Video: Greenway baseball team honors Army Sgt. Tyler PrewittMatthew McDonald blasts home run wearing tribute batting helmet.The
Greenway (Phoenix) baseball team plays Tucson today for the Arizona Interscholastic Association Division II state title.
But the Demons won't forget a magical moment that helped propel them to this point.
Alumnus Tyler Prewitt, a three-year varsity letterman, died in 2004 while serving as an Army field medic in Iraq.
Since 2008, the Demons have honored Prewitt by conducting a special tradition in which players don a batting helmet with his bright yellow initials stamped on it to shag foul balls.
The sacred helmet had never been worn in a game.
But on April 27 – "Tyler Prewitt Night" – head coach Matt Denny let leadoff hitter
Matthew McDonald wear the helmet one-time only during the last home game of the season. On the very first pitch, the 6-foot-2, 178-pound senior belted a 350-foot homer.
It was McDonald's first career home run and arguably the biggest in Greenway history.
"When he hit it that was it, it was like, 'here's your sign, I'm watching," Tyler's mom, Jonnie Prewitt, told
KPNX 12 News Arizona.
McDonald owns a team-high .388 average with 40 RBIs. We'll see if McDonald and the Demons can cap this memorable season with a state championship.
