Grad student Natale Monastra or Nate to his teammates was to the point, “It’s about more than baseball with us.”
Luke Bell had a horrible year full of heartache. His father, Mike Bell, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January. He died on March 26 at the age of 46. Billy O'Connor adopted Bell into his Xavier Musketeer family, entrusting the young man with the deciding game of the Big East Conference Baseball Tournament, just two months after losing his dad.
Bell pitched three scoreless innings in his first collegiate start against the University of Connecticut Huskies in what ended up a losing effort. The Huskies earned the conferences automatic bid to the College World Series with a 10-6 win.
"It made too much sense not to do it," said O'Connor, who lost his mother to brain cancer August 8, 2020 at the age of 60, "That wasn't the only reason. He's a competitive kid. He thrives in the big moment. I knew he'd give us the best opportunity. He would have stayed in there but his pitch count getting a little high but to go out there and give us three scoreless was incredible. I told him after the game his dad would have been so proud of him. I can't even imagine what he's been through the last couple months.
Bell appeared in four games for the Musketeers. He battled injury as well as the death of his father, he pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, including 1 2/3 innings on Thursday night in a mop up job in Xavier's 11-1 loss. He allowed four hits and six walks, striking out seven.
There was doubt that Luke would return to the team with his father's illness and nagging injuries. He pitched in his first game on April 17 barely three weeks after his father passed, then didn't pitch again for a month. His last three outings came in the last 15 days.
"I missed the first few weeks because of injury and I missed another half the season because of my dad," Bell said. "I didn't even think I was going to be back. To come back and get to throw I was able to throw and start this last game was special for me."
He began to break down when he explained his return. "We thought he had more time and so I wanted to spend more time with him," said Bell fighting back tears, like he fought the Huskies.
The setback forced Xavier to come through the loser's bracket of the double elimination tournament. Xavier waited over seven hours before taking out the Seton Hall Pirates on Friday night, the 2-1 game ended close to 1:00 AM. On Saturday, they defeated the Creighton Blue Jays, 2-1. That pit them against UConn which was the number one seed, needing to beat them twice on Sunday. They defeated the Huskies 5-4 with 6 2/3 innings of one-run pitching by Trevor Olson to set up Bell's start in the nightcap.
It was a long hard road condensed into four days. O'Connor credited the family togetherness for the courage to weather the ordeal.
"It's easy to not care. It's easy to not invest. Our guys competed like crazy," O'Connor said. "What these gone through the last 15 months against what they're used to, no spring practice, no season last year, the travel, the protocols, everything. They did everything we asked them and the final thing we asked them is to come out here and compete like crazy. They did that. I told them I love them. There were guys here five or six years in the program. They're like my brothers. It's a family. To have to part ways is tough."
When Bell left the game the Musketeers had a 1-0 lead but the weary bullpen just couldn't hold it. The hard hitting Huskies built a 10-3 lead heading into the ninth.
Andrew Sexton from LaSalle High School in Cincinnati and Natale Monastra, a catcher from Lewis Center, Ohio opted to come back as graduates students, an offer the NCAA made to the players who had their senior season cancelled by Covid.
Trailing by seven going into the ninth, Sexton struck out swinging in his last at bat as a Musketeer. Monastra, who answers to Nate, closed his collegiate career with a two-run home run to make the final margin 10-6.
"As soon as I made the decision to come back, I didn't regret it for a minute. These are my brothers here. It was unbelievable," said Monastra, who has professional baseball aspirations. "I love the new guys here and I love getting another year with my brothers. It didn't end the way we wanted but I wouldn't trade this last year for anything."
His last at bat illustrated what O'Connor was talking about when he said the was no quit in his squad.
"That's what I love about our guys they fight to the end," O'Connor said.
When someone noted that whether Monastra played another game or not, he would always have the home run in his last collegiate at bat.
"He's way to good to let his career end right now. Someone will give him a shot to play professionally," O'Connor said.
Sexton had just a strikeout to show for his last at bat but his father Chris was a teammate of Bell's father with the Reds in 2000
"He had fun and got an education," Chris Sexton said. "He went through some injuries but he competed here for five years. It was all worth it."https://youtu.be/0WcirMXObik?t=65The late Mike Bell hit his first major league home run off Steve Kline of the Montreal Expos in . He was greeted at home plate by fellow Cincinnati native, Chris Sexton. Sexton started the game at shortstop and was on deck when Mike Bell hit one of his two career home runs. He was there to congratulate Bell when he arrived at home plate. Twenty-one years later their sons competed together. See the following video.
Buddy Bell,, the grandfather of the Musketeer played for the Reds in the 80's. Buddy's father, Gus, played for the Reds' in the 50's. His uncle David is the current Reds' manager.
Luke Bell couldn't help but have baseball in his blood. His grandfather played, managed and now works in player development for the Reds. His father Mike spent 13 years in the player development department of the Arizona Diamondbacks. His uncle, David, was in the player development department of the San Franciso Giants before taking the manager's job with the Reds.
He will miss his father forever, but his new Xavier family is determined to mitigate his loss.
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