Six Thunderbirds and three Diamondbacks making a difference this holiday season

As is customary this and every holiday season, Mesa Thunderbird student-athletes are doing their part to make a difference in the community in which they serve. 

Mesa baseball players Zach Nothwehr, Matt Roberts, Adam Sonabend, TJ Bennett, Will Amador, and Lou Sergiacomie teamed up with Diamondback stars Paul Goldschmidt, Ian Kennedy, and Willie Bloomquist at Troon North Golf Course on Saturday, November 19 and volunteered throughout a charity golf event that raised money for Phoenix Children's Hospital.

"Our kids are always engaged when it comes to helping out in the community around the holidays and we make it a point to find players that will perform their civic duties when the time comes," says Head Coach Tony Cirelli.

Mesa baseballers got to volunteer for a good cause and in return got to rub elbows with three stars from the NL West Champion Arizona Diamondbacks.

"It was a great time for all of us and a great cause to volunteer alongside," says Nothwehr, a sophomore history major and infielder out of Shadow Mountain High School. 

Roberts is a sophomore righthander out of Littleton, Colorado, by way of Columbine High School and an electrical engineering major. 

Amador, Sonabend, Bennett, and Sergiacomie are incoming freshman ballplayers for Coach Cirelli, who is entering his 18th year as skipper for the illustrious Thunderbird baseball program.

Back on November 5, Mesa Baseball participated in the first charity event of the year at the Scottsdale Convention Center for a Casino Night to benefit the same charity, Phoenix Children's Hospital. 

Over the past ten years, Coach Cirelli has all but adopted the Phoenix Children's Hospital as Mesa Baseball's personal charity.

"It's difficult for some organizations to find a dozen or so young men to help move things and set up shows so we are right up their alley when it comes to assisting the Phoenix Children's Hospital in various events," says Cirelli.