Before Grand Canyon plays in the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament on Thursday night, Tyler Wyatt will leave a ticket for his father.
He then will slide his GCU jersey over his chest, where Tyler Dallas Wyatt has a Cowboys star tattooed with a rosary and the word "Partners" over his heart. He will slip on his Lopes cap with "Partner" written into the wool and take the field, pointing upward like he did from the playing fields to his father in the stands to answer his parents' childhood question, "Do you love us?"
It has been more than three years since Wyatt's father, Tim, suddenly became ill with pancreatitis and passed away two months before Tyler's graduation from Liberty High School in nearby Peoria, Ariz.
"It still doesn't feel real," Wyatt said. "Some days, I think he's just going to pop up in the stands and I'll say, 'Where have you been?' "
His father's memory drives him. Wyatt's baseball career was a shared passion and pleasure. When Wyatt became an All-WAC First Team selection for the second consecutive season Tuesday, he was living their dream that started in the backyard as the only child of Tim and Lena Wyatt.
Â
Lena, Tyler and Tim Wyatt pose as Tyler signs
with the GCU baseball program in 2014.
"Let's go, Partner," his father would always say in attachment to doing something fun or a loving talk, as opposed to the full name when his son was in trouble.
"I hope every single day that I make him proud," Wyatt said. "I wish every single day that he looks down and says, 'That's my boy.' I wish I could have one more day for him to say 'You could be better' or 'I love you' or give me a hug."
The family once attended an Arizona State baseball game when Stankiewicz was an assistant coach there, and Tim pointed out the former major leaguer as someone to follow. Tyler signed with GCU before Tim died on March 4, 2015, but the Lopes staff has been there to continue raising his son.
Stankiewicz became a father figure in Wyatt's life, to the point that Wyatt can hear his father's voice in what Stankiewicz says to him during games.
"I'm tough on him," Stankiewicz said. "There are moments when I feel I have to chew him a little bit and kick him in the tail. I've been around him three years and know what will help him respond well. Hopefully he knows that I love him and respect the heck out of him. I want him to have all the success in the world post-GCU. He's growing up and he's a really good baseball player. I want him to look back and smile at the end of a game rather than feel this yoke of pressure."
His mother, Lena, said, "Andy's ways of doing things is so much like his dad's. He pushes him because he knows he can do better than he's doing."
Wyatt has been outwardly tough on himself, trying to live up to being 2015 Gatorade Player of the Year for Arizona and the promises he made to his father on his final day.
His father, a former Eastern Illinois football lineman who endured 12 non-football knee surgeries, first complained of an upset stomach and Tyler went to get ginger ale to help him. Two days later, breathing became difficult. It worsened and Tim went to the hospital for his final six days, including a night in which he suffered three heart attacks.
Tyler woke up on March 4, 2015, with missed calls and texts from Tim's parents, advising him to splash water on his face and come to the hospital because his father's time was fleeting.
Tim was unresponsive with his eyes closed, but Tyler knows he heard everything he said about appreciation, apologies and memories before kissing his forehead goodbye.
"It was nice to say goodbye, tell him I love him and tell him I'm going to do everything in my power to not waste the time he spent with me," Tyler said. "I wouldn't be the man, the person, the player, the son I am without him and credit to my mom as well."
Tyler left to play a Liberty baseball game that night. The family figured out that he was robbed of a home run at about the same time Tim died.
"I tell Tyler, 'Your dad has the best seat in the house. He's your angel in the outfield,' " Lena said. "Tyler says that now it's his turn to protect me. I couldn't ask for a better child."
The Lopes could not ask for much better of a player, either. He has been a clutch defender in left field after playing third base last season. He is hitting .354 in WAC play and ended a second consecutive WAC championship season with a 5-for-5 game at Seattle.
Wyatt raised his overall batting average from .283 entering WAC play in mid-March to .331 now by closing his batting stance and hitting to the middle of the field more.
"When the bell rings, he expects a lot of himself on the field," Stankiewicz said. "When you take your eyes off yourself and fix your eyes on your teammates, you become a better player because you lose pressure."
Wyatt wears his emotions on his sleeve, his hat and his chest. He has a mother to watch over and an extended family in the GCU clubhouse but still has a partner to make proud. This WAC Tournament, which gives Wyatt and teammates a chance to qualify for a NCAA regional, is the vision they had when he signed with GCU as Tim and Lena sat by him.
"There's a deeper meaning to 'Partner,' more than just him being a best friend," Tyler said. "He was a mentor, a role model, someone who I could go to and confide in. If you need to cry or you're hurt, you'd go to him and it was, 'I love you, partner.' "
 Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
Â
Â
