T-Bones’ pitcher makes his home at assisted living center during baseball season

by Mary Rupert

A lot of Kansas City T-Bones’ players live with host families. But one, pitcher Casey Barnes, lives at an assisted living center.

Barnes, who is scheduled to start today’s T-Bones’ baseball game at 11:05 a.m. at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan., said he likes living at The Piper assisted living, 2300 N. 113th Terrace.

“It’s been a blast so far this year,” Barnes said. “I love it.”

It’s Barnes’ third year of playing for the T-Bones, and at age 28 he is considered an older player. He has six years of experience playing professional baseball. When he asked the team to provide housing last year, he assumed it would be in an apartment as some of the other players last year.

Three weeks before the season started, T-Bones’ manager John Massarelli told Barnes he would get to live at an assisted living center.

“I thought, ‘What am I getting into here?’ My grandpa lives in assisted living home in Arizona,” Barnes said. “But it’s a blast. Everybody’s been awesome.”

He thinks the residents are really enjoying his stay there. He enjoys talking to the residents.

“I really treat them as I treat my grandpa,” Barnes said. “I love teasing my grandpa, he just teases me back.”

The same thing happens at The Piper, where residents enjoy a bit of verbal banter with him.

Coletta Hummel, director of community relations at The Piper, said it has been working out great.

“Casey is an amazing person, very friendly, outgoing, enjoys interacting with residents, he eats a lot of meals with residents here,” she said. “They like hearing about his life, his experiences, traveling and pitching.”

Baseball is a topic the residents all enjoy, and they are excited to hear about it, she said. On June 11, the residents plan a field trip to the T-Bones game.

Barnes has talked to the residents about his life and family, and his sister, who is a veteran, Hummel said.

“They asked about his girlfriend, with the ladies making him show pictures of her,” she added.

Barnes lives in one of the 120 apartments at The Piper, which is divided into six households, with 20 apartments each, she said. Each household has a kitchen and dining room where residents may prepare their own food.

She said the idea for a T-Bones player to live at The Piper came from Adam Ehlert, T-Bones’ owner, when The Piper was trying to connect with people in the community. In November, he suggested The Piper be a host family.

“Our CEO thought it would be a great idea, a great way for residents to connect with people in the community and have some interesting energy in the community,” Hummel said.

Barnes does not have plans for a career in working with the elderly. Currently, in the off-season he is a substitute teacher in Arizona, he said.

His bachelor’s degree from Kansas Wesleyan in Salina is in computer science.

“A couple years ago I had a job working as a software test engineer in the Arizona area,” Barnes said. “I loved it. It is really hard to find a job (in the field) right now because of what I do.”

It’s his schedule as a baseball player that makes potential employers pause, when he tells them he needs six months off during the year, he said.

So he went to work as a substitute teacher in kindergarten through fifth grade in Arizona, and he enjoys that work. “Eventually I’ll use my tech degree,” Barnes said.

Barnes, 1-2 on the year, was the T-Bones’ home opener pitcher May 19, with a 9-4 win on a cool and rainy day.

While he said he has not been pitching the way he wants, he only had one bad start last week. He had come down with a cold and that didn’t help, he added. He feels that for the first two or three games, he pitched well, keeping the team in the game.

“I’m off to an OK start; I’d like to be better,” he added.

While he still had a little cold on Tuesday, he is not feeling as bad as the last time he started, he added.

“I’m hoping to come out of it and get the T-Bones on the right track,” Barnes said.

Wingnuts come back to win, 7-6, over T-Bones

An eighth-inning rally by the Wichita Wingnuts allowed them to complete their second comeback victory in as many nights against the Kansas City T-Bones, as Wichita won, 7-6, Tuesday night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan.

Kansas City starting pitcher Jordan Cooper gave up four runs and struck out three batters in six innings, before reliever Josh Tols came in during the seventh inning with Kansas City leading 6-4.

Tols gave up a leadoff walk to Martin Medina before allowing a single from Dustin Geiger. After walking the bases loaded, Tols gave up a single to Harrison Kain, which allowed Medina to score and cut Kansas City’s lead to one. Leo Vargas then knocked in Geiger with a base hit, tying the game at 6-6.

Things started off the same for Kansas City in the top of the ninth, when reliever Evan DeLuca (0-1), walked the leadoff batter, Zack Cox, who eventually advanced to third on consecutive wild pitches. That allowed Brent Clevlen to knock in Cox with a sacrifice fly, giving Wichita the decisive 7-6 lead.

Kansas City jumped out to a quick lead, sending nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the first and coming away with three runs. Wichita, however, scored three of its own with two outs in the top of the second.

The T-Bones retook the lead in the third. After Jake Blackwood walked and Steve Swingle singled, Brett Wiley brought in Blackwood with a groundout to second, and Starlin Rodriguez knocked in Swingle. Kansas City went up 6-4 in the fourth on a leadoff home run by Tyler Massey.

Monday night, Wichita tied the game with four runs in the ninth inning before winning, 7-5, in 14 innings.

The T-Bones (8-12) will face Wichita (8-11) Wednesday morning at 11:05 for the final game of the series. Tickets are available by calling the Providence Medical Center Box Office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618.

– Story from Matt Fulks, T-Bones

Dry, hot, muggy weather ahead

Dry weather is expected to continue into the weekend for much of the area, the National Weather Service said.

The exception will be a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms across north-central Missouri overnight tonight, according to the weather service.

Temperatures will climb into the low to mid 90s Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, according to the weather service.

Increased humidity across the region combined with the hot temperatures will create muggy conditions with heat indices reaching the mid to upper 90s, the weather service said.

Today’s high may be near 87, with mostly sunny skies and a south southeast wind of 6 to 9 mph, the weather service said. Tonight, the low will be around 69.

Thursday, expect a high of 91 with sunny skies and a south southwest wind of 8 to 16 mph, gusting as high as 23 mph, according to the weather service. Thursday night, the low will be 71.

Friday’s forecast is sunny and a high of 92, according to the weather service. A south southwest wind of 10 to 14 mph will gust up to 20 mph. Friday night’s low will be 72.

Saturday’s high will be near 92, the weather service said, with sunny skies. Saturday night, the low will be 73.