Baseball team returns home to tornado disaster

Blank, 24, a former three-sport standout at Lake (Class of 2004), and his younger brother Casey, 14, who pitches for the Thunder, were directly affected by the twister that blew threw Millbury.

Ed Blank, who managed the Thunder last season, is Wes and Casey's father. The home he built on Main Street when Wes was in middle school was devastated by the tornado.

“My dad's house was completely gone,” Wes said.

Wes wasn't at his father's house when the tornado hit, but Casey and older brother, Eddie, were there along with Eddie's wife, Michelle, and their young son. Wes said his father could see the tornado in a nearby field, coming straight toward the house. Everyone scrambled to the basement.

“My dad said he could hear cracking and popping - not a loud wind or anything like that,” Wes said. “It was the house being torn apart. He said when they were down in their basement he could tell the house had been hit because some of the bricks in the foundation had been moved back. They opened the basement door and walked upstairs...Dad took a quick look outside and (the house) was gone.

“I was at my mother's house in Walbridge. The power at my mom's house never went out. I got a call from Casey and he was only one who had his cell phone with him. He said, 'Wes, where are you?' He said the house was gone. He was in shock and he was freaked out. He said, 'The house is gone and we're trying to figure out what to do.' Then the phone cut out and I didn't hear from him again until Sunday morning.”

In the rubble…
The majority of Thunder players were affected in some way by the tornado, mostly by the loss of their high school. Casey Blank was the only player whose house was destroyed.

Other players from Lake who play for the Thunder are Brad Ackerman, Scott Brittenham, Dominick Horvath, Anthony Pratt, Benjamin Swartz and Cody Witt, the son of Lake Schools Superintendent Jim Witt.

Genoa resident and team member Alex Hayes, whose father, Bob, is a member of the Genoa Fire Department, went door-to-door to make sure residents were accounted for. Horvath's father, Craig, helped move debris and trees from Ed Blank's house the day after the tornado.

“Craig was going house to house to house,” Wes said. “He helped everywhere. He helped at my dad's house and my grandmother-in-law's house. There are a lot of different storylines with our team. Dominick Horvath's dad did just about anything he could do to help.”

The rest of the team members include Benjamin Brossia, Bryce Castilleja, Brooks Gasser, Erich Gruelich, Andrew McCrory and Josh Pennington. The Thunder was supposed to play a doubleheader in Millbury on June 6, but that had to be canceled. They played a doubleheader on Tuesday, June 8, in the Lucas County Recreation League.

“A lot of people asked me, 'Is it too early,' ” Wes said. “The night we went back to play was the night Lake had their graduation. I spent all of Sunday and the majority of Monday and a little bit of Tuesday morning in what was my dad's house, in the rubble. The whole time I'm out at my dad's house, you look around and think this only happens in movies and on TV.

“Baseball was a good escape for me and I thought it would be good for the kids as well, so we started again Tuesday night. Every single team out there shook our hands and asked how our guys were doing and saying how brave these kids are and how amazing it is how they can get back to normal this quick. I let the kids decide if they wanted to go back, and every single kid said this is what they wanted to do. They wanted it as an escape, just like I did.”

Casey Blank did not play for the Thunder in that Tuesday doubleheader.

“We played again on Wednesday night and Casey played,” Wes said. “We found three or four of his jerseys miles away – two or three miles down the road from Dad's house. Team Sports helped Casey with a jersey and equipment, and other parents helped him with stuff. From that point on, we moved forward.”

By the time the Thunder started playing in the Nations Select tournament in suburban Columbus, the players had regained their confidence.

“We just clicked,” Wes said. “The thing that was amazing was, we got down there and people who I had never seen in my life, kids from all over Ohio and 10 or 11 parents and coaches, shook my hand saying they couldn't believe we came down there. They were surprised not only that we showed up, but how well we performed.”

In the state tournament opener, the Thunder took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Wadsworth Warriors scored four runs in the inning to earn a 4-3 victory.

The Thunder bounced back the next morning, blanking the Holly Hills Eagles 8-0 in five innings. In the next game, Casey Blank's two-hit, nine-strikeout pitching gem led the Thunder to an 8-0, five-inning victory over the New Albany Nationals.

The Thunder earned a rematch with Wadsworth and won, 3-0, to advance to the semifinal game. They crushed the Stow Bulldogs 9-1 to set up the championship game against the WBC Rattlers. By reaching the semifinals, the Thunder qualified for the Nations World Series beginning July 7 in Findlay.

Something else happened to the Thunder in Dublin. Something that can't be measured by wins and losses.

“The Lumber Company, from Tipp City, Ohio, was playing at the same time in the 13-U tournament,” Wes said. “They were talking to some of our parents and asked where we were from and if we were affected by the tornado. We said the kid, Casey, who was pitching just then, was homeless. This guy started talking and then he took a donation from The Lumber Company parents. He called his whole team over and they watched the last three innings of our game.

“They're going to send their donation to the Thunder's 13-U manager, or to wherever the relief funds are going. It was a really special thing. Their kids and our kids got very close. They were just the nicest people in the world, absolutely wonderful people. They couldn't believe how well we played down there, let alone that we showed up at all.”