Cameron Mathes: From childhood obstacle to pitching at Villanova
VILLANOVA, Pa. (BVM) — Villanova senior pitcher Cameron Mathes has been playing baseball before he can even remember. His dad gave him a wiffle ball and bat and took him into the backyard at the age of 1 and taught him how to swing. Although he has been able to make it through his time at Villanova relatively injury free — aside from a sore pitching arm here and there — there was a main obstacle that he had to overcome which reminds him to give back to his community.
Mathes was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of 3. He was treated at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and underwent chemotherapy treatments. He experienced liver failure and had pneumonia which left him in the hospital for a month.
“I had a lot of treatment,” Mathes said, “It is just a blessing to be alive everyday and play with my friends especially at a college level. It puts it in perspective.”
He does not remember much of his treatment but the stories that his family provides gives him an idea of what he has overcome. That being said, he sees it as something from his childhood that does not define him now.
“I definitely see it as more in the past,” Mathes said. “I’ve heard stories from my family and I know how hard it is. But luckily for kids now, treatments are getting better.”
This past year, with seven games in the abbreviated season, Mathes tied for the team lead in appearances and also had the most career appearances of any returning pitcher for Villanova. He gave up only five hits and eight runs in 2020. Against Maine, he pitched three perfect innings and had four strikeouts. In their only home game of the season against NJIT, he pitched two scoreless innings to help secure a victory for the Wildcats.
In his four years at Nova, he has made 49 career appearances and all but three of them have been as a reliever. He has three career saves and a 5.32 ERA. Out of the 334 batters that he has faced he has allowed just three home runs.
Mathes has been involved in Alex’s Lemonade Stand which was founded by another CHOP pediatric cancer patient who received treatment at the same time as him. The foundation has raised over 200 million dollars to go towards childhood cancer research. Mathes has helped out with events and spoken at some of their “Kick it to Cancer” events as well.
This season, Mathes is just looking forward to doing what he signed up to do with the Wildcats by being back on the field with his teammates.
“I am honestly most excited to get back to having some normalcy and getting a feeling of normal by being on the field with my teammates — even if it is in a socially distanced way,” he said.
