Indianapolis Star: 3 days before cancer surgery, this Lawrence Central grad’s career ended with 140-pitch win

Play like it’s your last game ever.

It’s a typical sports cliche but one UIndy baseball coach Al Ready found apt as he addressed his team before playing Illinois-Springfield on March 15.

“Look, sometimes you hear coaches talk about, ‘You should play like it’s your last game to ever play,'” Ready told his team. “It’s just a figure of speech a lot of times. But, the point is, you never know when it’s going to be taken away from you. You’re going to get a chance to witness a guy that is actually doing that because there isn’t for him on the baseball field at this level.”

UIndy pitcher Dawson Gabe initially thought his career was over when he graduated from Baldwin Wallace (Ohio) in 2023, before getting his master’s and playing at UIndy became a certainty.

It was a false alarm. This time, it was real. [continue reading]