This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

This Uvalde Strong flag was placed in the Missions’ dugout by the Uvalde High School baseball team.

Missions outfielder Thomas Milone displays his Uvalde colors for Thursday’s game.

Jorge Salazar places a bid on one of the Missions’ game-worn Uvalde jerseys. Most of the jerseys drew bids ranging from a few hundred dollars to about a thousand.

The crowd was very generous in donating when the bucket was moved around the crowd. The SA Missions will be wearing Uvalde baseball Jersey as part of a promotion to raise money for the families affected by the shooting on Thursday, June 16, 2022 at Wolff Stadium.

Every so often the left field fence had the banner pop up honoring Uvaldel The SA Missions will be wearing Uvalde baseball Jersey as part of a promotion to raise money for the families affected by the shooting on Thursday, June 16, 2022 at Wolff Stadium.

Missions Austin Pope (12) takes a moment of silence along with the rest of the team. The SA Missions will be wearing Uvalde baseball Jersey as part of a promotion to raise money for the families affected by the shooting on Thursday, June 16, 2022 at Wolff Stadium.

Missions Brandon Komar (12) takes a moment of silence along with the rest of the team. The SA Missions will be wearing Uvalde baseball Jersey as part of a promotion to raise money for the families affected by the shooting on Thursday, June 16, 2022 at Wolff Stadium.

San Antonio Mission Domingo Leyba (22) prepares to steal second against the Amarillo Sod Poodles. San Antonio Mission The SA Missions will be wearing Uvalde baseball Jersey as part of a promotion to raise money for the families affected by the shooting on Thursday, June 16, 2022 at Wolff Stadium.

SA Mission Korry Howell (16) catches a fly ball against the Amarillo Sod Poodles The SA Missions will be wearing Uvalde baseball Jersey as part of a promotion to raise money for the families affected by the shooting on Thursday, June 16, 2022 at Wolff Stadium.

Denise Cabello collections donations at Thursday’s Missions game for the Robb School Memorial Fund.

SA Missions Chandler Seagle (5) follows his hit. The SA Missions will be wearing Uvalde baseball Jersey as part of a promotion to raise money for the families affected by the shooting on Thursday, June 16, 2022 at Wolff Stadium.

One of the many t-shirts worn by the large group of people that came from Uvalde. The SA Missions will be wearing Uvalde baseball Jersey as part of a promotion to raise money for the families affected by the shooting on Thursday, June 16, 2022 at Wolff Stadium.

During his 35 years with the San Antonio Missions, team president Burl Yarbrough has watched Uvalde High School hold playoff games at Wolff Stadium, and he’s made the drive from his home in Boerne to the Coyotes’ campus for his daughter’s softball games.

When Missions assistant general manager Mickey Holt introduced the idea of wearing and auctioning custom Uvalde High jerseys, Yarbrough was quick to go all-in on the opportunity, thinking of his own children and grandchildren as well as all the groups from Uvalde who have come to Missions games over the years.

Wolff Stadium was packed Thursday with a crowd of 5,824, including the Uvalde High baseball team and many supporters clad in maroon “Uvalde Strong” shirts. The Missions held a silent auction of their game-worn Coyotes jerseys through the night to benefit the Robb School Memorial Fund, which supports the families of the 19 children and two teachers who died in a shooting May 24 at Robb Elementary School.

“This was just natural,” Yarbrough said. “I think what happened in Uvalde hit us all. We’re just very pleased we’re able to do something to help.”

The Uvalde High players, wearing their own Coyotes jerseys, joined the Missions in left field about half an hour before Thursday’s first pitch for a team photo of the two groups. The Coyotes remained on the field along the third-base line through player introductions and a pregame moment of silence, with one of them holding a maroon flag that read “Uvalde Strong.”

“I’m speechless. It’s very touching,” Uvalde assistant coach Joel Escamilla said. “It does a lot for our community. I think our community has been on a one-track mind, thinking about the bad. We get something like this to happen, and everybody can put a smile on for a little while.”

When the Missions completed a late-inning comeback with a walkoff sacrifice fly by Yorman Rodriguez for a 4-3 win over the Amarillo Sod Poodles, San Antonio reliever Henry Henry was waving the Uvalde Strong flag over his head as he led a group of players streaming out of the dugout to celebrate.

“Tonight is a huge night,” Missions manager Phillip Wellman said. “When a tragedy like that occurs, from the front office all the way down to us, you feel the need to help your fellow humans out. You can’t replace what’s been done, but hopefully we can help out in a financial way.”

The Missions announced Friday that $50,357 was raised at the game.

Wellman, who grew up in San Antonio, helped land the largest donation of the night, as Stuart Heights Baptist Church in his offseason home of Chattanooga, Tenn., bought his jersey for $10,000.

The Missions accepted call-in bids for the silent auction throughout the day and spread clipboards across three tables on the third-base side concourse for fans at the game to write in their entries. Most jerseys drew a handful of bids ranging from a few hundred dollars up to about a thousand.

Pablo Rivera, who said he has lived in San Antonio since 2008, etched his name for the No. 24 jersey signed by the Missions roster with a bid of $1,000 on behalf of the partners at his law firm — a group that includes a native of Uvalde.

“It’s really important, and of course it helps the community,” Rivera said. “What I’m hoping for, though, is that we see real change. Just to create awareness and see real change, that we can prevent this from happening again.”

Yarbrough credited Wilson Sporting Goods for turning around a jersey order that typically would take two months in about 10 days, shipping direct from the factory to San Antonio.

Starting in the middle of the third inning, Missions staffers perched on the dugouts and weaved through the aisles with maroon and white buckets to collect donations for the Robb School Memorial Fund.

“Not everybody is going to be able to buy a jersey tonight, but we wanted to pass the bucket around, and whether it be a quarter, a dollar, a 20, whatever, it gives people a chance to give,” Yarbrough said. “That’s what we wanted to do. Collect as much money as we can for the fund.”

Wellman said the Missions players also passed a hat around the clubhouse Thursday to make their own contributions.

Pitcher Jason Blanchard, who was born in Austin and grew up in Houston, playing at Kingwood Park High and Lamar University, thought back to his days competing in the same Texas high school playoffs as the Coyotes. He said he was glad to use his platform with the Missions to make a difference.

“Just being there for them, putting ‘Uvalde’ across our chest and letting everybody know, ‘Hey man, we’re all here. We all have your backs,’” Blanchard said. “I know when I was in high school playing baseball, if I were to step on this field and see some guys living out my dream, that’d be pretty cool.”

Greg Luca is the UTSA beat reporter and general assignment reporter for the San Antonio Express-News. In addition to UTSA, his coverage includes the University of Incarnate Word, the San Antonio Missions and other San Antonio area colleges. He is a 2013 graduate of the University of Florida and a native of Connecticut. He was the sports editor of the McAllen Monitor from 2014-18.