crowd, knew it was gone from the crack of the bat.

“It was just a big relief, like ‘Wow, it really happened.’ It was just one of those times in your life that you never think will happen and, boom, it happened,” he said after the game, holding the home run ball.

“That ball kept going and going and I watched it every second until it disappeared. I didn’t want that moment to end.”

The night raised more than $4,500 for the Tyler Jeck Foundation, including gate proceeds, raffle tickets, a silent auction and the funds from the sale of Zac Dickey Pittsburg State national championship posters.

“This whole night was just perfect,” said Stuart Jeck, who is heading into his senior season with the West Virginia Mountaineers. “It shows how much passion and gratitude there is in this community, in Pittsburg and Joplin. For a night like this to happen because of one kid … I can’t thank everyone enough.”

Jeck’s homer — one of four for Nevada on the night — looked to be nothing more than an insurance run before the Outlaws rallied with three runs in the bottom of the ninth. David Guarno’s RBI single tied the game at 7 and forced extra innings.

But Nevada’s Patrick Kregelogh unloaded a long homer to left-center in the top of the 10th and Nico Lytle shut down Joplin on the bottom of the inning to give the Griffons the win.

The Griffons took an early lead when Tyler Palmer followed a Rick Hepworth double with a two-run homer to left for a 2-0 advantage.

Joplin used an error and doubles from Guarno and Conor Smith to score two runs in the second and then score twice more in the fourth for a 4-3 lead. But that was all the scoring the Outlaws could muster until their ninth-inning rally.

Jeck, Nevada’s center fielder, snuffed out a prime Outlaws scoring chance in the bottom of the sixth when he ran down Justin Treece’s drive in deep center.

Lytle got the win while Ethan Mather took the loss, allowing two runs while striking out five in 4 1/3 innings of relief.

But when the game ended, the talk returned to the Jeck family.

“I found out tonight how much everyone liked my son Tyler,” Dave Jeck said. “To have the crowd we had tonight was phenomenal. Stuart and my wife Debbie are very thankful for everyone who came out.”