It was just another Friday night game, Brandon Dolan was throwing out the first pitch for the Bacon, and someone had recognized him. His future college roommate.
It’s pretty normal for incoming students to not know their roommate before college, and that was the case for Bacon worker Graham Johnston and Dolan. The two had opted in for random assignment since the two did not know anyone else going to Belmont University.
While Johnston is a local, Dolan made his way to Macon, Georgia, from Sacramento, California, to watch collegiate summer baseball.
“Because we lived on the West Coast, the only way we ever would have heard about any of the teams in the Coastal Plain League was through the Bananas and how big they have grown on social media,” Dolan noted. “One of our first stops on our East Coast trip was Macon to see the Bananas play at Luther Williams. I originally came to root for the Bananas, but after seeing the atmosphere of the Macon Bacon my loyalties changed, and I spent the night cheering for the hometown team: Macon Bacon!”
On the night of his visit, Dolan was invited to participate in the first pitch, seeing how far he traveled to see the Bacon. That is when Johnston made the realization that his roommate from across the country was just a few feet away.
“I did not think it was him considering he is from California. I figured things out by the time our announcer said he was on his senior trip and would be attending Belmont in the fall,” Johnston said.
Johnston rushed to meet Dolan at the gates, ready to introduce himself to his new roommate.
“He started asking me these questions. After that, he was like ‘I’m 90% sure you are my roommate for next year,’ and when he said that I knew it was Graham because I looked him up on Instagram, and we chatted like we had known each other for a long time,” Dolan said.
With the help of the Macon Bacon, two kids who probably would have never met before living together were able to connect with each other thanks to the game of baseball.
By Lanie De La Milera