Baseball hosts cancer awareness event

  Seton Hall baseball players shaved their heads to show support for the Vs. Cancer Foundation in the battle to find a cure for childhood cancer on Saturday. This is the fourth consecutive year that the team has participated in the event, which took place during the University Day festivities at Seton Hall weekend. The team played its yearly Old Timer’s Game and intra-squad game with full heads of hair, but left the field clean-shaven. The day also included Chase Jones, CEO of the Vs. Cancer Foundation, speaking to the team about how much it meant to the foundation that they would be taking part in the head-shaving. Seton Hall’s impact on the foundation has certainly been felt over the years. “The Seton Hall baseball team has laid the groundwork for the raising of tens of thousands of dollars,” Jones told Seton Hall Athletics, “Together, we’ve proven that college baseball can step into a children’s hospital and change out- comes for these kids.”

Jones was diagnosed with Stage IV brain cancer at the age of 18 when he was a freshman in high college. He was able to beat the diseaseandhasbeencancer-freefor eight years. Jones has worked with numerous cancer organizations including the Ronald McDonald House, the Livestrong Foundation and St. Baldrick’s Foundation. He has also worked with many local and international hospitals in the past. “Just by shaving your heads and letting people know you’re trying to help out kids with cancer, you’ve proven that you can make a dif- ference,” Jones told SHU Athletics. “Since Seton Hall started this, we’ve now worked with literally hundreds of teams across the country doing the same thing... using their platform to raise funding and awareness.” Jones began the head-shaving tradition when he was a freshman baseball player at the University of North Carolina and has encouraged many teams to join him. The foundation continues to grow as does the fight to end childhood cancer.