Youth baseball teams raise money for 11-year-old fighting cancer
WESTFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — A baseball community is raising money to support an 11-year-old boy who’s battling cancer.
Logan Gellert, a member of the Indiana Nitro 11 and under baseball team, found out he was facing that battle in February. Stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare childhood cancer, was the diagnosis. His coach, Chris Poland, found out on Valentine’s Day.
They asked other teams that compete at Grand Park to get involved with helping the Gellert family, and people have risen to the occasion.
“This outpouring of love and support from the baseball world is impressive,” Poland said.
The Nitro joined with the Indiana Bulls to share a special moment with Logan at Grand Park Sports Campus. They hosted a scrimmage where Logan will open the game by throwing the first pitch to former MLB pro Scott Rolen.
“We have a jersey for you all right, bud? Hey, we are all on your team. We are going to fight the whole way through,” Rolen told Logan.
The first pitch was at Field D2 near Lot H of Grand Park. All of the proceeds from the effort benefited Gellert and his family.
“He’s already got the biggest smile in the whole place,” Rolen added. “This is his night and his parents’ and family’s night. It was a great pitch! I didn’t know he was going all the way out.”
Indiana Bulls President Quinn Moore said before the pitch, “I hope for this moment he’ll be thinking ‘this is pretty cool.’”
Poland said before the pitch, “I don’t know what’s going to be going through his mind, but I know what’s going to be going through his body: a lot of energy.”
Mom Jessica Gellert said, “Each week is really different, each day is different. It’s a yearlong process, yearlong protocol. Some days we’re there just a day or two, some days were there outpatient, some five days and we stay.”
“He’s been waiting to play all year. Keep it up buddy. We’re gonna get you back on this field full-time.”
Before the start for the scrimmage, the teams had already reached $8,400 out of the $10,000 goal of the Logan Gellert IN Nitro GoFundMe campaign.