It was like he never left the baseball diamond. Joe Andrechuk was having fun playing ball with friends Friday night, and that’s all he dreamt of while he spent months recovering from brain cancer.
Andrechuk, who graduated from Sachem East in 2012, was back on the mound with the Long Island Stingers, a former travel baseball team made up of mostly Sachem kids turned men’s league team.
He pitched two full innings, allowed one hit, struck out four batters and he tipped his cap to friends and family in attendance as he walked off the mound during the team’s season opener at Birchwood Park in Deer Park.
“This exceeded my expectations completely,” said Andrechuk, who was deemed cancer free in October 2013. “I didn’t think it was going to be anything like this. It was the most fun I’ve had in so long.”
The Stingers organized the evening in honor of Andrechuk’s recovery. Not only did they sell shirts, bracelets, and
food prior to the contest with all donations headed to Christopher’s Haven, a family cancer housing facility in Boston where Andrechuk stayed during part of his treatment, but they also allowed him to take the field by himself just prior to first pitch to make it clear that it was his night.
“I can’t put into words,” said Pete Kersich, the Stingers’ manager who saw Andrechuk regularly during his recovery and got the team back together for the first time since the players were in high school. “It’s a miracle. The whole night was just fantastic.”
Whether they walked away with a victory or not, the night provided an emotional win in the standings for the Stingers. They did win, however.
On a night where it rained hard on Long Island, it barely drizzled near the field where the game was played. The Stingers were feeling something special too as they rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh inning.
Sachem East alum Mike Kaleb scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, while fellow Sachem East alum Bryan Vaccaro struck out four batters in two innings of relief and earned the win on the mound.
“I never stopped thinking about playing baseball,” Andrechuk said. “It was always on my mind and was just a matter of when, but I didn’t think it would be this soon. To be able to strike anyone out, being back on the mound, and having all my friends behind me is unreal.”
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro