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Schwede back on bump after bout with cancer

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Rian Schwede pitches last season. / Photo by: Chris Lyons

After beating cancer, Whitman-Hanson Regional High alum Rian Schwede is back on the mound at Endicott College.

Rian Schwede isn’t too used to getting hit hard.

But just about a year ago to the day he was — not on the baseball field but off it.

He received a cancer diagnosis.

“It all started when I got home,” said Schwede, a sophomore at Endicott College. “We got sent home in March, and I found out in April. I was shocked. It was kind of crazy going home and finding out about all that stuff — the season getting canceled and having to finish school, which was another element I had to deal with.”

Then a couple of weeks later, it got worse.

“They said it was Stage 3 at first,” Schwede recalled. “Then I got a call one afternoon saying, ‘Hey Rian, we got some bad news. The blood work came back, and you’ve been upgraded to Stage 4.’ I took that phone call by myself in my room.”

Fortunately for Schwede, it was a pretty curable form of testicular cancer with chemotherapy and then a final surgery.

“I started chemo in early June to mid-August,” he said. “Every three weeks, I’d have to go in for one week, and then I’d come out and have a three-week break and go in for another week.”

Baseball helped take his mind off the process, beginning with his team at Endicott.

“Every single week I was in the hospital I’d get a text from the whole team,” Schwede said. “Everyone would be saying, ‘Yo, good luck. You got it.’ And I get some calls from my close friends on the team.”

Schwede, a three-time Patriot League All-Star on the diamond at Whitman-Hanson Regional High, also played in the local Ted Williams League in between treatments.

“I was like, ‘I’ll go there, I’ll throw and take my mind off things,’” Schwede said. “It was a really good time. I would do it with my friends from home, too.”

In October, Schwede was officially cancer free. And while one battle was down, there was still another to go. He’d lost about 10 to 15 pounds during chemotherapy and knew he had to build himself up before the college baseball season. After a few months, he was even bigger than he was before – weighing in at 215 pounds.

“I kind of just flipped the switch to get back to normal,” he said. “I had a set routine of going to the gym and going to my trainers. It was a really good, productive offseason going from absolutely nothing in the fall to just work my butt off to get back to where I am now.”

He spent part of that offseason working with Diamondbacks pitching prospect Matt Tabor.

“He really helped me pitching-wise,” Schwede said.

Schwede’s commitment this offseason paid off. He took the ball for Endicott in its conference opener against Wentworth on Saturday, March 27. Schwede struck out four over 3 2/3 innings in a 4-3 win.

“It was great to get back out there,” said Schwede. “It’s been a grind the last month or two.”

Said Endicott skipper Bryan Haley: “The fact that he’s gone through what he’s gone through and he gets the ball in a big game for us is definitely special.”

Haley said Schwede’s journey gives the team a different perspective on life.

“We get caught up a lot in our day-to-day, the wins and losses and these little things that we make much bigger than they are,” Haley said. “Then Rian gets cancer and it kind of just hits the breaks on everybody and says, ‘Hey, listen. What are we really worried about here?’ We’re pretty lucky to be out here competing.”

‘I’m going to miss the heck out of them’: W-H baseball senior captains leave legacy

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The W-H baseball senior captains. / Photo by: Sue Moss

W-H’s baseball senior captains helped lead the program to two Patriot League Keenan Division crowns, a pair of playoff wins and a 61-25 record.

When Pat Cronin returned to his alma matter, Whitman-Hanson Regional High, four years ago to coach the baseball team after spending the previous 35 springs as East Bridgewater’s skipper, he had a lot of work to do.

That included several decisions, such as: finding out what had and hadn’t worked, deciding who could and should play where and assessing who could be a contributor.

Three then-freshmen —Mike Cook, Ethan Phelps and Rian Schwede — made his life a little easier. They only required a few minutes of observation before making a decision.

“I saw their love for the game — they love baseball — and I saw they were natural athletes,” Cronin said. “They could play at the varsity level.”

So Cronin, who made a four-year commitment to W-H when he was hired in 2016, decided he wanted to take them on the ride with him.

Four years later, the program appeared in the tournament each season — which ended an eight-year playoff drought — captured two Patriot League Keenan Division crowns, won a pair of playoff games and racked up a 61-25 record.

“They’re my three,” Cronin said. “They’re my guys that have been with me since Day 1. They’re legacy is very much tied to those championships.”

A three-time all-star, Cook, who is headed to play college baseball at Babson, was a constant at second base and in the middle of the order for the past three years. He never hit below .300.

“He can run, he can make things happen, so he’s solid,” Cronin said of Cook. “Mike is even going to be better in the next four years when he gets to Babson and starts to really compete against some really good players. You’re going to see him get much better.

Mike Cook never batted below .300. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Cook said the groundwork for the Panthers’ success during his tenure was laid by the seniors when he was just a freshman.

“They set the tone,” Cook said. “Nick Haley, Nate Perkins, Jared Pendrak, the three captains, they were unbelievable for us. They we had year after year guys that came through and did what they needed to do.”

Schwede agreed.

“We really turned it around my first year with Nick Haley, Brenndan Rogers and Nate Perkins and it was cool to play with them the first year and understand what it’s like to be a part of a really winning program,” Schwede said.

