Wearing a maroon Kansas City T-Bones jersey No. 1 and black pants, former Kansas point guard Frank Mason juggled a baseball in his right hand as he strolled to the mound for the ceremonial first pitch before the T-Bones home opener against the Gary (Ind.) SouthShore RailCats on Tuesday night at T-Bones Stadium.
Pitching from the stretch, the 24-year-old Mason fired a fastball down the middle to T-Bones pitcher Jackson Lowery, who accepted the offering from the 5-foot-11, 190-pound rookie with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.
“I think I throw an 80 mile per hour strike,” Mason said, actually answering a question about his softball-playing ability rather than baseball acumen.