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On June 19, Florida pitcher commit Samuel Sloan took the mound to pitch in a scrimmage at the Perfect Game National Showcase in Hoover, Alabama. The PG National Showcase hosts the top high school talent in the country, and the best at the event are likely to be selected to play in the Perfect Game All-American Classic.

During his outing, Sloan was struck by a screaming line drive on the side of his head that knocked his hat off and dropped him to the ground.

“I saw where the ball was at as soon as the bat hit the ball and knew it was coming right back to me,” Sloan told GatorsTerritory. “It was a blur, but it hit me in my head and my head was ringing.”

As soon as Sloan was hit, Perfect Game trainers rushed the field to tend the injured pitcher.

“Some of the showcase people came out and were asking if I was okay,” Sloan said. “I told them that I was fine and to let me get some water so that I can finish pitching.”

Sloan couldn’t talk his way back to the mound, as trainers urged him to go to the ER.

“They were going to do some concussion protocols and I noticed I was slurring my words when answering their questions,” said Sloan. “I had no filter because where I got hit at it messed up my filter, so they told me I had a concussion and needed to go to the ER and check it out.”

The Lakeland High School product said he felt fine and wanted to go to a hotel to rest, but his dad felt that he needed to take his son straight to the emergency room.

“I just wanted to go to the hotel and rest,” Sloan said. “My dad had a gut feeling that I needed to go to the ER and do a CAT scan because I’m named after one of his high school friends who died of a skull fracture and brain bleed, so he takes head injuries very seriously.”

Sloan went to the hospital feeling okay and thinking that the injuries he sustained aren’t going to be serious.

“We went to the ER, they did a CAT scan, and I figured that I’d probably just have a big bruise,” said Sloan. “The doctor came into the room and said there’s good and bad news.

“I had a small fracture in my skull and a small brain bleed,” Sloan said about his injuries. “My dad started getting really upset and I could hear my mom on the phone crying, so I knew it wasn’t good.”

Sloan would spend the next nine days at the University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital. During his time at the hospital, Sloan spent the first seven days in ICU and the last two in a normal room for two. Sloan’s parents stayed in a hotel that was right next to the hospital in case their son needed them.

“I really don’t remember the first two days,” Sloan said about his time in the hospital. “I was so sedated, but when they started to ease me off the pain medication and when they let me eat.”

The hospital doctors were able to tell Sloan the severity of his head injuries.

“They told me what was going on during the first two days and they really didn’t know if I was going to live or not,” said Sloan. “They also didn’t know if I was going to have emergency surgery, which really shocked me.”

During his time at the UAB Hospital, the doctors did a second CAT scan on Sloan.

"They wanted to see the swelling in his brain and if there was more blood in my brain,” said Sloan. “The results came back as they saw that bleeding in the brain had stopped and the neurosurgeon felt comfortable not doing any surgeries."

Sloan would continue to do CAT scans every day as the neurosurgeon was monitoring it to see if the brain had stopped bleeding.

"There was no more blood in my brain luckily by God’s grace” said Sloan.

Finally, the 6-foot-3 right-hander was discharged from the hospital and was heading home.

“I felt very weak, but I was also happy to be out and go home,” Sloan said of heading home. “We were told to stop every two hours to see how I was doing, but I told my parents to just stop in Gainesville to get something to eat.”

During his time at the hospital, the Gators' coaching staff was communicating with Sloan’s dad to see how their 2021 commit was doing.

“My dad told me that Kevin O’Sullivan was in contact with him and was relaying it to the other coaches,” Sloan said. “They were really worried about me hoping that everything works out well and not to rush anything.”

O’Sullivan even tried to get Sloan on campus to check on him and give him advice but wasn’t allowed to.

“Coach O’Sullivan tried to get a thing set up for me when I came through Gainesville on the way home,” Sloan told GT. “He was to go on the mound with me, talk to me and give me some motivation and advice, but the NCAA declined it.”

Since arriving home, Sloan has spent most of his days resting and rehabbing so he can get back on the mound.

“It’s going great,” Sloan said about his rehab. “I was cleared to work out about two weeks ago, so they said I feel good.”

The Lakeland pitcher has even started throwing again but is being very cautious.

“I threw with my pitching coach on Friday and everything went great,” said Sloan. “I still have a little over a month until I’m cleared to pitch in a game.”

Although he still has over a month until he can pitch in any games, Sloan has already constructed a list of personal goals to accomplish by spring.

“I’m trying to make sure my mechanics are good and to strengthen my arm again to where it was at,” said Sloan. “I want 95-97 mph my spring, so I’m going to be working hard.”

Sloan was clocked at 92 mph during his outing at the PG National Showcase.

When asked about if he has seen the video of the comebacker hitting him in the head, Sloan replied, “Every day I watch that video.”

“Sometimes I’ll get mad, but I mainly watch it as motivation to work my hardest to do everything I can to get back to where I was and be better.”

Stay tuned to GatorsTerritory.