Home run for dad: Newmarket baseball captain crushes one for his father battling cancer

NEWMARKET — Matt Sweitzer was standing just past the first base dugout for Monday’s Newmarket High School baseball game.

It was Senior Night, and Sweitzer was just happy to be at a game to watch his son Parker, a senior captain on the Mules.

Sweitzer was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in January, underwent surgery in February, and began his first round of chemotherapy shortly thereafter.

The previous Friday, Sweitzer finished his first round of chemotherapy at The Center for Cancer Care at Exeter Hospital, and felt strong enough on Monday to catch a game, one of just a handful he was able to attend this season.

What a game it was.

After Cam Moran led off the bottom of first with a pop-up to the catcher, Parker Sweizter walked to the batter’s box as Matt was watching from his spot just past the dugout.

After watching the first pitch, a ball, Parker blasted a home run over the left field fence for his first home run of the season.

Parker sprinted down the line with a hop in his step and slowed down midway between first and second as the ball sailed over the fence.

“(The home run) meant so much to me,” Parker said. “I play three sports, but baseball has always been me and my dad’s thing. I’ve been playing baseball with him since I was 2 or 3 years old. It’s always been our sport, and he was my coach all the way through Little League until I got to high school. To hit that home run, on Senior Night, with him in the stands, meant a lot. It was really a huge moment for me.”

A fan was able to the get the ball and deliver it to Parker, who then gave it to his dad after Newmarket’s 4-0 win over Pittsfield.

“We’re going to write something to commemorate the moment on it, and put it in a case,” Parker said.

The home run sparked the Mules to the win as junior John Schlieder struck out 17 and threw a no-hitter.

Senior Night homer > playoff homer

Sweitzer’s last home run was a game-winning blast in last year’s Division IV semifinals.

“The feeling on this (homer) was so much better than last year,” Sweitzer said. “I swung the bat, and maybe a second later I knew it was gone.”

Baseball, softball games raise money for the Jimmy Fund

Newmarket softball coach Todd Berry and baseball coach Stan Jurkovic planned to have a cancer fund-raiser event on Senior Night this spring to help raise awareness and money for the Jimmy Fund.

The event was inspired, in part, when Sweitzer, whose daughter, Paige, is on the softball team, was diagnosed in January.

“Everyone in the community really stepped up to the plate and exceeded our expectations,” Berry said. “There are a great bunch of kids, and great families in the town of Newmarket.

“The Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber is the No. 1 organization out there when you think of cancer and cancer research,” Berry continued. “The more we can do as fortunate individuals that are healthy enough and not stricken with this disease to support the research and treatment of the folks that are, we need to give it our all.”

So far, the fund-raiser has brought in $2,500. Berry plans to leave the online platform open through June before sending the money to the Jimmy Fund, which began in 1948.

“I am incredibly proud (of the money we raised),” Parker Sweitzer said. “I think it’s amazing we can do this in a small town and a school with about 300 students. It was more than raising money, but awareness. If he didn’t go and get diagnosed as soon as he did, with the help of our family and friends, it could’ve been a lot different (outcome).”

"I feel proud we were able to raise some money," Matt said. "I am really touched by the whole thing. The Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Center, I've seen with my own eyes what it means when you get that extra care. Until you experience it, you don't realize what the fund-raising and extra help means until you go through it."

‘I am doing well’

Sweitzer had surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in February, experienced a couple of setbacks with infections, but is “doing well” after his first round of chemotherapy.”

“Walking into the event (Monday) and seeing how this community rallies around people, I was touched and inspired,” said Sweitzer, who turned 50 years old last month. “Newmarket is an amazing place. It's a small community and people rally around to help each other. My daughter is on the softball team, my son is the captain on the baseball team, I've coached a lot of these kids."

Sweitzer raved about his care at Exeter Hospital.

"They take a hard, challenging process and make it a lot easier," he said. "It's an amazing place."

Road to diagnosis

Sweitzer ignored some symptoms last summer and fall of abdominal discomfort, fatigue and lethargy, but a friend urged him to get checked out.

“Within a week, I was getting a colonoscopy and was getting diagnosed with a pretty significant tumor that had spread,” Sweitzer said. “All the more reason, from an early awareness perspective, to get checked out. It was almost too late for me. I am lucky we caught it in time and removed all the mass and tumor. Hopefully, I am six months of chemo away from being cancer free.”

Newmarket softball sweeps doubleheader

The Mules swept Pittsfield, winning 4-1 in the first game, and 6-1 in the second.

Paige Sweitzer had two hits in the first game, and went 1-for-3 with two RBIs in the second.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Home run for dad: Newmarket baseball captain crushes one for his father battling cancer