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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, May 22, 2008 One very fortunate Husky Aaron Russell is back playing baseball for Washington after taking an 86-mph fastball to the face. By John Sleeper Herald Columnist SEATTLE -- Before all this happened, University of Washington baseball coaches got all over Aaron Russell for not taking one for the team. They won't anymore. Not after May 3, when an 86 mph fastball from USC pitcher Brad Boxberger slammed into the bill of Russell's batting helmet and ricocheted onto his nose. The damage: Russell's nose was broken in five, yes, FIVE places. He had cuts above and below his left eye. The left side of his face swelled grotesquely. Oh, and the ball cracked his batting helmet and turned it into cat litter. "I thought his eye was cut because there was a lot of blood and it went up into his eye socket," UW head coach Ken Knutson said. "I've seen a couple guys get hit pretty bad. It looked terrible." It could have been worse. The ball had a smear of eye black on it, meaning it also at least brushed the area immediately beneath Russell's left eye. Yet, he had no injury to his orbital bone. Today, Russell's face is remarkably unmarked, although he has a deviated septum that will require surgery in August. "My breathing isn't very good through my nose," said Russell, a sophomore who has started at first base, third base and left field. "The doctor said I was really fortunate that I didn't break anything in my eye socket or my jaw. I could have lost vision. My career could have been done." With some help, Russell made it back to the locker room. He knew he must have gotten hit in the head, but he didn't realize the extent of his injuries. He did remember one thing, though. As the coaching staff came by to check on him, Russell said, "I wore that one for you guys." Zing! For about a week, Russell had a beaut of a black eye and the left side of his nose ballooned. For three days, Russell's nose bled on and off. The pain was at its worse in the first hour after the hit. Painkillers did their magic and left him feeling, as he said, "all right." "It's still tender to the touch and moving it left to right," Russell said. "It hurts to blow my nose. And anytime it gets caught on a sweatshirt, I can feel it. "Two days after, when I came back for practice, we were playing catch, the ball kicked right off my glove and caught me in the nose again. I had a tough week." So Russell's out for the year, right? Wrong. He missed just the next two games. Since the incident, he's 6-for-25 in seven games -- not up to his season's average of .360, but he still believes he's back to where he was. "He probably should be a boxer," Knutson said. "He's got a pretty good melon." Initially, Russell was offered a softball helmet that included a mask, but he found it uncomfortable. A nasal specialist he saw, though, told him that if he got hit similarly again, it would break again, but that he couldn't actually do anything more to hurt it any more than he already had. So now, he wears the same type of batting helmet he always did. In his first days back, Russell understandably bailed a bit on pitches up and in. Early, he admits he had fear in the back of his mind. And fear has no place in the batter's box. "It's something you have to forget as quickly as possible," Russell said. He said he sleeps fine, although his roommates say he snores more than he did. Once in a while, he still wakes up with a bloody nose. His coaches say they never noticed any hesitation or any fear from Russell at the plate, but Russell could feel some times initially when he wouldn't lean into a pitch and use his full power. "It's a very unlikely thing to get hit in the face," Russell said. "I kind of go off of that, that it happens once and if it happens again, it's bad luck." And a lot of pain. And a lot of blood. And maybe surgery. Yucko! Columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. To reach Sleeper's blog, "Dangling Participles," click on www.heraldnet.com/danglingparticiples.

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