On Saturday, West Virginia shortstop Brodie Kresser was hit by a pitch in the face, and would walk off the field with a towel over his face. Less than 24 hours later, Kresser was in the starting lineup on Sunday, as he went 3-for-5, including hitting a 3-run home run, all while having a broken nose.
"Proud dad moment. You want to make sure guys, obviously are safe, but he gets hit in the face with a ball, breaks his nose, they set his nose at 11 or 12 last night. And then he shows up, probably gets five or six hours of sleep at most, is on some pain medication, has to compete with a mask and a cage on for the first time. Cold weather, his face is swollen, probably has a headache because if you get hit in the face with a ball, it doesn't feel good. And then he shows up and goes three for five with a homer and plays a great shortstop," West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins said.
Kresser's helmet on Sunday looked more like a football helmet than a baseball helmet. With a facemask drilled onto the helmet, Kresser had his nose bandaged, but that didn't affect his bat in the slightest.
Kresser scored three runs and drove in four, reaching base four times, and hitting a home run in the eighth inning.
"To see the mental fortitude and maturity over the course of the last two years with that kid is incredible. He's absolutely a warrior. He wants to be here. He wants to win for this place, this state, this community. And I think it takes a while to understand that and to mature into that. And so I couldn't be more proud of him. It makes me want to cry thinking about what that guy did today," Sabins said.
Kresser's postgame on Saturday was atypical to say the least. It involved a trip to the hospital, multiple tests done, and lots of blood.
"I just knew I got hit in he face, I saw a lot of blood, but I didn't really know it was too broken. It kind of looked fine. The swelling got pretty big. I ended up going home, and then I kept on bleeding. So I came back and I went to the hospital, went to the ER and got a little CAT scan and showed it was broken. Got some numbing and popped it back in," Kresser said.
While Kresser said there was no doubt he was going to play today if he could, Sabins did not share the same sentiment. Sabins was unsure if Kresser was going to be able to go, but once he did, he had a feeling it was going to be a good day for his ballclub.
"You have to want that deep down. There's nothing a coach can say or do, you have to really want to be on the field and that's the reason we won. Before the game started, I was like, Brodie Kresser's willing to show up in a mask after breaking his nose yesterday, and play, how are we going to lose this game? He's one of our best players and he's showing the most toughness at the premium position at shortstop. So you just feel really good going into the game," Sabins said.
Masked or not, Kresser has continued to produce at the top of the lineup for West Virginia. He's currently second on the team, hitting .412 on the season, and also second with 21 RBIs.
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