Mother’s Day had special meaning for Bowling Green manager Jared Sandberg.

Sandberg’s 30-year-old sister, Jill Andrews, a mother of two, was diagnosed with breast cancer in early March and is undergoing chemotherapy after surgery about a month ago.

To support his sister, Sandberg cut off his hair and put two pink ribbon decals on the back of his helmet. Sandberg kept the ribbons on the helmet throughout the just-completed homestand.

“It’s something that is obviously close to home,” Sandberg said. “I’m just trying to support her as best I can.”

Raising awareness for breast cancer is something that has become a big part of professional baseball, especially on Mother’s Day.

Many players wear pink wristbands, pink gloves, pink sleeves and some players use pink bats on Mother’s Day. Major League Baseball players who used pink bats autographed the bats and donated them to be auctioned off on MLB.com. The proceeds went to the MLB Breast Cancer charities.

“When you are on a stage or in a situation where you can provide awareness for any cause, it’s important,” Sandberg said. “I think we are in a good spot. We’re in the Midwest League in ‘A Ball’ in the public eye where we can raise awareness for whatever we need.”

Raising Cain

BG pitcher Taylor Guerrieri keeps enjoying success on the field, now 2-1 with a 2.00 ERA after five shutout innings in Sunday’s 8-0 win over Lake County (Ohio).

But Guerrieri isn’t resting on his success, taking advantage of every possible way to improve his game.

That includes studying San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain.

Guerrieri said whenever Cain is on TV, he makes sure he keeps an eye on him.

Cain has developed a reputation as one of the top pitchers in baseball, with a fastball between 88-90 mph and a sharp slider and effective change-up. Cain threw a perfect game in July, the first in San Francisco history.

“His fastball command is unreal,” Guerrieri said. “Whenever he is on, he is really tough to hit. His change-up is good and his breaking pitch is good. He’s really fun to watch. I enjoy it.”

Up Next

Bowling Green heads to Fort Wayne (Ind.) to start a three-game series with the TinCaps.

Fort Wayne is 22-13 and has won six in a row, including a 5-4 come-from-behind win Monday.

The Hot Rods took two out of three in Bowling Green last month.

Tyler Goeddel went 6-for-9 with six runs scored in that series. Tommy Coyle had five hits and five runs scored, while Marty Gantt had four hits and four RBIs.

— Micheal Compton covers the Bowling Green Hot Rods for the Bowling Green Daily News. Follow him at twitter.com/mcompton428 or visit bgdailynews.com.