POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – It's fall, but the Vassar baseball team is keeping busy. This past Saturday, the Brewers had the chance to play their inter-squad scrimmage at Prentiss Field, but the game proved to be more than that.

A year ago, Vassar began using their fall scrimmage to draw awareness to a particular charity, and the team decided this season to play for something bigger when Gift of Life was chosen.

Gift of Life is an organization that helps children struggling with heart issues locally and worldwide. The group is focused on developing sustainable pediatric cardiac centers and gives doctors and nurses the ability to treat children close to their homes. One of the team members, senior Connor Levchuck, gave Vassar the connection to Gift of Life with his father, Dr. Sean Levchuck, being a pediatric heart surgeon. 

"Any time you get to play for something bigger than yourself, I think it helps to bring the team closer together," said head coach Matthew Righter. "It also helps with perspective. We have a very close group of guys who genuinely care for others, and I thought that showed quite a bit in preparation for and the day of this game." 

Fans got to see an exciting game as well. Featured were current Vassar players from "The East" facing off against "The World." Vassar baseball fan and one of Dr. Levchuck's former patients, eight-year-old Jack Foley, even threw the first pitch of the game.

The game ended thrillingly, with Christian Baaki hitting a walk-off single at the bottom of the ninth. While helping the "East" team win was exciting, the game was personally meaningful for Baaki. "Almost three years ago, my youngest sister was born with a congenital heart defect," explains Baaki. "She required a risky surgery the week of being born, and it was a stressful time for my family and me. My family was able to drive down and watch the game, so that made all of the day's events extra special - to be playing the sport I love knowing I'm helping families who were in the same position my family once was."

In the end, it was a successful day with the team raising over $4,000 and having a surgeon donate surgery to a family with a child in need. "We had a bunch of people come out to watch an exciting scrimmage plus listen to some amazing music by the Vassar Devils co-ed a cappella group," stated Righter. "I hope everyone that witnessed the day felt like we provided a little extra hope to children and their families struggling with heart disease." 

Reflecting on the day, Baaki had the following to say: "We want to ensure that the game is being played less for us and more for others. Partnering with the Gift of Life lets us as a team step outside ourselves and see the bigger picture of why we hold this game so dear to our hearts."

To learn more about the Gift of Life organization, click here.