WEST LAFAYETTE − Aiden Humphrey is usually on the other side of the starting lineup introductions.
The Harrison senior catcher awaits each individual’s name being called and has a distinct, individualized handshake for each of them as Raider starters take the field.
During Harrison’s May 12 senior night game against West Lafayette, that wasn’t the case. Nobody knew it yet, but a made-for-movie night at Raider Field was about to happen. The fact that Harrison won 12-4 was basically inconsequential. Anything beyond the first inning was, really.
In the dugout prior to the game, Harrison baseball coach Pat Lowrey is fighting back tears, if not because Humphrey, for the one and only time, will be on the other side of those starting lineup introductions, then because Lowrey also penciled in his son, pitcher Jeremy Lowrey, along with shortstop Lannon Nicoloff, who both missed their senior seasons due to Tommy John surgeries. Injured seniors Bryce Schwartz (right field) and Charles Ellison (left field) also stood out of harm’s way, but as starters, trotted off the field after that first pitch.
Lowrey (Stetson) and Nicoloff (George Mason) have already signed with Division I programs, ensuring this wasn’t their final time stepping on the diamond in a game.
Three months earlier, Humphrey was supposed to be a pivotal part of the Raiders in 2026.
In February, he felt a flutter in his chest during an offseason workout. As a precautionary measure, assistant coach Kerry Yoder advised Humphrey to see the athletic trainer. It was a decision that cost Humphrey his final chance to play varsity baseball for Harrison, but also one that possibly saved his life.
Further testing determined Humphrey has a heart condition known as Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which causes an irregular heartbeat.
“I have an extra electrical pathway in my heart, and it’s just way too much, so it causes tachycardia (a faster heartbeat),” Humphrey said.
Multiple doctors ordered Humphrey to stray away from anything physical.
Humphrey, though, continued to beg and plead to play his senior season, first with doctors, then coaches, then doctors again. Pat Lowrey didn’t want to deprive Humphrey, but he didn’t want to go against doctor’s orders either.
“He was in my ear, and I wanted to,” Lowrey said. “But I also didn’t want something to happen.”
The day before senior night, Humphrey showed up, smile in tow, with a note from his cardiologist permitting him to have one at-bat.
On senior night, batting second, designated hitter Aiden Humphrey.
By the time Humphrey went to the on-deck circle in the bottom of the first inning, Pat Lowrey was already hunched in the corner of the dugout, eyes still welled from the top of the first. Jeremy Lowrey started on the mound, delivering a first-pitch fastball for a strike, with Nicoloff standing in a defensive position behind him, even though West Lafayette had made a gentleman’s agreement that the leadoff hitter would take the first pitch.
Both were pulled following a heartfelt embrace that lasted far longer than your typical mound visit.
“It was surreal. I was so happy because I never thought I was going to step on the field this year, even for one pitch,” Nicoloff said. “Getting to do that for at least even one pitch with Jeremy on the mound, it felt like it was back to the good old times.”
If senior night ended there, it was enough, but all eyes turned to Humphrey as his name echoed over the speakers and he stepped into the batter’s box.
“It was one of the cooler moments I’ve had on the field,” said Pat Lowrey, who once pitched McCutcheon to a state title and coached Delphi to a state championship appearance. “I finally stopped crying, and then Aiden gets up there in the bottom of the first and I’m an emotional wreck again.”
Humphrey went up and took a huge hack, swinging for the fences. Understandable for someone who hasn’t seen live pitching in at least six months.
He’d work the count full, fouling off a couple pitches in the process, when he saw the pitch he’d been waiting on.
“He just takes a swing, and it was surreal seeing our guys react,” Jeremy Lowrey said. “It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen by a long shot.”
That’s because Humphrey pulled a pitch down the left field line. Pat Lowrey stood up, trying to wave it far, à la Carlton Fisk for the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 World Series. The ball didn’t need much convincing. It sailed over the fence.
Humphrey, who wasn’t supposed to do anything physical, broke into an adrenaline-fueled sprint rather than a home-run trot. He still wasn’t fast enough to beat his teammates to home plate, who eagerly awaited to swarm Humphrey.
“I was happy and sad at the same time. I didn’t want to cry, but I almost did,” Humphrey said. “I choked up for a moment. It was one of the best moments of my life, easily. I kind of started running a little too fast. I wish I would’ve embraced the moment a little bit more, but running around yelling, looking at all my friends coming out of the dugout, that was an amazing feeling. All of it was very surreal.”
Humphrey had a supraventricular tachycardia ablation two days later, where surgeons put two catheters in his leg, went up through his main artery, and zapped the extra pathway out.
In his one varsity at-bat as a senior, Humphrey’s stat line reads: 1-for-1, solo home run.
“You see 18-year-old kids jump up and down, crying, and it was really an unbelievable moment,” Pat Lowrey said. “It’s one that he’s earned, which is the coolest thing about it. It was a special night.”
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: A strike, a home run and a ‘surreal’ Harrison baseball senior night
Reporting by Sam King, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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