OF DOUBLE IMPORTANCE: STEELE'S GAME-WINNER BOLSTERS AILING 'DOGS, DAD

A base hit never meant so much for a father and his son.

Wes Steele's two-out, game-winning double in the bottom of the seventh Thursday that propelled Notre Dame's baseball team into the Class 2A Quarterfinals was more than just a game-winning hit.

It was larger than the baseball game, the state playoffs or instant popularity.

It was about a young man giving his family benign joy during malignant times.

Two days before Steele saved his team's season, the junior found out that his father, Etson, had been diagnosed with leukemia and may need a bone-marrow transplant.

"I wanted to do something for him, get him a hit or something," Wes said. "I'm just so glad that I could come through. My mom told me that he just dropped to his knees and started crying right there."

Knowing that his father may have to travel today for his first chemotherapy treatment and miss his first Notre Dame baseball game of the season, Steele wanted to send his father to St. Louis with pleasant thoughts.

So he smacked a high fastball to the opposite-field fence on one bounce.

"That was probably the sweetest blessing that I've had in my life and the first of many more to come," said Etson. "It was the proudest moment that any parent could ask for, especially in my condition. It was a moment that I'll remember forever. Chills went up my whole body. It was one of the happiest moments of my life."

Notre Dame's fans, players and coaches all erupted in celebration. Some of Wes' teammates -- many who were completely unaware of Etson's condition -- mobbed the third baseman in a pile near the pitcher's mound.

But there was a serene moment during the mayhem.

While the rest of Wes' teammates were still giving high fives, shouting, hugging and waiting for their traditional postgame meeting, Wes found his father near the right-field line and they embraced.

"When I went out to the field and hugged him," Etson said, pausing several times to regain his composure. "He told me ... He said ... It's going to be OK Dad. This one's for you and I love you."

"I think what happened was so fitting," said Notre Dame coach Chris Neff. "What happened couldn't have happened to better people at a better time."

Etson, a 43-year-old carpenter who works in St. Louis, is all too familiar with Leukemia. He lost his father and a nephew to the disease.

Etson said he will, barring a dramatic turnaround in his condition, eventually need a risky bone-marrow transplant. He has two brothers in the area who are potential donors. If their bone marrow doesn't match, Etson will wait for a donor from a national list.

"The doctors told me bluntly that if things continue the way they are and the bone marrow doesn't take, that's all they can do," he said.

Those types of thoughts were spinning through Wes' mind for two days.

"It was hard to put it behind me, but I just go up there and hack away and hope something happens," Wes said. "And it did.

"A few guys knew about it, some of my closer friends. I don't think the whole team knew what was going on."

Cory Elfrink was one of the few Notre Dame players who was aware of the situation when Steele stepped into the box with the season on the line.

"As far as the players are concerned, Wes is as good of a guy as you'll ever find around," he said. "For something like this to happen to him and his family is awfully tough to take. It puts everything into perspective."

Wes said that his father has played a key role in his development as a baseball player.

"We come and hit in the cage all the time," Wes said. "He's always supported me in baseball or whatever I do."

Etson and Jane Steele also have a daughter, Kelsey, who is 15.