Bradenton’s Kevin Ewing got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at Wednesday’s Rays game

Kevin Ewing knew things weren’t going to be normal — well, as normal as they ever could have been — on the baseball field for him when he was pitching in the Dunedin Classic, an annual high school tournament around the time of most schools’ spring breaks. Inspiration Academy was in Hillsborough County and Ewing, the Sarasota-raised pitcher who was born with only one fully functioning hand, was the subject of a story in the Tampa Bay Times.

Between games, someone approached Ewing with a copy of the newspaper in hand. He wanted Ewing’s autograph.

“He said he’s looking forward to following me in college,” Ewing said.

It has been a whirlwind year for the Ewing family, with both the good and the bad making it an atypical few months. As Ewing prepares to pitch in college, Greg Ewing, his father, continues to battle multiple sclerosis, leading the Ewing family to downsize and move from Sarasota to Ocala.

Next week, Ewing will move to Knoxville, Tenn., where he plans to spend his next four years pitching at Johnson University, a school that competes in the National Christian College Athletic Association. On Wednesday, Tampa Bay gave him a once-in-a-lifetime send-off. Ewing was invited to Tropicana Field to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Tampa Bay hosted the rival Red Sox in St. Petersburg.

He jogged out in front of the mound just a few minutes before the game began as a video sharing his story played on the Trop’s big screen. Jacob Faria set up behind home plate as the catcher and Ewing fired a cutting fastball to the top of the strike zone while the crowd of 11,853 cheered him on.

“It was great,” Ewing said. “Just walking out there and just being on that big-league field, it was just really cool.”

Ewing arrived at Tropicana Field with his parents, sister and her fiance shortly before 4 p.m. He was invited down to the field where a member of the Rays’ public relations staff greeted him. If there was anything Ewing needed, the staff member told him, then the team would help.

Players passed by during batting practice and stopped to chat with Ewing and sign a baseball he held in his hand. His bedroom at home is already decked out with Tampa Bay memorabilia — he has a ball signed by first baseman Logan Morrison and another signed by David Price, his favorite active player whose jersey he wore Wednesday — and now he’ll have two more items. He got one ball signed by a handful of players, including relief pitcher Sergio Romo, catcher Wilson Ramos, utility infielder Brad Miller and outfielder Mallex Smith, and also got to keep the ball he threw out, which he got signed by Faria.

“It was really, really great. It was awesome,” Greg Ewing said. “I guess they had spoken to the players about him or something because it was really just unbelievable for us to stand there and hear a player say, ‘Hey, we heard a lot about you.’ ”

Ewing’s chance to spend a day on the field began back in June when he was awarded the Freddie Solomon Moral Courage Award at the Sneaker Soiree, the Tampa Bay Sports Commission’s annual gala. Ewing’s table happened to be next to one full of Tampa employees, including vice president of operations and facilities Rick Nafe. About a week after the event Nafe emailed Ewing asking if he’d want to come on to the field for batting practice sometime.

A few days after that, Nafe followed up. How about Ewing threw out the ceremonial first pitch?

“I’m like, ‘Heck yeah,’ ” Ewing said. “‘Let’s do it.’”

Ewing was a little nervous leading up to the day as his friends placed pressure upon him. If he bounced it to the mound Carly Rae Jepsen-style, he’d never hear the end of it.

He went through all the motions quickly, though. He raced out to the mound, set and fired a pitch to the starting pitcher who was set up behind the plate. Rachel Ewing, Kevin’s sister, was more nervous than he was as evidenced by the shaky video she got with her cellphone from the field.

The entire experience was unforgettable. At one point during the night Nafe asked Ewing what he was planning to major in at Johnson. Ewing told him sports management.

“Email me in a year,” Nafe told him. Maybe then they could talk about an internship.

“That just kind of blew us away, too,” Greg said.

This story was originally published August 10, 2017 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Bradenton’s Kevin Ewing got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at Wednesday’s Rays game."