DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - For four Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University baseball players, the afternoon of Nov. 23 was supposed to be a well earned day off on the golf course.
Instead, it turned into a race against time, with a man fighting for his life, and running out of breath.
The Eagles had just finished up nearly two months of fall practice, and Thanksgiving break was right around the corner. For the first time since early September, the foursome of Josh Reynolds, Cody Forster, John Devine and Mike Lawson were able to hit the links at Pelican Bay golf course, something they routinely did during the summer.
“They all live at Pelican Bay, so it was sort of a spontaneous thing,” Reynolds said of the afternoon round.
“We weren’t really able to go much during the fall, so we figured we’d just go out and play,” Forster added.
The four teed off at around 12:30, and quickly navigated the first five holes. With the holiday week around the corner, the course was quiet for a Saturday in November.
Then they got to the sixth tee, and it was Devine’s turn to hit. The senior outfielder began his swing.
He wouldn’t finish it.
“That’s when it all happened,” he said. “That’s when we heard it.”
‘Saying my goodbyes’
About 75 yards behind them, Paulo Piloto was fighting for his life.
The 50-year-old landscaper from Palm Coast was finishing up a job at a nearby house with his wife, Paula. The two have owned their own landscaping company (Future Empire Lawn Service) for three years now, and have worked at this house since the beginning.
“Usually I do the lawn, but I was out back blowing the pool area,” said Paula, who said the two have about 72 accounts, including six at Pelican Bay. “So he decided to do the lawn this time and finish it up.”
Paulo hopped on their commercial mower and went to work. A few minutes later, he looked behind him to make sure his line was still straight. When he turned back around, he was in a nosedive. The back tire hit a hidden low spot in the grass and caused the machine to tip toward the pond to his left.
A few seconds later he was trapped under water, with a 500-pound mower pinning him.
“From the waist down,” Paulo remembered. He immediately knew he was in trouble. “I was already saying my goodbyes.”
‘I couldn’t hold it’
Devine was on the tee, but he wasn’t the first to hear the splash. Instead it was Forster, the senior infielder who is a homeland security major, who noticed something was wrong.
“I asked if anyone heard it, and then turned around and saw a tire and blade sticking upside down,” said Forster, who started 40 games at shortstop last season. “I didn’t see anyone around it, and I didn’t see anyone in the water. I knew if that happened, someone had to be stuck under it.
“I took off in a full sprint, and everyone else followed.”
Paula said she didn’t hear the splash, either. She knew something was wrong when she saw the four guys sprinting along the course.
“I heard them say ‘get him, get him,’ and I thought they were going to grab a small turtle or something,” she said with a laugh. “I went to see what they were doing, and then I saw the tires from the mower.”
Forster got to the water first and dove in. When he got to the mower, Piloto estimates it had been at least a minute, maybe more. Forster said the water went up to his neck. At 5-foot-11, 160-pounds, and with little grip, he was no match for the mower, which had come to a complete stop but was almost entirely submerged.
“I’ve lost people during the holiday season, I know how hard that can be,” he said. “That crossed my mind. That was even more motivation … we needed to save this guy.”
Reynolds was the second one in, and got on the other side of the mower. The burly first baseman stands at 6-4, 260-pounds, and is Embry-Riddle’s strongest player. He put his hands under the machine and gave it everything he had.
It didn’t budge.
“I just couldn’t move it,” Reynolds said. “I was up to my neck in water, up to my knees in mud. I just couldn’t get it.”
Piloto was just about out of time. The only reason he was able to last this long, he said, is because of his past scuba diving experience, where he estimates he’d gone on over 100 dives in his lifetime. Because of that, Piloto knew to take shorter breaths in this situation.
However, he also knew he had mere seconds left.
“Maybe five,” he said, admitting that he was already saying goodbye to his wife, their four children (three daughters and a son), and their new granddaughter. “I couldn’t hold it.”
‘It’s a miracle’
What he could hold, however, was Reynolds’ arm.
While the sophomore was frantically trying to lift the mower, Piloto grabbed his arm. It was the first time Reynolds knew for certain that someone was actually under the machine.
“That’s what kind of what sent me over the edge,” Reynolds said. “I think that was like God going into my body. I went down, got my shoulder underneath, and moved it just enough so he could get his face out (of the water). If that mower was here right now, I don’t think I could move it again.”
Paula said she arrived right as her husband wiggled free.
“He just started gasping for air, throwing up water,” she remembered. “I just started to cry.”
Reynolds collapsed on the ground. The other three soon joined him.
“I think that’s when it started to sink in,” said Lawson, who played in 30 games for the Eagles last season. “I called the (pro shop) to tell them what happened, and I’m not sure they believed me.”
They couldn’t believe what had just transpired, either.
“We all sat around for just looking at each other, mouths open, asking what just happened,” Devine said. “Like, did that really just happen?”
Both parties kept in touch in the weeks after the ordeal, with the Pilotos even coming by the school to meet with the four players, who presented them with an Embry-Riddle hat. Even though everything worked out, Reynolds admits he still thinks about that November afternoon.
“The look on his face, that’ll stay with me forever,” he said. “He was terrified … absolutely terrified.”
Forster said he’s used the last month to reflect on everything that happened that day, down to the last second.
“What are the odds that four college athletes would be out there at that exact time?” he asked. “It all just aligned.”
Paula said the answer is simple.
“It’s a miracle. They were put there that day for that purpose … I really believe that. If it wasn’t for them, Paulo would be gone. We’ll never forget them.”
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