Kelly baseball team launches scholarship drive in memory of Kaden Robert, issues challenge

BENTON, Mo. -- The Kelly baseball team's third home game of the season had been marked on the Hawks' calendar since they began practicing in February.

As sophomore Jeremiah Bain and the rest of his teammates lined up along the third-base line with Aaron and Rhonda Robert, the parents of Kaden Robert, they knew this game was different.

Kaden Robert, a Kelly student, was killed last summer when a handgun accidentally discharged in the high school parking lot after a pickup basketball game with friends.

"All I could do was think about Kaden, and what baseball meant to him and what it should mean to me," Bain said. "I kept going back to that night and how hard it's been since not having him around to make me laugh, or make my day better. But then I looked up and looked around at my teammates and all of the people that are here in support of Kaden. He would want us to go out and play each game as hard as we could, which is exactly how he played it. He'll always be a part of this team and this school."

Kelly was defeated by Chaffee 7-3 in the first Green Up game on Monday at Kelly High School, but the game itself was not the main focus for the Hawks and the more than 100 members of the community in attendance.

With the help of the Under Armour Baseball Factory, a company that specializes in setting up camps to develop college and high school baseball players, the Roberts have started the Green Up game in an effort to raise money for the Baseball Factory-Kaden Robert scholarship fund.

Rhonda Robert, left, Aaron Robert and Kelly coach Justin McAlister watch the balloon release in memory of Kaden Robert before the Greenup Game Monday, March 30, 2015 in Benton, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"We chose to include the scholarship to a Southeast Missouri athlete, and they can go to a college of their choice," Rhonda Robert said. "So we've already done a few scholarships that would be for a Kelly graduate, and one in particular would be for an athlete going to SEMO. However, this one would go for any Southeast Missouri athlete, baseball or softball. And then if we raise enough money, the Baseball Factory is going to go ahead and do one every year for baseball and softball. So because Kaden played a lot of travel ball and little league with kids from Sikeston, Bell City, Cape Central, and the list goes on, we wanted to give those kids an opportunity to feel like they were involved also."

Rhonda said a goal of $10,000 has been set and added that the Baseball Factory has already donated $1,000 dollars to the cause. Rhonda said once the remaining $9,000 is raised, the scholarship will be awarded to a deserving Southeast Missouri athlete.

The Green Up game is also designed to raise awareness for organ donation. Rhonda said 50 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Transplant Center in St. Louis.

"We're also trying to raise money for Mid-America Transplant Services as well. And we kind of teamed up with that because Kaden is an organ donor," Rhonda said. "He saved five lives, so we wanted to include that in a way to raise funds for Green Up baseball and organ donation awareness."

Kelly isn't the only Southeast Missouri baseball team the Roberts hope to get involved in the fundraising. After the Red Devils handed the Hawks their third loss of the season, Kelly coach Justin McAlister and assistant Cody Hanneken were doused in green slime while Kelly players individually called out local teams to have their own Green Up game and raise money in Kaden's name.

"What we wanted to do was something similar to the ALS ice bucket challenge," Rhonda said. "So after the game you saw the coaches get slimed by the players. With that, each player called out a local school and challenged them to have their own Green Up game in honor of Kaden, and to make money for MTS. We're sending out that challenge to everybody, and we hope that they'll accept."

People were able to sign a display in memory of Kayden Robert at the Greenup Game Monday, March 30, 2015 in Benton, Missouri.

Kelly challenged 17 area schools and baseball teams as well as the Southeast Missouri State baseball teams. The challenge is for each school to raise $500 by the end of April.

"It was a special moment, especially it being my first year here," McAlister said. "When I took the job, it was about a month and a half later that the tragedy happened. You start to question as a coach, 'What in the world have I gotten into?' But I knew that there was a community that needed healing, and a group of young men that were going to need some leadership and some guidance. I felt like despite the tragedy, it was all for a reason. The slime, that moment there is a little colder than I thought, but it was a good day all in all."

