PHILADELPHIA — Another baseball season — perhaps the one that would end with a chance to sign a professional contract — was weeks away when Luke Smith left his friend’s house a few days after Christmas.
Smith’s final season at St. Joseph’s University felt promising after the way the right-hander pitched during the fall. Smith was throwing harder than ever and in line to be one of the team’s top starters. All the work — the pitching lessons, the weightlifting, the practicing — was paying off.
And then his phone rang. A forgettable three-minute drive from one friend’s house to another became a life-altering trip.
