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Accident doesn't shake friendship of Seminole teammates

 
Last year, current Seminole High baseball player Andrew Mills, right, was accidentally shot in the abdomen by Matthew Emerick, left, who was showing Mills a .22-caliber rifle. Mills has recovered and is back playing on the varsity team with his friend. [JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times]
Last year, current Seminole High baseball player Andrew Mills, right, was accidentally shot in the abdomen by Matthew Emerick, left, who was showing Mills a .22-caliber rifle. Mills has recovered and is back playing on the varsity team with his friend. [JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times]
Published March 4, 2015

SEMINOLE — Andrew Mills and Matthew Emerick met on a baseball field. They were teammates on a developmental squad at Seminole High School. Mills was a freshman, Emerick a sophomore.

But it was an incident off the field that will forever link the two.

After a Sunday practice March 2, 2014, while hanging out in Emerick's bedroom, Emerick was showing off his father's .22-caliber rifle and accidentally shot Mills. The bullet entered Mills' abdomen and lodged in the right side of his back, near his spine.

"If it had gone a centimeter in any other direction it probably would've hit one of my main organs," he said. "I was really lucky that it missed everything. The bullet is a little too close to my spine, but it didn't hit anything."

A year later, Mills, 15, has returned to the game as a sophomore pitcher/first baseman for the Warhawks' varsity squad. And right there with him on the field is his teammate and friend.

"It was an accident," Mills said. "I'm not going to hate him for it."

• • •

Mills had never been around guns much. Emerick was sure the gun in his hand wasn't loaded.

A few seconds later, he knew differently.

"I checked, too. As far as I knew it wasn't loaded," Emerick said. "It was a surprise. All I heard was him scream. I didn't even hear the gun go off, to be honest."

Emerick thought the bullet may have been stopped by Mills' belt. It quickly became apparent that was not the case.

"I was just walking around scared," Mills said. "My leg went numb at first so I thought it was in my leg. Then I looked down and saw it was in my stomach."

Added Emerick: "I didn't think it was as bad as it was. Then I pulled up his shirt."

Police and an ambulance arrived within minutes of a call to 911. Mills was taken by helicopter to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, while Emerick was questioned at the scene. It was ruled an accidental shooting and Emerick was not charged.

Jim Mills was umpiring his second youth league game of the day at Davis Field in Pinellas Park when his phone started to vibrate. Not wanting to stop the game, he put the phone on a cooler in the dugout. The vibrating persisted.

"It was about the fifth inning of the second game and I didn't want to answer it during the game," he said. "But it kept buzzing. I finally answered it between innings and my wife was on the other end crying. She told me Andrew had been shot."

While driving to Bayfront, Jim Mills got another call. This time it was a nurse telling him that his adopted son's injuries were not life threatening, and he was able to speak to his son before he went in to surgery.

Doctors determined that removing the bullet might cause more damage. After a little more than two weeks, Mills was released from the hospital. But he'll have a permanent reminder of his close call.

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• • •

Mills, who played sparingly with the varsity team as a freshman relief pitcher, was told to stay away from baseball for three months after the accident. But he admits that he started throwing lightly after just a month and a half. He played some summer baseball and also threw out the first pitch of the June 19 Rays game, where he hung out with David Price.

This season, he has started as a first baseman and played one game in the outfield. A bout with tendinitis in his left biceps kept him from pitching until recently. He has thrown two innings and struck out three. As a left-handed power pitcher, he is sure to make an impact for the next two-plus seasons.

"He's a very good athlete who is going to be a big factor for us," Seminole coach Jeff Pincus said. "He tried to come back a little earlier than he should, but based on the inning he pitched on Friday (against Fort Pierce Lincoln Park), he appears to be ready. It's very good to have him back."

No one is happier to have Mills back in a Seminole uniform than Emerick.

"I'm relieved," Emerick said. "It was kind of a weight off my chest. I wanted him to get back and be as good as he was before. Better. I'm glad to be here and work with him.

"I felt horrible. I still feel horrible."

Emerick, now 17, said he took a gun safety course and will be much more careful when handling guns in the future. And the rifle is still in his house.

"Matt is a good kid. It's just an accident," Jim Mills said. "There's no reason for us to hold anything against him or his family."

And Mills is just grateful to be back on a baseball field.

"Sometimes when I'm having a bad day I think about how it's possible that I couldn't even be out here," he said.

Contact Rodney Page at rpage@tampabay.com. Follow @RodneyHomeTeam.