May 31, 2010

Summoning a blend of courage and lunacy only he can fully grasp, Matt Hiserman of the University of San Francisco will take the mound Sunday, his eyes locking in on a batter wielding the weapon that twice resulted in a baseball striking his head. Five years ago, a line drive damaged his sinus cavities, three months ago another fractured his skull and caused his brain to bleed.

There is a touch of "The Hurt Locker" in Hiserman, a man on a mission inexorably drawn to danger. And plenty of scared college kid in him, too. A month earlier, before throwing a pitch for the first time since the second injury, Hiserman retreated behind the mound for a moment and went into a crouch. He breathed deeply and wordlessly recited the "Serenity Prayer."

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