A Concussion Changed His Life, Now He's Going To Pitch For Dartmouth
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – St. Agnes senior Jack Fossand remembers the day he got to pitch at Target Field fondly.
He pitched in a state title game and can still remember the day's events clearly.
"It was pretty special. And then while I'm warming up I see Pavano, Carl Pavano, running pulls on the warning track. Which was...it was pretty neat," Fossand said. "Yeah, warming up in the bullpen...amazing experience."
Fossand excelled at Target Field.
In fact, he has excelled his entire career. He has not been scored on in 21 state tournament innings.
"He has been one cool, calm customer," said St. Agnes coach Mike Streitz. "And especially sophomore year, I mean he goes out and beats two undefeated teams: West Lutheran and New York Mills. And he was never rattled."
After sustaining a concussion playing football his freshman year, he is appreciative to just be here.
The concussion landed him in the hospital and changed his approach to life.
"During practice is actually when...everything just kind of started melting down after that practice, and then I went to the hospital," he said. "The thing that kind of changed in my thought about sports was just, like, don't take things for granted."
His focus on pitching has not gone unnoticed.
He attended a camp at Dartmouth College, impressed the coach and will pitch there when he is enrolled next fall.
"I fell in love with the campus," he said. "The coach has been there for almost 30 years, I think, and that was a big deal to me that, you know, he has some solid connections in the workplace, going to Dartmouth and the baseball world, too."
He leaves a legacy for himself and his senior class at St. Agnes.
"I'm going to miss him," his coach said. "Not only his talent, but his leadership. You need good senior leadership."
