Nathan has been through a lot in his 10 years of life. As his family was getting ready to bring newborn Nathan home from the hospital, he was taken from the room for an evaluation. His medical team noticed he was turning blue, and he was soon diagnosed with a severe heart abnormality. At only four days old, Nathan had his first open heart surgery. Over the next few years, he had two more. When his grandmother, Gloria, heard about Team IMPACT at a camp, she knew Nathan would love to have a team of his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In February of 2024, Nathan was matched with the Point Loma Nazarene baseball team, the same month baseball season officially began. With Nathan on their team, the Sea Lions went on a historic run, finishing their season with a 46-13-1 record, winning their third-straight PacWest regular season championship, and claiming their first PacWest Tournament championship title. After winning the West Region, the Sea Lions made their second-ever trip to the College World Series\u2014with Nathan by their side every step of the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt makes me feel happy because they are all so nice to me and make me feel like I am part of the team<\/strong>,\u201d Nathan said, reflecting on his first season as a Sea Lion. \u201cMy favorite memory is just being with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Nathan has brought a great attitude and a never give up mentality,<\/strong>” Eric said. “There were many times he could have given up in his journey, but never did. We as a team took it to heart this year because we had him on the team.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since joining the team, Nathan has found a new love of baseball and a whole team full of guys he looks up to. Gloria loves being able to watch her grandson blossom with his new teammates. \u201cMy favorite thing is just seeing Nathan\u2019s face when he interacts with the team. This experience with Nathan and the Sea Lions has been amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cThis group of young men and coaches is exemplary. They have welcomed Nathan into their team with open arms, and I will forever be grateful to Team IMPACT and PLNU for this wonderful opportunity<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sentiment goes both ways, with the Sea Lions feeling equally blessed by their friendship with Nathan. “Once we all saw Nathan standing at the end of the dugout before Game 1 in Cary, we were settled down and ready for the game<\/strong>,” Eric recalled. “We knew he was with us, and we can\u2019t thank Team IMPACT enough for giving him that opportunity.”<\/strong> Every baseball player grows up dreaming of playing in the World Series. For the members of the Point Loma Nazarene baseball team, that dream came true this spring when they got to play in the NCAA Division II College Baseball World Series. What made this season different for the Sea Lions was that this year, they had a secret weapon driving their success: their Team IMPACT teammate, Nathan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":5565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[33,25],"tags":[],"mens-teams":[],"class_list":["post-5559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-match-stories","category-perspective"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamimpact.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/IMG_0173.jpg?resize=800%2C534&quality=89&ssl=1\")
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