Tanner an easy player to root for

Life is full of surprises.
While I was taking time off to visit family last week, my dad asked if I’d like to go see the Lake Erie Crushers, an independent minor league baseball team that plays in the city in which I grew up and where my parents still reside. I said yes, he got the tickets and I really didn’t think about it again until we headed out to the game Saturday night.
When we arrived, my parents, niece and I headed to our seats along the right-field line. I was only partially watching warm ups while chatting when something caught my eye. It was a shock of red hair peeking out from below a blue Frontier Greys cap.
I did a double take to look again at the player as he walked to his dugout and then turned to my parents in disbelief.
“I think I know No. 7,” I said.
At the time I wasn’t certain, because I hadn’t gotten a good look at his face. But sure enough, just a few seconds later as the Frontier lineup was announced, I got the confirmation. Batting seventh and playing third base for the Greys was Zach Tanner.
All week I hadn’t even thought about who the Crushers were playing. It didn’t really matter. I wasn’t going to root for either team, but simply to take in a game with my family.
So it came as a big surprise when I realized I’d stumbled onto a game in which a former Portland Rocket was playing for the opposition.
After shaking my head in disbelief I popped out of my chair and headed toward the first-base dugout. Peering in, I called out “Hey Tanner”.
The Yorktown High School graduate’s look of surprise upon hearing his name called more than 200 miles away from home matched the one I had when I spotted him on the field minutes earlier.
We chatted briefly. I asked about his experience with the Greys, which he said he is enjoying. He asked about his former team in Portland, and I reported about their season and their game earlier that day in the Firecracker Classic in Fort Wayne.
He said he usually plays second base for Frontier, a team based in Sauget, Ill., and the game against Lake Erie would be his first start at third. I wished him luck before I headed back to my seat while he prepared to take the field.
Tanner made a nice play in the bottom of the second inning, tracking down a pop up in foul territory near the home team’s bullpen for the third out of the inning. But overall it wasn’t a great night as he went 0-for-3 and the Greys lost 8-1.
Still, it was fun to see him play at a higher level, chasing bigger dreams.
Players come and go from teams like the Portland Rockets.
Some breeze through this little East Central Indiana city and are forgotten as quickly as they came. Others embrace the situation and make an impact.
Tanner was definitely the latter.
From the time he arrived in Portland following a stint with the Class AA Gary SouthShore RailCats, he was a leader. A slick-fielding shortstop who hit for power and average, he was a key cog as Portland earned its first berth in the National Amateur Baseball Federation World Series in 2012.
He did his best to lead the team back last season, hitting three home runs in the NABF Regional before the Rockets bowed out to finish 32-8-1.
More than that though, he just immediately seemed like a great guy. He did his best to help his teammates, and he frequently visited with fans young and old.
To put it simply, he was the kind of player who was easy to root for. And he still is.
That’s why when I spotted him on the field, I instantly flipped from being the most casual of Crushers supporters to being the one fan in the stands cheering on the third baseman from the opposing team.[[In-content Ad]]