Making his way to the mound

FORT WAYNE (WANE) - Scott and Tyler Carpenter drove all the way from Florida to see Keyvious Sampson throw out the first pitch at Thursday night’s TinCaps game. They had good reason. They’re his family.

But they weren’t always family. They started out as a team. Tyler played on the same baseball team and Scott coached. But Sampson got into some trouble when he was a teen. Scott promised Sampson’s mom he would help her son, and it turned out to be one of the last promises he ever made to her.

“Little did we know that his mother would pass away within a few months,” explained Scott Carpenter.

So Carpenter went to the courthouse and became Sampson’s legal guardian. They’ve been family ever since.

Carpenter said he can’t describe how proud he was to be in Fort Wayne with his two sons Thursday night.

“Very surreal. I'm getting to come up here to spend time with my son, to watch the other son,” he said. “How many people get the chance to say they've done that and watch him live out his dream?”

The 20-year-old pitcher will now call Fort Wayne home, for the time being, but his dad and brother know he’ll succeed no matter where he goes.

“He had to grow up quicker than most people so I think that grounded him quicker,” said Carpenter. “And that’s the reason why this transition is pretty easy for him.”

Scott and Tyler hope to make it back up at least one more time this season to see Sampson pitch.