'His heart and smile will be dearly missed': Tucson High grieving death of junior baseball player Troy Iturralde

Tucson High is mourning the loss of junior pitcher/infielder Troy Iturralde, who lost his battle with cancer on Thursday.

He was 16.

Tucson coach Mark Morris confirmed that Iturralde died Thursday at approximately 10:15 a.m., at his home, surrounded by family and friends.

In April, Iturralde, a 6-foot-4 pitcher and catcher on the varsity as a sophomore, was diagnosed with Stage 4 testicular cancer.

"He was a kid that every coach would want on his team," Morris said. "A starter at third base and on the mound, he would have had an outstanding high school career and would have had a chance to play college baseball for sure.

"An outstanding student that took as much pride in his grades as he did in baseball."

Morris credits Iturralde's parents for doing a great job raising him and for his understanding what it was ''to be a great teammate and friend."

"He was an integral part of our program and his heart and smile will be dearly missed," Morris said. "He touched the entire west side community from his Little League to his high school. His smile will live on forever."

Morris said that once Iturralde was diagnosed, he fought, even showing up to the weight room for training. Morris said that Iturralde would show up to workout between chemotherapy treatments.

"He would send me videos of him throwing wadded up paper into the backs of chairs in the hallways at the hospital telling me he was going to be throwing 92 (mile per hour) when he got back," Morris said. "At the August team meeting, he called me and told me he would be late to the meeting because his chemo ran late and he showed up as soon as he could."

Morris said telling his players Thursday night about Iturralde's death was one of the hardest things he ever had to do.

He said he told them that Troy was "going home to throw on God's team."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tucson High grieving death of junior baseball player Troy Iturralde