A baseball team in suburban Cleveland will dedicate its upcoming season to a fallen teammate.
The Brush (Ohio) team will be playing in memory of junior Alec Kornet, who died after collapsing during hockey practice on Feb. 14.
Kornet was the baseball team’s starting second baseman.
According to Cleveland Jewish News, the team will travel to Tampa, Fla., for a tournament on March 25 and attend the March 28 spring training game between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers. At the game, Alec’s parents, Scott and Stephanie Kornet of South Euclid, Ohio, are expected to throw out the first pitch.
Alec’s younger brother, Michael, is also a member of the baseball team.
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David Gordon, one of the parents organizing the Tampa trip, told Cleveland Jewish News that the trip was planned since before Alec’s death and that the Kornets wanted the team to go on Alec’s behalf.
“He’ll be missed and he’ll always be a part of our team,” Gordon said. “Baseball was Alec’s game and he was excited about going on the trip.”
Brush assistant varsity coach Scott Paluscsak, a family friend of the Kornets who also coached Alec and Michael’s older brother, Matthew, told Cleveland Jewish News the trip will be a chance for the team to heal after the tragedy.
“I think it will be a little emotional but it will be good emotional,” he said. “We’ll all be together, be able to lean on each other and see the family doing something Alec loved. He was a baseball guy, it was his first love. I think they all need a little time away, to be outside and concentrating on baseball. Our team has gotten closer because of it and they’re all looking forward to the trip.”
Paluscsak said there was still a shock factor to Alec’s death, even more than a month later.
“I still don’t believe it, I would see him every day in the school halls and we’d talk daily,” he said. “I’ve known him since he was a little boy and I’m still waiting for him to walk around the corner and talk to me. He was an amazing kid.”
Additionally, the Brush baseball team will wear a circular patch that reads “4Alec.” Paluscsak said Alec’s jersey No. 4 won’t be worn by Brush baseball players at any level this year and that he hopes the number will be permanently retired. He added that the team will likely line up for its first home game back in Ohio without a second baseman for one pitch in Kornet’s honor.