RedHawks' Weldon enjoying return of power surge

The junior first baseman from Mason recovers from knee surgeries.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer 1:15 AM Sunday, May 2, 2010

OXFORD — The dark days are behind Kyle Weldon, it would seem.

Last year as a substitute infielder on Miami University’s baseball team his batting average was .091.

This year, going into this weekend’s series at Bowling Green, he was batting .349 as the RedHawks’ starting first baseman.

Last spring Weldon got the unsettling news that his mom, Joan, had breast cancer.

This spring she is in remission and was able to throw out the first pitch in Miami’s “Think Pink” game on April 20.

Three years ago as a senior at Mason High School Weldon, who had been the one of Greater Cincinnati’s top sluggers, underwent knee surgery twice, once on each knee, and for the next three years he was a singles hitter.

This year Weldon has swatted six home runs, which ranks second among the RedHawks.

“I’ve worked pretty hard and I’m starting to get into that groove every hitter wants to get in,” Weldon said. “I’m having fun. We’re winning right now and that’s the most important thing.”

The RedHawks went into the Bowling Green series with four wins in their last five games, which gives them a good shot at making the eight-team Mid-American Conference Tournament, to be held in Chillicothe later this month.

Power lost & found

“The biggest thing is, I’m not swinging at anything I know I can’t handle,” Weldon said. “I’m getting pitches I want. I’m working the count really well and doing a good job of anticipating the pitches.”

Weldon said he considers himself a line drive hitter, but that might be changing.

“I’ve hit a lot of line drives to all fields this year,” he said. “It’s only recently that I’m started to get under it and it’s starting to go out. I think I have the potential to do that a lot.

“It’s something I’ve really been working on,” Weldon said. “It’s something I’ve had some success with in high school. I’m working on getting stronger, working on the power.”

The surgeries in high school changed his swing. He didn’t trust his knees and relied mostly on his upper body. His home run total dropped dramatically.

“It was just scoped. I was only out a few weeks for each surgery,” he said. “But it was something that changed my swing a little bit so I was a little more cautious about my knees.

“Right now I feel I’m back and then some,” he said.

A family crisis

Weldon was to face a far more serious crisis during his sophomore year at Miami, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he had only 22 at-bats as the backup to the RedHawks’ leading hitter, Tommy Nurre (.406).

He got bad news about his mom.

“We found out last year on spring break, in March, that she got diagnosed with stage two breast cancer,” he said. “That was something that I’ve struggled with a lot. That was the first time someone in our family had gotten severely ill.”

Kyle’s two brothers were at home and at least knew something was going on. Not Kyle.

“It kind of hit him out of the blue because he was away at school,” Joan said. “Kyle had absolutely no clue.”

Joan underwent surgery three times and had chemotherapy, but she is not a weak person.

She is a 18-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force who continued to work at Wright-Patterson during her chemotherapy.

“She went into remission in November, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” Kyle said. “She’s in the Air Force and she’s still working, which I think is awesome.

“I think it’s made us stronger all as a family and individually as people,” he added. “I’m not taking anything for granted. It’s kind of a motivational thing too, a reason for me to work hard. She has been an inspiration.”

Kyle’s father, Victor, also an Air Force veteran who now works in the private sector as a vice president with Clopay Building Products in Mason, echoed what his son said about the family’s reaction to the crisis.

“The neighbors have been terrific and the boys have pitched in with cleaning the house and cooking,” Victor said. “It’s brought the family closer together.”

Joan agreed. “If my boys weren’t cooking for me, my neighbors were bringing over meals.”

‘All over the place’

If the Weldon family knows how to cope with changing circumstances, it’s no wonder.

A husband and wife, both in the Air Force, must get used to being uprooted every now and then.

“I was born in Okinawa, Japan,” Kyle said. “My brothers were born in Oklahoma and Wyoming, so we were kinda scattered all over the place.

“I’ve been in Mason since the seventh grade,” he said. “But before that we were everywhere. I lived in Buffalo (N.Y.) for two years, I lived in California (San Diego) before that for two years, I lived in Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Jackson (Mo.).”

Kyle said he didn’t start taking baseball seriously until he was about 10.

“I didn’t play baseball in California,” he said. “I was more intrigued with surfing and skateboarding.”

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