CRAWFORD | The Cardinals are chasing a title. Knox is chasing childhood. They’re in it together.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- They’ve unpacked the gear. Hit their first steakhouse. The Louisville baseball team has arrived in Omaha — chasing a national title at the College World Series.

But the team’s most inspirational player is at home. You won’t find his name in the lineup. He’s 6 years old. His name is Knox.

They signed him in May of last year – not for his swing or his fastball, but for his spirit.

He was 3 when doctors found the brain tumor. Anaplastic ependymoma. His parents, Erikk and Ashley Shepherd, remember the hospital halls, the radiation schedule, the quiet prayers whispered on nights too long to measure. The stat sheet: One brain surgery. Six months at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis. Thirty rounds of radiation. Two rounds of chemotherapy.

His parents have watched him fight. They’ve exchanged glances when the treatments left him weaker than other kids, unable to run as fast.

Why was he required to be brave so often?

But a chance conversation with a friend and some helpful neighbors with a grandson (Matt Klein) on the University of Louisville baseball team led them to a nonprofit called Team IMPACT, which joins children suffering from serious illnesses with sports teams.

And Knox found a new team.

Louisville announced his signing in a ceremony that looked like any other — except the new recruit had to stretch to see over the tabletop.

“It was really special,” Ashley said. “It was a big deal for us, with Knox and his cancer. It's a big deal to have moments like this. Everybody was so amazing. Coach (Dan) McDonell -- they thought of everything, every last detail, and they made Knox feel special. That’s what it is all about.”

The players didn’t just shake his hand that day. They have embraced him ever since. They brought him into the locker room. They saved him a seat at breakfast. They made him part of the huddle. On days when he’s had scans, his parents got text messages from players. They send silly pictures to share with Knox. And when they won a Super Regional Sunday, Knox and his family were in Jim Patterson Stadium. They were part of it. It was their moment, too.

Erikk Shepherd said the players made Knox feel like family.

“As a father, I was a little concerned about a 5-year-old in the locker room of a college sports team,” he said. “But from the moment that we walked on the field with the team -- I mean just the most kind interactions with not only us and our family, but Knox playing ping pong with the guys, them taking him on the field and playing catch with him, letting him run the bases. I mean, he goes out to the field and you can tell that he's part of the team. All the guys know him. All the guys talk to him, take pictures with him, play with him. It's been such a breath of fresh air.”

It's been something else. It’s been a revelation.

“I think what we learned early on in this journey,” Erikk said, “is this is the worst way to find out how amazing people can be.”

His mom says it’s something Knox will carry forever.

Erin Higgins, Regional Director of Programs for Team IMPACT, says the coaches and players carry it with them, too.

“We always hope that they can really focus on being a mentor, a role model, a friend, and break them out of their shells and remind them that even on the bad days , you’ve got a kiddo looking up to you. It kind of pushes them to push through those tough days, bad practices, bad games, and keep fighting for kids like Knox.”

There may be something to it. Of the eight teams in Omaha this week, three are attached to kids from Team IMPACT.

If parts of the past two seasons were tough for Louisville’s players and coaches, they knew, every day, about someone a lot smaller who’d had it a lot tougher.

And now, as the Cardinals prepare to step onto college baseball’s biggest stage, they’ll do it with that same little boy cheering from his living room –cancer-free for three years.

There will be a watch party in the Shepherd home Friday night at 7 when the Cardinals begin College World Series play against Oregon State. Family, friends, and a 6-year-old who will break out the loudest “Go Cards!” cheer in any stadium on-demand.

“Maybe they’ll hear us in Omaha,” Ashley said.

Maybe. Mabye not. But you can bet they’ll feel them.

Knox doesn’t know all the stats. Doesn’t need to. He just knows he belongs.

There’s healing in that. For everybody.

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