Against Dayton in the third inning on April 10, senior Logan Bear stole second base and then attempted to take third on an overthrow. He made a head first slide into third base. Bear fell on his arm, popping his right shoulder out of its socket.

“I was stealing second, and then they threw the ball into center field, so I ran to third and I tried to dive,” Bear said.

While Bear has set the school’s single season stolen base record with 27 this year, that last slide cost him. Bear was on the field for a couple minutes while coaches and trainers evaluated him.

A study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information determined that of athletes from the high school to collegiate ages, only 7.1% of shoulder dislocations are due to playing baseball. Unfortunately for the baseball team this year, Bear became a part of that statistic.

Watching Bear in pain on the field was hard for his teammates to see.

“You could just see it on his face,” teammate Landon Coburn said. “And, he’s a pretty tough person. He doesn’t really show a whole lot of emotions, and you can just tell if something is wrong.”

After unsuccessful attempts to pop his shoulder back in, Bear went to the Kingwood Memorial Hermann Emergency Center to receive care. 

Even though he was put on pain medication, the pain from his dislocated shoulder made him uncomfortable. Coburn, Bear’s best friend, went to visit him after the game. 

“Well, me and Logan, we’ve been best friends since we were 4 years old,” Coburn said. “We grew up together. Our parents have always been really close. We’ve pretty much done everything together, so I felt like I needed to be there. I told him that we need him back, like, now. That we need him for (the) playoffs coming up.”

After being discharged from the hospital at 1 a.m., Bear still showed up for morning weightroom the next day. 

“Well, Coach said it was mandatory, and I wanted to see everyone,” Bear said. 

That level of dedication, however, is not out of the ordinary for the starting center fielder. 

“He did text me that he was going to be there, but he’s always been, like, the person to show up for that stuff,” Coburn said. 

Bear has had a standout senior season. During district play, he had a .579 batting average and .714 on base percentage. Over the course of the whole season, Bear was reliable as the leadoff hitter. He batted .374 with an on base percentage of .467. He had 34 hits and scored 31 runs.

“Logan is the prototypical athlete you want at any position, at any sport you coach,” assistant coach Brad Kiser said. “He works his tail off in practice. He leads by example. He leads verbally. He’s just a great kid.

“He’s always trying to improve his game, to find the nuances so that he can continue to play beyond high school and continue to play at the best he can in high school.”

Bear has committed to Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., to play baseball. Bear said that not only have his Kingwood Park coaches been supportive since his injury, but so have his college coaches.

A year ago, the Panthers were gearing up for a postseason run that eventually landed them in the State Championship game against Grapevine. Bear played a key role in the team’s second place finish last year, and Bear only built upon it this year.

“He was a sneaky nine hole,” Kiser said. “Having his bat in the nine hole and being able to roll the lineup back up to the top was really deadly last year for us. Having him this year up at the top has been the same kind of thing going on.”

Just as Bear is having to adjust, so is the team. The Panthers enter their last regular series matchup tonight against Splendora with a 6-2 district record. 

“It’s when a guy goes down that is in that role as a captain, is your lead off, your center fielder, … I think [for] a lot of people, their energy falls,” Kiser said. “But it’s the next guy up mentality.”

Bear is not certain how long his recovery will take, but he still hopes to return before the playoffs end. Either way, the team will have Bear at every practice and game cheering them on as well as soaking up the positivity his teammates fill him with. 

“It’s very sad,” Bear said. “I’ve just tried to be around a lot of my friends and family to feel better.”