Weston Wilson has seen this fight before. He watched his brother, Spencer, overcome cancer twice and survive. So when Clemson’s second baseman learned his teammate, Clate Schmidt, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last June, he wanted to make sure he helped Schmidt in anyway to overcome it.

“It takes a strong person to get through that whole situation,” Weston Wilson said.

Spencer Wilson had a malignant tumor in his leg the first time he was diagnosed, but after sending it into remission it returned with vengeance. The second time the cancer returned it showed up in his lymph nodes and his leg. The doctors told him he had a seven percent chance of surviving if he did chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The doctors gave him a year to live.

“Hearing that news was a death sentence in a way if they are telling you he only has a year to live,” Weston Wilson said. “It was a miracle.”

It was a miracle, and now for the second time in his young life he was witness to another one. Though Schmidt was not given the same prognoses as Wilson’s brother, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma isn’t anything to play around with. Nearly 20,000 people die each year from non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

But, seven months after learning about his diagnoses, Schmidt was back on the mound for the Tigers when they opened up spring practices at Doug Kingsmore Stadium last Friday.

“I have thought about this day from the first second I was diagnosed,” Schmidt said. “Since we lost in California, I have thought ‘Okay, what do I have to do to get back? What do I have to do to be able to push this team? What do I have to do to be able to allow us to get to go where we want to go?’

“It’s really going to put a smile on our face when finally we get to opening day and see what goes on.”

Schmidt’s presence at practice already puts a smile on his teammates’ faces. He is an inspiration to them all.

“It’s exciting. He is a great competitor. He is a veteran guy,” shortstop Eli White said. “It is great to have a guy like that at the front of your rotation. He has been through a lot. He is a battler.”

Obviously, getting back was not an easy task for Schmidt. After getting through all the chemo and radiation treatments he still had to get himself back in shape. First, back in physical shape and then back in baseball shape.

It was not an easy thing to do.

“We were just letting him know we are there for him. We texted him, called him, making sure he was alright. It was a difficult time, but it really built some unity among us as a team,” White said.

Schmidt admits he had his moments of weakness. There were days when doubt crept into his mind. But his teammates were there to lift him up and push him through.

“The guys have been great,” Schmidt said. “When there were those tough days I had running and stuff, they would push me. They pushed me to the point when I thought I could not go anymore and then they would push me to that next level.

“That’s something I really needed to do. I really appreciate every single one of them because without them I don’t think I would have been able to get back here as soon or as well as I am now. That is something I am extremely appreciative of the guys. They don’t know how much of an impact they have had on me in my personal life. To be able to have the opportunity to repay them on the mound is something I’m going to be really proud of.”

As the Tigers prepare for the season opener on Feb. 19 against Maine, there is a real opportunity Schmidt will be the opening day starter. Seven months ago that was not even imaginable.

“I’m extremely excited. I have wanted to do that since before I was even a freshman,” Schmidt said. “Just to be that guy standing on the mound on opening day, hopefully, would be an accomplishment that is beyond my thought process.”

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