Bethel University baseball player battles a brain tumor to retake the field

MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- Sometimes, life truly does throw you a curveball, something that Bethel University senior outfielder Andrew Dillon is all too familiar with, thanks to a medical diagnosis he received last February.

April 25th, 2026. Jenkins stadium in Mishawaka, home of the Bethel Pilots. Bethel is celebrating its seniors on the baseball team, including outfielder Andrew Dillon. But to understand the magnitude of this day, and why it's so significant that Andrew is even in a Bethel Pilots uniform, we need to go back in time.

You see, Andrew has always loved baseball.

"As a kid, I was always playing in the backyard with wiffle balls, dad got me into T-Ball, I think I was 3 or 4, ever since then I've been playing every summer, it was always my dream to play in college," said Andrew.

"Every day I used to come home from work, I'd get home around 3:30, he'd be standing there with his ball glove, and my ball glove, and 'dad you ready to play catch?' From memory, I never told him no, I dropped my lunch box, did whatever, and then we'd play catch," said Bryan Dillon, Andrew's father.

In 2024, Andrew's childhood dream of playing college ball came true, and he quickly became an important part of the Bethel baseball program, playing nearly 40 games his freshman season. Things were going well for the young outfielder, but then that changed.

"I was headed to a chapel Monday morning, and as I was walking over there, I felt a little bit sick, and I was. As I was leaving that chapel service, I started throwing up in front of everybody, that kind of continued for the next week or so, I'd have really bad headaches and I was just throwing up for no reason, I thought. After about a week or two, it got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore, and I went into the ER, and that's when they found the tumor," said Andrew.

Not just any tumor. A grade four brain tumor. 

As Andrew sat in the emergency room of Beacon Hospital in Granger awaiting his results, Bethel head coach Seth Zartman was in the middle of a run of the mill weekday practice with the team. But after receiving the news about one of his players, he says the mood completely flipped like a switch.

"Anything baseball just goes by the wayside, you're not thinking about how he's earned a spot in the outfield, that he's an everyday bat in your lineup, that's not what you're thinking about. You're thinking about him, what's going on, because at that point, we really don't know many details," said Zartman.

A few days later, Andrew went in for surgery to remove 90% of the tumor. From there, the comeback journey for Andrew began, one that his mother was 110% sure he would be able to pull off.

"I knew he would be back on the field," said Michelle Dillon, Andrew's mother. 

"I remember one of the first things he said is I'm going to back on the field, no matter what happens," said Zartman.

But coming back from surgery, chemo, radiation, and the mental fatigue was no small task.

"The first time I came back here and started taking some swings off the tee, after maybe 5 swings, I was gassed, and I was like am I ever going to be able to play at the college level again," said Andrew.

Still, Andrew never lost his sense of humor, even when the doctor told him his tumor was the size of, you guessed it, a baseball.

"It was definitely ironic, not really a laughing matter, I was trying to keep my humor through it all and I mean, you have to chuckle at it, I'm a baseball player and there's a baseball inside my brain," said Andrew.

On March 22 of 2025, Bethel was playing Huntington. After missing 23 games, and nearly five weeks to the day after his tumor was found, Andrew was finally ready to return to the diamond. 

His return to the plate gave the crowd a bit of a jump scare.

"So, we put him in, and of course as he walked to the plate, people are clapping, because everybody knows the situation, and so he gets in, very first pitch, it hits him, and I think it hits him in the arm, elbow somewhere in there. The whole place just went silent. He didn't flinch at all; he was like it's part of the game.”

And this season, Andrew has returned with a vengeance, holding the highest batting average on the team.

In addition to his faith, Andrew found strength from his teammates, who all donned shirts in support of him, as well as shaving their heads, and putting a button with Andrew's number 2 on their hats.

"To see them all rally around me like that, it was so encouraging and I think it helped with the motivation to get back out here with them," said Andrew.

April 25, 2026, was Senior Day at Jenkins Stadium, and Andrew, his mom, and dad, all walked together onto the field, smiles stretching from ear to ear. As Andrew was honored amongst his fellow seniors, it was also announced that he was the recipient of the Ron Paulsen Memorial Award, an annual honor given to one male and one female student athlete at Bethel. It's considered the highest award a student athlete at the school can receive.

"For me as a dad, knowing what he went through to get back, I don't know how he did it," said Bryan.

In recent weeks, Andrew received news that his cancer has unfortunately returned. But talking to him during our interview, you'd have no idea. "Through the whole thing I've had a strong dependence on God, and the Bible tells us not to worry," said Andrew.

This weekend, on May 2, Andrew will graduate from Bethel University, with his very proud parents, and teammates, looking on.