When the Chipola (Fla.) College baseball team desperately needed an out, coach Jeff Johnson knew there was only one guy to call.

On one day’s rest, Drew Parker came trotting out of the bullpen at Suplizio Field in front of a record crowd of 12,101 in the feature game on Memorial Day at the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series.

The nine-run lead the Indians had built on Spartanburg (S.C.) Methodist College had dwindled to 14-12.

The tying runs were on base and the Pioneers’ best power threat, Phillip Morgan, who sent a drive 340 feet over the right-field fence two days earlier to spark a comeback against Shelton (Ala.) State Community College, stepped into the batter’s box with two out in the bottom of the ninth.

Morgan took a vicious cut, but couldn’t catch up to Parker’s 90-mph fastball for strike two. The bat never left Morgan’s shoulder as Parker buzzed a 92-mph fastball by him on the outside corner for the save, moving Chipola within two victories of a national title.

This after Parker topped out at 88 mph in 72⁄3 innings of work Saturday, when he earned the victory over Iowa Western Community College in Chipola’s World Series debut.

If that wasn’t enough, Parker came in from the bullpen Wednesday in the eighth inning with Chipola hanging onto a lead over San Jacinto (Texas) College-North and picked up the save in a 7-6 victory.

“Drew’s just a fighter,” Johnson said. “Drew said to me in the eighth, ‘I’ll finish it for you, Coach.’

“With all the people here, the game on the line, he likes the moment. He’s got a big heart in him.”

It should have been one of the happiest moments of the 19-year-old Canadian’s life.

But that big heart is a tortured one these days.

When Parker finishes his warm-up pitches, he always goes to the back of the mound and prays.

He prays for inspiration.

He prays for hope.

He prays for the ones he’s lost and his loved one who is in a fight for her life.

On April 12, Parker shut out Panhandle Conference rival Oskaloosa-Walton 8-0 and walked into Johnson’s office to make a routine phone call back home to Surrey, British Columbia.

There was nothing routine about this call, though.

“My dad (John) told me doctors told my mom (Cindy) she only had a few months to live and started bursting into (tears),” Parker said.

“I started crying, too. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer four or five years ago and has been fighting it ever since.

“Coach J lost his brother to cancer, too. We talked about it for a while. It’s always on my mind ever since that day. I call my mom a lot and she tells me she is with me every day.”

Parker says about the only time he doesn’t think about his mother’s fight is when he’s pitching.

He clears his mind every time he pitches when he goes behind the mound and prays.

“I lost two guys I was pretty close to and two guys I just kind of knew to a car accident when I was in 9th and 10th grade at high school,” he said.

“Two years ago, I lost a baseball buddy when he was killed by a drunk driver.

“When I go behind the mound, I pray for them and I pray for her (mom). I know those guys are watching me and I pray that my mom is OK.”

It’s made all the successes Parker has experienced on the diamond bittersweet.

Two consecutive seasons he made the cut for Team British Columbia to compete in club championships against the rest of the Canadian provinces.

He also traveled to tryouts in Florida, the Dominican Republic, Atlanta and Cuba to make two Team Canada teams.

When an opportunity to play at New Mexico Junior College fell through, Parker was referred to Chipola by Baltimore Orioles starter Adam Loewen, a friend of Parker’s from Team Canada who graduated from the school in Marianna, Fla.

As Parker emerged as the Indians’ ace, going 6-2 with a 2.58 ERA in 731⁄3 innings to help the team win state, regional and district titles, the experience has remained a little hollow because his mother’s state has deteriorated so much she can’t travel.

“My parents came down (in February) when we hosted a tournament,” he said.

“She has to go in for (treatment) every day, so she won’t be able to come (to Grand Junction).

“They listen to every game on the Internet. It helps me to know they are listening. They are always with me.”

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Joe Spencer can be reached via e-mail at jspencer@gjds.com.