It’s been just over two years since the accident that nearly cut short not only the playing career, but also the life of Lebanon Valley College baseball student-athlete Matt Sanders.

These days, the standout pitcher catches a bit of stiffness in his back when the weather changes. Otherwise he carries only vivid memories but no physical scars from the near fatal incident. Sanders walked away from the experience a changed man and has since returned to the mound to help lead the Lebanon Valley program to new heights.

In early August 2004, Sanders was finishing his last week of employment at a lumber manufacturing company. The accident happened on a Thursday, just one day shy of his last scheduled day of work for the summer. Although he jokes about his clutch timing, it’s difficult to find anything funny about the events that unfolded. That day’s hectic pace came to an abrupt and almost tragic end when Sanders found himself pinned against machinery by the back end of a forklift operated by a co-worker.

"I thought he knew he’d hit me, but he had no clue. The forklift ended up stalling, then he turned around and saw me," said Sanders. "At that point, it was like a bad nightmare. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t yell."

Sanders lost consciousness and stopped breathing. The forklift operator, with whom Sanders had become friends during the summer, successfully initiated mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He was transported to a hospital, where an examination revealed a severely lacerated spleen, broken vertebrae in his back and internal bleeding.

The early prognosis was that Sanders’ injuries could take months to heal. Doctors doubted that he would recover in time for the traditional spring season, let alone the nontraditional fall slate of games. Numb from the waist down and battling severe pain in his back, Sanders said there were moments just after the accident when he feared he’d never play again. But his heart, desire and determination to return to the field remained.

"There was no question about that. I needed to get back out there. It’s the only place I feel relaxed," he said.

Sanders was able to sidestep a potential setback when he avoided surgery on his spleen, which healed on its own. Following a week’s stay in the hospital, Sanders returned home and immediately began working himself back into shape.

Less than two months after nearly being crushed, Sanders was able to rejoin the Flying Dutchmen in time for their fall series of games. In his first competition after the accident, he threw an eight-inning complete game and gave up just four hits. The performance was pleasantly surprising to the hurler, who admitted to being extra nervous about taking the mound.

Said Sanders, "I didn’t know how my body was going to react. I’d been throwing in the bullpen, but standing on the mound, in the game, in front of people is a lot different. But I was happy with how it turned out, and my team was 100 percent behind me defensively and offensively."

Sanders, an elementary education major who aspires to become a fourth-grade teacher, has gone on to become a key part of Lebanon Valley’s recent resurgence on the diamond. He became the team’s top starter in the second half of the 2005 regular season, leading the Flying Dutchmen in innings pitched and strikeouts. The program’s success continued during the 2006 season when the team swept Susquehanna University to claim the fourth and final Commonwealth Conference playoff slot. It was Lebanon Valley’s first postseason conference appearance in four years.

As meaningful as the recent successes have been, Sanders knows he is fortunate to be around to experience them.

"It’s sad that you have to have a life-changing experience like I did to open your eyes and see how fortunate you are. But sometimes it comes down to that," he said. "God definitely woke me up and said, ‘I put you on earth and you’re not really following My path. I’m going to give you a wake-up call.’ It sure did do that."