{"id":563,"date":"2014-02-07T11:51:38","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T16:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/?p=563"},"modified":"2014-02-07T11:51:38","modified_gmt":"2014-02-07T16:51:38","slug":"protecting-home-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting home field"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h2>\n
\"Tyler<\/a>
After six tough years, the Duplantis family is back together at their Thibodaux home. The family includes, from left, Ryan, Mary, Kaley, Jacob, David and Tyler.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While his mom awaited a heart transplant, Tyler Duplantis found relief on the Nicholls baseball diamond<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

April 7, 2013. Nothing was going right. The Nicholls baseball team, already off to a disappointing 1-7 start in Southland Conference play, now trailed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth.<\/p>\n

With two outs and runners at the corners, junior first baseman Tyler Duplantis made his way to the plate. Hitless on the day, Tyler had a chance to be the game hero. With a 2-2 count, he was quickly down to his final swing of the bat. The game rested on the Thibodaux native\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n

For Tyler, though, this wasn\u2019t pressure \u2014 it was the perfect escape. Pressure was patiently waiting for him at home. Baseball was his relief.<\/p>\n

In March 2007, Tyler\u2019s mother, Mary, was diagnosed with an arrhythmia and cardiomyopathy. Simply put, her heart no longer worked the way it should, and the prognosis wasn\u2019t good. Shortly thereafter, the Duplantis family sat down and made a pact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided right then that no matter what would happen with mom, we were going to keep our day-to-day lives normal,\u201d Tyler says. \u201cFor me, there would be no carry-over from family life to baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Easier said than done. The next six years would test every fiber of the Duplantis family\u2019s mental toughness and faith as Mary endured a series of medical procedures \u2014 some more effective than others \u2014 and a long-term hospital stay in Houston. Through it all, Tyler poured his fears and frustrations into baseball.<\/p>\n

A graduate of E.D. White High School, Tyler joined the Nicholls baseball program in 2009, but he didn\u2019t stay long. \u201cHe walked on as a freshman and didn\u2019t have a great fall,\u201d recalls then-assistant and current Nicholls head coach Seth Thibodeaux.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted to play and realized there wouldn\u2019t be much opportunity here, so he headed to Loyola and had two really good years. But I think he always wanted to return to Nicholls and prove he could play here. We got him back in fall 2011, and he was on a mission. He put on muscle and was in the cages every day. It was one of the best redshirt years I\u2019ve ever seen. He studied film \u2014 something I\u2019ve never seen a redshirt do. That\u2019s who Tyler is, though. He gets the most out of himself every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The source of Tyler\u2019s drive was both simple and noble: Every night he just wanted to relay some happy news to his mother, who was patiently waiting for a heart transplant.<\/p>\n

\"Tyler<\/a>
After undergoing heart transplant surgery in March 2013, Mary returned home and watched her son Tyler finish his best season with the Colonels.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFor me to say that all this hasn\u2019t been hard wouldn\u2019t be right, but in those early years, I learned how to flip the switch,\u201d Tyler says. \u201cThere was nothing I could do to help my mom\u2019s health, but I could do my best in everything else. How could I give anything less while she was fighting so hard? So, I knew that for me to do well and have a good story to tell her at the end of the day would make her happy. That was my way of providing for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staying true to his family\u2019s wishes, Tyler kept his mother\u2019s personal struggles to himself while quietly taking on additional home responsibilities. His dad, David, drove back and forth from Thibodaux to Houston, where Mary waited on a new heart with their youngest child, Jacob, now 12. Rather than move into an apartment with his teammates, Tyler stayed at home to help look out for his younger brother, Ryan, now 18, and help his sister, Kaley, now 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat young man has never been a complainer,\u201d Thibodeaux says. \u201cHe helped raise his siblings, he\u2019s carrying a 3.2 GPA in marketing and he\u2019s been successful on the field. You never would have known that something was wrong. We, as a team, handled it well because of how he handled it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyler fed off of his teammates\u2019 energy. \u201cI don\u2019t think they realized how much I relied on them,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re just a positive group of guys to be around. The field was my getaway. For three to five hours out of the day, there was nothing that could go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyler worked his way into the starting lineup during the 2012\u201313 season and was off to a solid start when he got a long-awaited call in late February.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hospital called my mom and said there\u2019s a small chance she might get a heart transplant. Right before practice, I was told to pack my stuff because they were pretty sure this was happening. My team and I gathered for a quick prayer, and I was gone. It was pure excitement but with a little anxiety. It\u2019s never a given that it\u2019s going to work. She had some early signs of rejection, but everything\u2019s been good so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary\u2019s new heart started beating March 1. The very next day, Tyler was back with his team on the field, picking up right where he left off. In his best season yet, he led the Colonels in batting average, on-base percentage and fielding percentage. Seemingly, neither Tyler nor Mary skipped a beat.<\/p>\n

Mary even made it to a few late-season games, and she and Jacob have moved back into their Thibodaux family home.<\/p>\n

As for that early April nail-biter, Tyler struck out. He went down swinging, but in the grand scheme of things, did it even matter?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re dealing with a heart transplant, everything else seems minor,\u201d Mary says. \u201cYou need to put it in perspective and think of how this small trial can improve who you are.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Written by Mike Wagenheim, assistant athletics director for communications<\/em><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in the fall 2013 issue of Voila! magazine. Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to read the entire issue.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While his mom awaited a heart transplant, Tyler Duplantis found relief on the Nicholls baseball diamond April 7, 2013. Nothing was going right. The Nicholls baseball team, already off to a disappointing 1-7 start in Southland Conference play, now trailed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs and runners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nProtecting home field - The Colonel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protecting home field - The Colonel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While his mom awaited a heart transplant, Tyler Duplantis found relief on the Nicholls baseball diamond April 7, 2013. Nothing was going right. The Nicholls baseball team, already off to a disappointing 1-7 start in Southland Conference play, now trailed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs and runners […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Colonel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-07T16:51:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicholls State\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nicholls State\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nicholls State\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3\"},\"headline\":\"Protecting home field\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-07T16:51:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1044,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/\",\"name\":\"Protecting home field - The Colonel\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-07T16:51:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/07\\\/protecting-home-field\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Uncategorized\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/category\\\/uncategorized\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Protecting home field\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Colonel\",\"description\":\"The Official Magazine of Nicholls State University.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3\",\"name\":\"Nicholls State\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nicholls State\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nicholls.edu\\\/magazine\\\/author\\\/webmanager\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Protecting home field - The Colonel","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Protecting home field - The Colonel","og_description":"While his mom awaited a heart transplant, Tyler Duplantis found relief on the Nicholls baseball diamond April 7, 2013. Nothing was going right. The Nicholls baseball team, already off to a disappointing 1-7 start in Southland Conference play, now trailed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs and runners […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/","og_site_name":"The Colonel","article_published_time":"2014-02-07T16:51:38+00:00","author":"Nicholls State","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nicholls State","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/"},"author":{"name":"Nicholls State","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3"},"headline":"Protecting home field","datePublished":"2014-02-07T16:51:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/"},"wordCount":1044,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/","url":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/","name":"Protecting home field - The Colonel","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2014-02-07T16:51:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/2014\/02\/07\/protecting-home-field\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Uncategorized","item":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/category\/uncategorized\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Protecting home field"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/","name":"The Colonel","description":"The Official Magazine of Nicholls State University.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/073e094613b8d622621e55e100baecd3","name":"Nicholls State","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3328047cdfb3020290ce068d6fb7721f49d0439b10d4d4484fd91e22681411a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nicholls State"},"url":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/author\/webmanager\/"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"The Colonel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicholls.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}