TOWSON, Maryland — Father Jeffrey Dauses thought for sure another person had shot at his auto.
Driving together Putty Hill Avenue in the Baltimore suburb of Towson Feb. 17 on a procuring run, the pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Baynesville listened to a loud crash and noticed parts of a facet-watch mirror fly up onto his windshield and then off his Honda CR-V.
“It felt like a meteorite had fallen on my vehicle,” Dauses remembered. “It scared me to demise and I almost went into the other lane.”
The object that hit the priest’s automobile wasn’t from the barrel of a gun or from a further earth. It experienced been released from the baseball stadium at close by Calvert Corridor School Substantial College.
Troy Stokes Jr., a 2014 alumnus of the Catholic college or university prep university and a main league baseball player who produced his massive-league debut previous calendar year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, strike the ball for the duration of batting practice with customers of the significant university workforce.
The Owings Mills resident, a previous 4-yr starter and a star outfielder with Calvert Corridor, once in a while visits the present higher faculty staff to share his expertise of the significant leagues, reply queries and supply recommendations.
“It was the last ball I hit — and I strike it quite very good,” explained Stokes, who was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the fourth spherical in 2014 and is now a totally free agent. “I hit it just proper to remaining subject, over the net.”
Stokes, who attended Cardinal Shehan Faculty in Baltimore and sometimes worshipped at New All Saints in the city’s Liberty Heights neighborhood with his grandmother when he was a kid, estimates that the spheroid flew about 400 toes. The longest ball he ever strike was in the minimal leagues when he belted one an estimated 480 toes.
Dauses stated he recognized what had occurred to his car just after pulling in excess of and seeing a baseball rolling along the aspect of the street. He was in touch with Calvert Hall, whose leaders arranged for Stokes to indication a ball for the priest. The souvenir was presented to Dauses March 14.
“Sorry for hitting your mirror!!” Stokes printed in blue ink on the ball.
Dauses informed the Catholic Overview, Baltimore’s archdiocesan information outlet, that harm to his mirror turned out to be somewhat insignificant and value only $35 to restore.
He was joyful to obtain the autographed ball, which now rests in a espresso mug on his desk. He mentioned that far more than half the boys in his parish elementary school’s eighth-quality course have been accepted to Calvert Hall.
“My vehicle bought strike on the working day that Calvert Hall was sending out the acceptance letters to all people eighth graders,” Father Dauses mentioned with a laugh. “On the very working day they’re obtaining their letters, I get a baseball that smashes into my mirror. It was just type of funny.”
Stokes explained he is grateful for his many years playing for Calvert Corridor. He said the college has the finest baseball program in Maryland. He still relies on lessons taught to him by his high university coaches.
“They received me the publicity that I needed,” he claimed.
Dauses, who played in the Shrine of the Minor Flower’s junior athletic association’s baseball league throughout his very own grade school many years, considers himself “pretty much the worst participant at any time.”
“I performed in the outfield so significantly out that not even Troy Stokes could possibly have strike a ball to me,” he explained.
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Matysek is controlling editor of the Catholic Review, news outlet of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.