Next on the schedule was Rutgers for the final Big Ten series of the season. His family planned to come up for the three games over the weekend.
Game one was set to begin that evening and for Gabe, the gameday began like any other. He spent two hours hanging out with his friends on the couch watching TV. He was staying at his friend’s house because he moved out of his freshman dorm the week prior.
His family likes to get to Bart Kaufman Field an hour or two before the game. It’s enough time to socialize and get to their seats before the first pitch.
Around 1:30 p.m., Gabe received a phone call from his grandfather asking to meet at the field. Gabe was confused because it was nearly five hours before the game was scheduled to start.
After Greg wouldn’t tell him what was going on, Gabe decided to call his grandmother to try to figure out what was happening.
All she would tell him was to meet up with his grandfather.
Greg, who was on a fishing trip that morning in Loogootee, Indiana, was the closest family member to Gabe at the time.
By the time Gabe made his way to the stadium parking lot, his grandfather was already sitting there. Greg got out of his car and stood at his grandson’s Chevy Trailblazer.
Gabe had the door open and his grandfather leaned over with his arm pressed against the car. It was difficult for Greg to put together the words. It was the most difficult thing he’d ever had to tell his grandson.
Douglas had a heart attack that morning while pouring concrete and collapsed. He died with his ticket to the upcoming Rutgers game in his wallet just two days after he last saw Gabe. He was 49.
“I didn’t see any of this ever happening to me,” Gabe said. “My dad always told me, ‘Yeah I’m healthy, I’m feeling good.’”
Gabe Bierman’s mother, Andrea, wears a bracelet with her family members. The bracelet includes family photographs with Gabe’s father, Douglas Bierman Jr.
***
Gabe called his mother. She told him yes, it was true. He began to cry, and his grandfather hugged him in the parking lot. After a few minutes, Gabe walked the few feet into the IU clubhouse. The coaching staff was waiting for him.
The first person he saw was Mercer. Gabe didn’t say a single word. He hugged him and cried.
“Why is this happening to me?” Gabe asked.
“You can’t do that to yourself,” Mercer told him.
With the Rutgers series set to begin in a couple of hours, Mercer told Gabe to take some time away from the field by himself and think things through. After the staff told the team what happened, Gabe went up and hugged each of his teammates.
Gabe called his family and said he wanted them to be there with him. He ultimately showed up to the game 45 minutes before it started and went through his normal warmups. He sat with his team in uniform for the first two games of the series but didn’t play. He wanted to be with his team.
Gabe wanted to show his team he was strong, that losing his father didn’t affect his place on the team. He just wanted to play baseball. He knew that's what his father would've wanted.
“Everything worked where he has great support there at IU,” Andrea said. “He feels at home. It helps him get through each day having people around him, supporting him.”
Gabe expected to play two days later. Earlier that morning, he told the coaching staff not to hesitate to put him in. IU won the first two games a combined 18-9 without him.
A win in the final matchup would secure the Big Ten regular season championship for IU.
“We weren’t really planning on using him or putting him in that situation,” IU pitching coach Justin Parker said.
Gabe sat in the bullpen, waiting for his opportunity. He was waiting to hear his name but wasn't sure he would.
Sophomore pitcher Gabe Bierman stands on the pitching mound with his cross and baseball necklace Oct. 10, 2019, at Bart Kaufman Field. Bierman’s father’s ashes are kept close to his heart in the baseball necklace.
Thoughts of his dad kept creeping back into his mind. He took deep breaths and tried to stay focused.
With IU leading 8-3 heading into the seventh inning, Gabe entered the game. As he jogged out to the mound, he cleared his mind. All he needed to do was secure nine outs to clinch the title.
At that moment, he knew everything was going to be all right. All he had to do was play the game he loved.
The coaching staff paid close attention to him. They wouldn’t hesitate to pull him if he got himself into a bad situation.
In between each inning, Parker looked Gabe straight into his eyes, nodded, smiled and told him to finish it.
“You could see this is what he wanted,” Parker said. “He wanted the ball; he wanted the game. He could kind of feel it, we could feel it as a club.”
The ninth inning came around. One more out, and they were champions.
Gabe threw a fastball toward the middle of the plate and caught the batter looking. When the strike was called, he turned around, clenched his right hand, pounded his chest and screamed in celebration. His team sprinted toward him.
After the team dog-piled on top of him, he ran over to his mother and hugged her. Gabe then handed her the baseball he threw for the final out. She said they would give it to Douglas to hold in his casket.
“You just knew his dad was out there with him. You just knew.”
— Andrea Bierman
***
Gabe attended his father’s visitation three days after he won the regular season title. Nearly 500 people came and went, but Gabe never left the casket's side.
During the viewing, his family put Gabe’s IU logo baseball hat on Douglas along with the game ball.
When Andrea was setting up the funeral, Gabe thought of the idea for a necklace to carry Douglas’ ashes. He wanted to always have his father with him. Gabe was gone for a month playing summer baseball and his family surprised him.
His sister Mekenzi had the idea to separate the ashes among five marble-sized silver baseballs. Gabe, Andrea, Mekenzi, his brother Myles and his stepmother Molly each wear one around their necks.
Gabe decided to put the baseball on his chain that already held a silver cross.
From time to time, Gabe looks at his necklace or his text messages and remembers his father. He believes his father would be proud of the person he’s become, and the baseball player he hopes to be.
When IU takes on Louisiana State University on Feb. 14, it will mark the beginning of the first full season Gabe is set to play without his father. Every time he steps on the mound for the Hoosiers, he just wants to throw some rocket fire.
"He kind of looked at me and I kind of looked at him like we were a duo," Gabe said. "We were kind of the same person, but we weren’t going down the same paths.”
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