Two-Sport Star To Help Leukemia Patient
VILLANOVA, Pa.- Right fielder Matt Szczur was not available to play during the Villanova baseball three-game series against Georgetown last weekend at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth. Szczur has begun taking medication in preparation for a bone marrow donation in the near future.
Szczur is a two-sport star in football and baseball for the Wildcats. He was selected as a match for a patient with leukemia last November and is currently prepared to donate his bone marrow in the near future.
On the baseball diamond this spring, Szczur (click link to listen to a podcast interview with Szczur) is batting a team-best .435 in 36 games. He has been the team’s best all-around offensive player and leads Villanova in on-base percentage (.483), slugging percentage (.634), doubles (11), triples (6) and home runs (3). He hit for the cycle last week in Villanova’s 17-10 win over Temple.
This past fall, Szczur helped lead the football team to its first-ever national championship, as the Wildcats defeated
Montana by a score of 23-21 in the title game of the Division I Football Championship. Szczur ran for a career-high 159 yards against Montana and was named the MVP of the championship game for his performance.
Szczur is a match for a 19-month old girl with leukemia. There are 20 million people worldwide who are registered as potential marrow donors. Still, there are only about 250 matches found each year, making it a 1-in-80,000 chance that a registered donor will be a match. For more information on the National Marrow Donor Program, please visit www.marrow.org.
(Courtesey Villanova sports information.)