Youth baseball player reunites with firefighter who saved his life

PIKE CO., Ind. (WFIE) - A youth baseball player reunited with the man who helped save his life after the boy was hit in the chest by a baseball.

Nate Davis, 12-years-old, was playing catcher during a youth baseball game when a foul tip hit him in the chest and stopped his heart. A local firefighter with medical training, who was watching the game, rushed to the field to bring the boy back to life.

Curveballs are common to baseball and life. But on defense in his most recent game, Nate took a foul tip to the chest.

“I remember like grabbing my chest and collapsing,” Nate recalls.

Nate’s dad, who is a state trooper, says sheer panic set in.

“Whenever you just hear somebody say they’re doing CPR on your child, your first thought is: my child is dying or he’s dead," says John Davis, Nate’s father. "So what do you do?”

A seemingly perfect stranger, who was watching his girlfriend’s son on the opposing team, was sitting in the stands. Turns out, that stranger is a local firefighter with many years of medical training.

So he jumped into action and started CPR.

“Did a couple rounds and Nate opened up his eyes actually, kind of looked around," explains Vincennes Firefighter Michael Scheirmann. "It was a sigh of relief at that moment, but then he looked at me with this weird stare in his face and let out a breath and he went back into cardiac arrest. So we did another round of CPR. After that round of CPR, I gave him two more breaths and he took a big gasp, looked around, picked up his head. I told him: don’t move buddy. He immediately said ‘I want to get up.’”

The Davis’ favorite player, No. 5, was fighting to stay alive.

“I just seen the look in his face, I knew it wasn’t right,” recalls Nate’s mom, Melissa Davis.

Nate now has a new nickname, Mister Miracle. On Thursday, he got to meet and hug his hero.

It was a blessing in the bleachers.

Nate has a few more tests before doctors clear him to play, but he’s ready to get back on the diamond.

Nate was wearing all of the proper catcher’s equipment.

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