WKU athletes, students, and Bowling Green residents banded together to participate in the Bat Out Breast Cancer event on Oct. 17 at the Nick Denes field on campus. The WKU Baseball and Softball programs hosted the event and it was sponsored by Graves Gilbert Clinic.
Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the event aimed to raise funds for breast cancer treatment and detection. From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., spectators could pay $5 to step up to bat five hits. The WKU Baseball and Softball teams were out on the field to pitch, catch, and also cheer on those who went up to bat.
Executive director of the Ancillary Services at Graves Gilbert Clinic, Lidija Loik from Bowling Green said that Graves Gilbert Clinic has always been community-oriented. She also said that this was the first year that Graves Gilbert Clinic was sponsoring the event and that they were very excited to partner with WKU.
“It’s always been our goal to partner with anything WKU does,” Loik said. “WKU has always done a phenomenal job of getting the community out here, so anything that we can do to be a part of that is something that we want to do.”
Mike D’Eramo from Bowling Green, Ohio, is the Chief Executive Officer of Graves Gilbert Clinic. He said that he attended the event with his wife Beth, who is a breast cancer survivor. He said that they didn’t have a set goal for how much money they wanted to raise. However, they wanted to raise as much as possible. D’Eramo said the money would benefit all angles of breast cancer. In particular, it will benefit risk assessment services such as mammograms or CT scans.
“Breast cancer is a very important topic to us, so every dollar counts,” D’Eramo said.
D’Eramo said that they came into contact about the event predominantly through Aaron Epstein, the Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director at WKU. Additionally, he said that he filmed a TV promo for the event through Talkin’ Tops. This show featured Randi Drinnon, a senior softball player at WKU.
“We talked about everything from the risk assessment test to just cancer awareness,” D’Eramo said. “Working with WKU has been a great experience and we are very appreciative.”
Freshman WKU baseball player Taylor Penn from Lexington, Kentucky said he was on the field with the baseball team helping with the event. He also said the event was an all-call for the softball and baseball teams.
“I got to come out here and just work it, and it gets everybody involved to bring awareness to breast cancer,” Penn said. “I think that ‘Bat Out for Breast Cancer’ is a pretty clever idea.”
Loik said that the event serves as a call to action to support the community.
“I love how the kids are engaged and they’re here to support and to help,” Loik said.