The Town Ball state tournament is a celebration, a competition bringing dozens of communities together. But as Air Freight Unlimited from St. Paul was getting ready for their first game, that all changed.

"All of a sudden, one of our players comes running around the corner, being like 'Kolar, Kolar! Hardy just collapsed!' And I was just like 'what the heck are you talking about'," remembered Air Freight manager Tom Kolar.

Jake Hardy, an assistant coach for Air Freight had collapsed while entering the field. The first responders in Brownton were quickly on the scene. 

Ultimately, Hardy was airlifted to HCMC, still unconscious. He wouldn't wake up for more than a day. Kolar has been best friends with Hardy since high school.

"It was really difficult to see and not know what was gonna happen," he said.

The game was postponed. They decided to play the next day. Hardy would have wanted them to.

"I was holding back tears for sure, running out there," said Kolar. "I was just thinking, let's go win one for Jake."

They did. But first, another delay. From mother nature. With it, came the news the whole team craved.

"It was during the rain delay that we found out the Jake had woken up for the first time," said assistant coach Dustin Wilhelmy. "It was really exhilarating. You don't know what you're gonna hear, what the news is gonna be. We'd been praying for the best and so far, we're checking all the best boxes we can."

Hardy is now on the mend. Doctors still don't know what caused all this. For now, his team is still winning, having reached the quarterfinals of the tournament with Hardy on their mind and "JH" written on their caps.

"In baseball, you got to have some things go your way," said Kolar. "So, hopefully the stars align like they did a couple weeks on a Saturday ago and we can cap off the season with a nice little title."