Rooke Dedicates Performance to Friend

Thomas Rooke knows that life is full of struggles. He is going to be challenged, and he understands that.

This past week has proven it.

But the junior left-hander has baseball. He has his team, and on May 14, as the Wildcats faced in-state rival Kansas — the
first game after he lost one of his best friends — his team needed him.

So after being called upon from the bullpen, Rooke paused, stepped off the mound and took a moment to focus on the game and reflect on the events of the previous three days.

'"Shaun this one is for you,'" Rooke thought to himself. '"You're with me, I know you are.'"

To Rooke, the game that night in Lawrence against the Jayhawks was for his best friend — the friend he shared the game of baseball with since playing on the same Little League All-Star team nine years ago.

The two represented their hometown of Spring, Texas. Now Rooke was representing Shaun Finley's life through this single pitching performance.

Just two days earlier, Rooke awoke to a voicemail from his mother Eleanor. She was crying during the quick message, and she told Thomas to call back immediately.

Eleanor had been home preparing to go to work when she saw news reports about a serious car wreck on nearby Interstate 45 in Texas. Shortly after, she noticed several missed phone calls from Finley's mother.

"At that that point, I was thinking 'Oh God, I hope that wasn't Shaun,'" Eleanor said. "Unfortunately, it was."

According to reports, Finley's car was traveling at high speeds on the interstate when it left the road, and flew through the roof of a local personal training gym.

She immediately called Thomas and left him the voicemail he would wake up to.

Thomas called his mother back after and Eleanor told him the news. Shaun had died in a car wreck.

"It hit me like a ton of bricks." Rooke said. "I remember thinking, 'I want to go home,' I wanted to talk to everybody."

But he couldn't.

His team was in the midst of a tight race for second place in the Big 12 with just two series remaining on its schedule. The first of those two series began in just two days against KU in Lawrence, and that's when he knew what he had to do.

"I dedicated the next game I pitched to him," Thomas said. "I knew he wanted to be out there with us, he was my best friend and I kind of felt like I needed to."

He followed through on his dedication.

Thomas threw two innings of pivotal relief work, silencing the Jayhawks' offense, and allowing the Wildcats to complete a comeback. Thomas was credited with the win — his third this season — and the Wildcats were able to return to Manhattan in position to take the series, which they did on Sunday.

"I kind of took it to heart," Rooke said. "I thought about how I know he wished he could be there watching me, and I know he was. I kind of took that to heart, and kind of put that into my game and I feel like, not that he led us to victory, but he was there in the victory."

It was a performance that didn't surprise K-State coach Brad Hill.

"Sometimes as a coach you get caught up in the heat of the game and you don't even think about what is taking place in a young man and his life," Hill said. "I know it couldn't have been easy for him during the weekend against KU — that was a very admirable job — what a courageous thing for him to go in there and just be there for us."

Thomas learned before the series against KU that Shaun's funeral was going to be on Saturday. Due to his baseball and school schedule, he was forced to miss the service, which spurred his decision to dedicate Friday's game in his memory.

"I realized that Shaun would want me to play," Thomas said. "He wouldn't want me to leave the team just for his sake, and I took that to heart."

The Wildcats now have one series remaining on their schedule as they travel to College Station, Texas this weekend to face the Texas A&M Aggies.

College Station is just 80 miles north of Rooke's hometown.

The series has given friends of Shaun, the community of Spring, and Thomas an opportunity to celebrate Shaun's life through
baseball.

Rooke's father, Charlie, said Thomas' grandparents, aunt and uncle and many friends from Oak Ridge High School plan to travel to College Station for the series.

Shaun's mother, Barbra, will also be in attendance.

"I am glad it's the last games of the season here," Charlie said. "Once he sees some of these people, I can just imagine."

Charlie and Eleanor, who both graduated from Texas A&M, said they have been preparing to see their son, understanding it will be an emotional time. They haven't seen him since April 16 when they traveled to Manhattan for the Baylor series.

"I know, come this weekend, I told Barbra we don't want him (Thomas) to see her until after the game," Eleanor said. "It is going to be emotional for all of us, and it's going to be hard on him especially."

But while Rooke knows this weekend will be tough, he said he knows Shaun will be there with him on the mound, watching him play the game they shared for so long together.

"I understand that I am going to go through struggles," he said. "But I know he is there with me and that is kind of how I portray it. I tell myself he is with me."

- Photo K-State Sports Information