Magic Carpet Ride

Willie Nelson sang it.

For the past month, Brian Justice and his family have lived it.

Justice, of course, is a 1985 Collegiate graduate and a long-time coach and Upper School history and religion teacher at his alma mater.

He and his wife Michaelle are the parents of Evan, a 2017 Collegiate alumnus who’s now a senior at N.C. State and a relief pitcher par excellence for the Wolfpack baseball team that’s playing in the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.

Evan has proven to be the quintessence of a closer. In the Super Regionals, he shut down nationally top ranked Arkansas on consecutive nights in the Razorbacks’ home stadium in Fayetteville to earn a save and a win and propel the Pack to baseball’s biggest stage.

The following week, he picked up saves in victories over Stanford and defending national champion Vanderbilt before capacity crowds and, as in the Super Regionals, before a national television audience.

In the Pack’s last four games, three of which were nail biters, the 6-4, 205-pound lefthander with a mid-90’s fastball and wicked slider pitched nine innings, struck out 12, and allowed only four hits, one walk, and no earned runs.

Throughout the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Charlotte, the regionals in Ruston, LA, then Fayetteville and Omaha, the Justices (including daughter Meagan, Collegiate class of ’14) were in attendance.

How’d they get to each port of call on their odyssey?

They drove round trip from Richmond each week, and when they pull back into their driveway – their hope is late next week after State claims the NCAA title – they will have put in the neighborhood of 9,000 miles on their 2019 Nissan Murano, all since the last weekend in May.

“Everybody asks us about the driving, but, honestly, it’s been really pleasant,” Brian said. “We’ve taken our time. We drive and look around and listen to music and podcasts. We’ve seen a lot of the country. The driving has been part of the joy of the experience. I just get behind the wheel, get in a zone, and we roll.”

Evan’s baseball journey began in the Tuckahoe Little League when he was nine years old. He played travel ball for the River City Rapids and River City Rebels as well as in the Rockit Sports program. A four-year varsity performer at Collegiate, he played a key role in the Cougars’ 2016 VISAA championship season and as a senior was the Prep League, VISAA, and Richmond Times-Dispatch player of the year. He also played football through the JV level and evolved into a well respected competitor and leader on the basketball court.

Brian and Michaelle saw most of Evan’s high school and youth league and high school games both home and away, but the real traveling began when he matriculated at State.

“N.C. State baseball has been like a magic carpet ride for us because it’s taken us all over the country,” Brian said. “We committed right away to support him and participate as fully as we could, so since his freshman year, we’ve followed the team consistently and passionately.”

That means trips to Raleigh for every weekend home series and to venues such as Miami, Durham, Chapel Hill, Winston-Salem, and Charlottesville when the Pack is on the road. In the summer of ’19 when Evan played in the top-tier Cape Cod League, Brian and Michaelle traveled north for a week in both June and August and followed his team (Cotuit Kettleers) from town to town.

Nothing, though, can top this latest series of adventures.

“We wanted to make this a life experience with baseball as the most significant part because of Evan’s participation,” Brian said. “We’ve driven through cities and states we’ve never been to before, eaten the local fare, and enjoyed the tastes and smells of the local places. 

“Our travels have shown us that there’s so much beautiful rural land across America. For example, we drove on Rt. 20 East across Southern Missouri. Rock formations coming out of the ground. Mountains. Streams. Rolling farmland. Who knew Southern Missouri was absolutely gorgeous? Not me. I’d never been there.”

Omaha hosts the CWS each year, and the community takes great pride in welcoming and accommodating teams and fans. It’s as much a “happening” as it is a series of games.

“Unbelievable environment,” Brian said. “You have eight teams and eight different fan bases. You have people from all over the country plus a wide cross-section of baseball fans and bucket list people who want to be here.”

How do Mom and Dad handle the pressure when Evan, despite the stakes, appears so stoic, focused, and unflappable amidst it?

“For me and Michaelle, it’s nerve-wracking,” Brian said, “but I think we’re more nervous and anxious before he comes in than when he’s in the game.”

Why is that? I ask.

“Early in the game, we’re wondering what’s going to happen,” Brian replied. “Once he’s in – it sounds cliché – but it is what it is. He’s prepared. He’ll do his best. He’ll carry himself with poise and confidence and dignity and sportsmanship. He’s going to compete, but at this level, every batter is capable of hitting it out of the park, so whatever is going to happen will happen. We just cheer him on as he does the best he can. It’s a moment filled with pride and joy seeing your son realize a dream.”

A dream, yes, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“Of the millions of kids who play baseball, how many get to pitch in the College World Series?” Brian said. “This is stuff you can’t ever take away. You can’t rewrite. You can’t erase. We want to support Evan. We want to support his teammates and coaches whom we love like our own family. We wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
   ~Weldon Bradshaw