It would have been natural if Jason Boulais didn't give a second thought to the day last October when someone from the Be The Match Registry swabbed the inside of his cheek and added him to a worldwide database of potential bone marrow donors at a Homecoming event at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. After all, only 1 in 540 U.S. members of the registry eventually end up donating to a patient in need.

But something about the experience stuck with Boulais, who couldn't stop thinking about the prospect while finishing his next-to-last semester at USCB and preparing for his final season as a pitcher on the Sand Sharks' baseball team.

"I told my dad about it, and we both just had a gut feeling I was going to be the one," Boulais said. "Reality kind of set in when I got the first phone call saying I might be a match."

That call came in mid-February and informed Boulais that he was a match for a young boy in need of a marrow transplant and needed to give a blood sample for further testing. After doing so, Boulais learned he wasn't just a match — he was the boy's best match, his best chance at survival.

Along with that news came the realization that going through with the process would mean Boulais would miss several games during conference play, and depending on his recovery time, he might not be able to pitch again before the end of the season — and his career. 

This time, Boulais didn't give it a second thought. 

"I was happy to be able to potentially help somebody out, save someone's life," Boulais said. "It's a blessing to have something I can be proud to do. I'm going to miss a few games because of it, but for someone to be able to potentially keep living is a lot more important." 

According to Be The Match, 70 percent of patients needing bone marrow or cord blood transplants do not have a potential donor in their family, so they depend on the Be The Match Registry to find a donor. It's possible Boulais is a distant relative to the patient, who lives in France, where Boulais' family bloodlines originate.

Boulais wasn't sure how USCB coach Bryan Lewallyn would take the news. The Sand Sharks are fighting for a spot in the Sun Conference Tournament, and as the old adage suggests, a baseball team can never have enough pitching.

"I remember the day he told me," Lewallyn said. "I was like, 'If you need me to drive you somewhere, just tell me where. Absolutely. You do whatever it is you need to do and you'll have our full support, 100 percent.' A lot of times with younger guys, you don't really think outside of yourself. When you're 18, the world is only as big as your little bubble. The fact that he took it upon himself to volunteer and get tested is huge."

Indeed, it's no small gesture for Boulais to go through the donation process. He has an aversion to needles — he almost passed out the first time he donated blood — and has juggled trips to Florida for testing and blood work with his classes and baseball schedule. 

His final season of collegiate baseball will take a back seat when he goes under the knife in April. About 77 percent of donors are asked to give a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation through a non-surgical, outpatient procedure similar to donating platelets or plasma. In Boulais' case, though, the patient's doctor requested a marrow sample, which requires a surgical procedure. Boulais will be given anesthesia and have marrow extracted from both sides of the back of his pelvic bone. He will likely experience back and hip pain and fatigue after the procedure, and the median time for a full recovery is 20 days. 

When he is able to return to the team, he will do so with his coach's respect.

"As a coach, a lot of these kids are kind of your second kids, and you have those same experiences — you love them sometimes, you get upset with them sometimes, you're really proud of them sometimes and you're really disappointed in them at times," Lewallyn said. "To be so proud of him, and then on the flip side of that to be a parent and know that somebody else is willing to sacrifice to help somebody else in need, you're proud and you would just hope that someone would do the same if it were your child."

USCB Director of Athletics Quin Monahan had the same reaction when he learned of Boulais' decision to become a donor, citing it as an example of the kind of behavior that embodies the NAIA's Champions of Character initiative. 

"We couldn't be more proud of Jason and the selflessness he has shown," Monahan said. "He's exactly the kind of student-athlete we want representing USCB." 

Lewallyn gets choked up when discussing the scenario. He says it rates as his proudest moment in a brief coaching career that already has included a trip to the NAIA World Series. 

"I would trade everything I've ever been a part of coaching or could be in the future to even be associated with Jason or a situation like this."

To learn more about the Be The Match Registry, visit www.bethematch.org.