Kaden was regarded as a person who had great potential as a baseball player, especially by McAlister. The first-year coach never got a chance to coach Kaden, but said he watched him play at the end of last season.

"I got to watch him play a couple times last spring and summer, but when I took over this job, he was definitely in my plans," McAlister said. "He was the definition of a baseball player. Just a hard-nosed tough catcher. He won their pitching award as a freshman, and probably would've been our No. 2 this year. He was just one of those kids that as a coach you love to coach. Give me nine of him and I'll go to war with you any day, you know. He was just that kind of kid."

Kaden only played in one season at Kelly, but began playing baseball at a young age, and spent many years playing on little league and travel teams.

"That would go back to tee-ball and just playing with him in the yard and I still think about how little he was when we first started him out," Aaron Robert said. "But he was always fast, you know. He was a good student of the game. He picked up quick on what he needed to do. He and I practiced a lot. When he was about 8 or 9 years old all the way up, he and I were in the backyard working on baseball once it turned January 1 all the way up to the start of the season."

Kaden worked his way on to Kelly's varsity team as a catcher and a pitcher. But Aaron said his desire to be good at every position is what made him such a special player.

"He pitched, he caught, he would pretty well play every position," Aaron said. "Working with him all the time on his game, it was neat to watch him grow up and groom him as a player. He was very fast. He had fast hands at the plate and was a game changer at times, he really was. He could make it happen and he had that winning spirit."

Kelly and Chaffee each scored a run in the first inning and remained tied after the second. In the third, the Red Devils brought 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs on five hits to take a 6-1 lead and did not trail for the remainder of the game.

The Hawks scored a run in the fourth and six innings to cut the lead to 6-3 before Chaffee added a run in the seventh and retired Kelly to end the game.

"As a coach you remember that you're coaching high school kids, and what we're doing right now is what's most important," McAlister said after the game. "As a coach, you hate to lose. But the fact that we've got this crowd out here and we're able to draw some attention to the organ donation foundation and the scholarship in Kaden's name, that's what matters most."

Aaron and Rhonda Robert discuss the Greenup Game in memory of their son, Kaden Robert, Monday, March 30, 2015 at Kelly High School. (Fred Lynch)

Throughout the course of the season, the Robert's plan to attend as many of Kelly's games as they can while still raising awareness in their son's name.

"We've maintained a relationship with the Hawks, as well as his travel team, and that helps us out a tremendous amount," Rhonda said. "We've gone and seen all those boys play. We continue to support them even through football, and we'll continue to watch them play baseball as well. It's heart-warming to know that these people cared about our son that much. He cared about everyone. There was nobody that he didn't make a friend with. It didn't matter where you went, what state you were in, he was the type of person that could go start a conversation with anyone. Whatever team he was on, he lifted people's spirits."

Donations can be made online at www.factoryfoundation.org/donate, or www.mts-stl.org/learn. To send a donation by check, make the check out to the Kaden Robert Scholarship in the name of the Baseball Factory and mail or drop it off at Kelly High School.

"It can be very overwhelming, but in a good way," Rhonda said. "It's bout awareness. We're trying to make a positive out of a negative, and that's exactly what we've gone through and are still going through. It's a journey, but it's very heart warming to know that all of these people are willing to take that journey with us."

List of schools Kelly challenged:

Advance, Bell City, Cape Central, Chaffee, Charleston, Jackson, Leopold, Nell Holcomb, New Madrid, Notre Dame, Oran, Portageville, Scott Central, Scott City, Sikeston, Woodland and the Southeast Missouri State baseball team.

Chaffee 150 000 1 -- 7 13 0

Kelly 100 101 0 -- 3 7 1

WP -- Ryan Lohmann. LP -- Kyle Fitzgerald. 2B -- Bailey Owens (1). Multiple hits -- Chaffee: Lane Henson 3-5, Alec Bogenpohl 2-4, Austin Copeland 2-3, Bailey Owens 2-3, Devohn Foulk 2-3; Kelly: Ty Householder 3-4, Skylar Lemons 2-4.