That's because on Dec. 30, Mitchell was in surgery for more than 19 hours. Doctors and nurses worked in shifts to remove an acoustic neuroma, a usually slow-growing tumor of the nerve that connects the ear to the brain. An acoustic neuroma is benign, which means it does not spread to other parts of the body or invade the tissue around it.

Complicating Mitchell's problem was that his tumor, which was almost an inch and a half long, was in a particularly difficult place to reach. His neurosurgeon at the UNC School of Medicine, Matthew Ewend, who is director of neuro-oncology, didn't want to proceed with the surgery until assembling a team that included Craig Buchman, UNC's chief of otology/neurotology and skull base surgery.

The surgery was not without risks and complications. Mitchell is now permanently deaf in his left ear, a condition that he is still adjusting to. It also seemed to rule out his senior season of baseball. At least that was the prognosis.

"They said my baseball season had been canceled," he said, "that playing baseball this season was out of the question."

He was determined to do everything he could to return to his team, though. He walked two days after surgery and returned home within five days. He returned to school Jan. 31 and hung around with his baseball buddies after school.

Mitchell walked on a treadmill Feb. 1, and his strength rapidly returned. He was soon throwing again and was medically cleared to play weeks before the West Johnston game where he got his first action.

He faced three batters in the fourth inning, throwing 11 pitches. Fuquay coach Milton Senter brought Mitchell back in the fifth, and he retired the side without yielding a run after giving up a single, a hit batsman and a walk.

After Fuquay wrapped up the 9-3 victory, Bengals pitching coach Tom Hayes slapped Mitchell on the back and said, "Welcome back."

Senter gathered his club after the game and pointed to Mitchell.

"He not only came back to us, he performed," Senter said. "He went out there and battled. That's a lesson to us all."