But without Schwede’s arm, that success may not have continued. W-H’s ace for the past two seasons and a league all-star since he was a sophomore, the Endicott College baseball-bound righty pitched to the tune of a 1.47 ERA over 146 2/3 innings. Cronin didn’t mince words when talking about Schwede’s impact.

Rian Schwede was W-H’s ace for the past two seasons. / Photo by: Sue Moss

“He was the guy,” Cronin said. “He was as good as there is in this league. He learned what pitching is all about. He has the big pitchers’ body. He has the big right arm and he understands exactly how I want it done.”

Phelps — Schwede’s partner in the outfield when he wasn’t on the mound — turned in a solid career bouncing between the mound and centerfield.

Ethan Phelps was a league all-star as a junior. / Photo by: Sue Moss

“He grew a lot,” Cronin said of Phelps. “Our seniors are the guys who hit above .300 and he was one of them.”

Phelps said he felt the culture shift when Cronin took the helm.

“It’s a great program, a lot of history in the past few years,” Phelps said. “When Cronin started, he pretty much changed around the whole program.”

Cronin said his senior captains helped establish the baseball program as a team that’s serious about winning.

“They’re the leaders who talk the game and walk the game in school too, and now the kids in school look at the game differently,” Cronin said of his captains. “It’s manifested in who they are as people. So when they see Schwede or they see Cook or they see Phelps and they know they’re baseball players and they respect them, then they respect the game. I think we’re in a good place.”

Each captain said the biggest thing Cronin taught them was how to stay level headed.

“I think just being a leader,” Cook said. “I’ve always been a hot head growing up. I used to always be the kid crying on the field and throwing a tantrum, but coach and everyone else has always stayed on me and helped me be more composed and that’s definitely helped me a lot.”

Said Phelps: “He taught me to keep my temper at ease because a lot of the times it gets out of hands.”

Said Schwede: “Freshman year I was a little bit antsy, I didn’t really know how to control a lot of things, but I think over the last four years, he’s kind of really kept it pretty strong on me.”

Cronin said there’s really only one way to term these past four seasons. That’s exciting.

“They knew what I thought and knew what they thought and it made it a nice smooth ride,” said the skipper. “We had a lot of great wins here. They’ve helped a lot. I will miss them. It’s been great having them, and I’m going to miss the heck out of them.”

Plays like team spirit: Rian Schwede’s versatility, unselfishness shining for W-H

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Schwede against Duxbury. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Senior captain Rian Schwede has done anything asked of him, and is flourshing in that role.

The general consensus about Whitman-Hanson Regional High senior Rian Schwede is simply stated: He’s as unselfish a player as you can ask for.

His talent blends quite well with his unselfish manner, too, and it hasn’t been more evident than over the last two weeks.

Due to an unforeseen change at quarterback early in the season, the Panthers needed a boost under center, and Schwede, who was on the receiving end of 19 passes for 300 yards and two TDs last season, stepped right in and is now sharing snaps with junior John Zeidan.

Quarterback isn’t completely foreign to Schwede, as he played it throughout youth football, but it’s never easy to accept a position change, albeit a partial one.

“I always love my receiver spot, but it was like second nature when coach told me [to play quarterback],” Schwede said.

But Schwede, who stands at 6-foot-3, isn’t just playing quarterback. He has also been been split out wide and lined up in the backfield, along with starting in the defensive backfield and on special teams and flourishing while doing so.

Over the past two weeks, Schwede’s posted five touchdowns and a two-point conversion rush, while recording an interception.

On some occasions — as in two games ago against Quincy — Schwede will see action at receiver, running back, quarterback, defensive back and placeholder all within the span of a quarter.

Senior kicker Jake O’Brien’s said Schwede’s unselfish attitude is nothing new.

“Since youth football, Rian has played a ton of different positions,” O’Brien said. “He will do anything to help the team be more successful. Rian definitely embodies the unselfish attitude that every football player should strive to have.”

Against the Presidents — a 39-0 shutout victory — Schwede found himself on the receiving end of a 30-yard TD from Zeidan, tossed an 11-yard score to classmate Jacob Nixon and rushed for a 2-yard TD.

The offensive outburst came after the Panthers were held to two touchdowns or less their previous three games.

“Rian has always been one of the leaders, that’s why he’s one of our captains,” W-H football head coach Mike Driscoll said. “He’s doing what Rian does. He’ll do whatever we ask him to do.”

Against Silver Lake last week — a 29-6 victory on senior night – Schwede fired a 57-yard TD to Nixon on a fleaflicker to open the scoring just 16 seconds in. Then, in a 2:06-span in the fourth quarter, he converted a key two-point conversion run to put the Panthers up by two-plus scores, came down with an interception and tossed a 76-yard TD to classmate Ryan Downing.

“Rian’s stepped into that role and he’s flourishing in it,” Driscoll said. “We know he’s got a cannon, and Rian’s done a great job for us.”

Schwede said the biggest adjustment has been studying all of the pages of the Panthers playbook rather than a few.

“The practices, they’ve just been kind of getting to know the whole entire offense, all the runs,” he said. “I was pretty down with all the pass routes and plays, but a majority of the runs I’ve started to learn.”

It’s on to Plymouth North (4-2, 2-2) for Schwede and the Panthers for a key, in terms of potentially hosting a playoff game, Patriot League Keenan Division battle.

“We got to have a real good week of practice and preparation and that’ll be it,” Schwede said.