It doesn't happen all that often, but sometimes you find a little magic inside the white lines of a baseball field.
There was a magical moment on Saturday night at Prasco Park.
It was a 24-3 game in the top of the ninth inning. Xavier was wearing out the lights on the scoreboard against Creighton with the greatest offensive performance in Big East Conference Tournament history.
The inning started with a walk from Jackson Kaplowitz. Alex Helmin followed with a single.
Then head coach Billy O'Conner called for a pinch hitter.
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As Eddie Rivero walked to the plate, a loud cheer erupted behind him from Xavier's dugout and its fan base.
Rivero's a senior from Riverside, California. He met O'Conner through a mutual connection.
'It's important that you have character within your program'
"The first time that we talked was on the phone," said O'Conner. "I do this enough that right away, you usually have a pretty good feeling of the connection that you have with a kid and the kind of person that they are."
After that conversation, O'Conner knew that Rivero was well-spoken, appreciative and nice.
"When you're putting together a roster and building a program, stuff like that matters," said O'Conner. "It's important that you have character within your program.
"Sometimes it's easier to assess the measurables, the tangible stuff – how fast they are, how hard they throw, how hard they hit the baseball – but it's not as easy to assess that character until they're really in-house and you spend day-to-day with them. But with Eddie, it was pretty apparent early on that he was the kind of person we wanted in our program."
Then Rivero took a visit to Xavier.
"What really sealed the deal was when I came out here, the fire and passion that I saw in (O'Conner) immediately. I knew it was something special then and I still believe it's something special now," said Rivero.
In baseball, a lot of things are beyond a player's control. Rivero never focused on that. He worried about being a good teammate and doing whatever he could to help his team.
'Eddie's the best teammate that anybody's ever had'
"Eddie's the best teammate that anybody's ever had," said O'Conner. "He's had limited playing time in four years, but he's a guy that grinds, he's a guy that works.
"I've never coached anybody that's truly been as happy for other people's success as he is."
Rivero didn't play at all in his freshman season at Xavier. He played in 10 games as a sophomore, nine as a junior, and 27 this season as a senior.
"Not playing the most never really bothered me," said Rivero. "I felt like I could bring value any way possible whether that was being able to tip pitches from the other team, help out my hitters, see what I see with their swings, talk to them about approach.
"There's so much value you can bring outside of these lines. And that's what I really tried to buy in and do."
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'The world needs more people like him'
Rivero had 100 career at-bats coming into the Big East Tournament.
Saturday night was his 101st and he felt something special as he walked to the plate.
"Divine intervention. God looking out for me," said Rivero. "Whatever you want to call it. There was something special that happened when I was walking up and I heard my team behind me, I took a deep breath and I felt comfort in my heart knowing that I had people behind me that truly, truly loved me and that goes so much bigger than the game of baseball."
Rivero stepped into the batter's box and the first pitch he saw was a ball.
The second pitch was a knee-high fastball that drifted out over the plate and found the sweet spot of Rivero's bat.
It produced a sound that only comes when the ball and the bat meet perfectly, and as the ball jumped into the air, headed over the left-field wall deep into the Mason night, the roar that met Rivero as he jogged down the first-base line told the story of what he means to Xavier's team.
"It was the most emotion-filled event I've ever been a part of," he said. "When I rounded third and I saw all my boys losing their minds, they brought it of out me.
"I was weeping before I even hit home plate."
It was Rivero's second career home run in what may have been his final collegiate at-bat. His mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew were all in attendance to see it.
"It was their first time coming out here. It was special that they got to see that and share that with them," said Rivero.
Andrew Walker's a senior outfielder. He's one of Rivero's roommates.
"He is by far the most joyful human being I've ever met in my whole life," Walker said. "That moment (on Saturday night) was the coolest moment of my college career.
"He's just a ray of sunshine everywhere he goes. the world needs more people like him.
"Even though he's messy a little bit, he is an unbelievable human being, an unbelievable person. Look up joyful in the dictionary, it's Eddie Rivero."
Jack Housinger's also a senior and a roommate of Rivero's.
"Ed's a special, special person. He goes to work every day. He treats people the right way. He loves so passionately and he cares endlessly. We've joked about it my whole career here, nobody's ever been mad at Eddie Rivero," Housinger said. "And to see him in front of his family, who traveled across the country to see him play this weekend, to see him have a moment like that. Our reaction says it all. I couldn't be happier for him. What a way to end an incredible career. He didn't always play as much as he wanted, but my God, he had an incredible career. He inspires all of us. He inspires me on a daily basis."
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