CRESSON — Brother vs. brother.

Not a war by any stretch, but an occurrence so unique it may have never happened before.

Mars graduate D.J. Cannon made his collegiate baseball head coaching debut Sunday when his Chatham team traveled to Mount Aloysius for a doubleheader.

Chatham lost Cannon's debut game, 4-3. The winning pitcher for Mount Aloysius? D.J.'s younger brother, Doug.

Also a Mars grad, Doug Cannon, a junior right-hander, came out of the bullpen to work five innings, surrendering only a pair of hits and a single run. He became the winner when the Mounties scored the deciding run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Doug is 10 years younger than D.J.

“Given the circumstances, a guy's coaching debut, his brother pitching and winning for the other team ... probably never happened before in sports,” Mount Aloysius coach Kevin Kime said. “I'd bet on that.”

“It was definitely a little weird,” Doug said of taking the mound as the opposing pitcher in his brother's first game. “It wasn't something I was sure I wanted to do.

“I'm one of the four starters in our rotation. I wasn't going to be one of our starters Sunday because of the situation. But when our coach asked me to start warming up ... It was just strange out there in the bullpen, getting ready. It didn't feel like a real game to me because my brother was in the other dugout.”

D.J. admitted to having mixed emotions when he saw Doug take the mound.

“As a brother, I was excited to see him pitch so well,” he said. “As a coach, he was doing it against my team.

“I told our hitters how he likes to attack left-handed and right-handed batters. But Doug's really good at mixing up pitches, changing speeds, keeping hitters off-balance.”

On the scoreboard, Doug Cannon was the winner.

In reality, the Cannon family owned the day.

Doug and D.J.'s parents, Shawn and Judy Cannon, attended the game. One wore a Mount Aloysius sweatshirt and Chatham cap, the other a Chatham sweatshirt and Mount Aloysius cap.

Their grandfather, 85-year-old Joe Cummings, was also in attendance.

“He wasn't going to go at first,” Shawn Cannon said. “But Coach Kime allowed us to pull the car up right next to the field, gave him a golf cart to use to get to the bathroom — he really wanted him to be a part of this.

“Joe is an incredible person. He helped both of his grandsons during their recruiting and has closely followed their baseball careers all their lives.”

It was a scheduling quirk that enabled Cummings to attend the game. He is scheduled for surgery in March and the Chatham-Mount Aloysius twinbill was originally slated for next month.

When Kime saw the nice weather moving in Sunday, he figured, why not play now?

“This is my 14th year of coaching and as time goes on, I've learned this game is about developing relationships,” Kime said. “And I've developed a great relationship with the Cannon family.

“I called D.J. up and asked him if he wanted to play Sunday. He said of course he wanted to play. So in two days time, we put the thing together. I never thought about the brother thing at first. Once I did, I knew it'd be a special day for that family. I'm glad Joe could be a part of it.”

Kime allowed the Cannon family on the field before the game to take pictures.

“I know what it meant to my grandfather to see both of his grandsons on the same field. He knows every statistic of every game Dougie and I have ever played,” D.J. said.

“He charted our pitch counts, our balls and strikes. He'd give us his evaluation after every game.”

Shawn Cannon said D.J. is responsible for Doug's success in baseball.

“D.J. just had natural talent when he played. It had nothing to do with me,” Mr. Cannon said. “But when brothers are so many years apart, the older one may not want the younger one tagging along.

“D.J. wasn't like that at all. He took so much interest in Dougie's baseball. He helped him, worked with him all the time.”

Doug Cannon agreed.

“It's been that way to this day,” he said. “I'll send him video of my pitching and he'll break it down, tell me what I'm doing wrong.”

Kime said he didn't hesitate to put Doug in the game once it started.

“I didn't anticipate him pitching five innings and getting the win,” he admitted. “When I put him out there, I didn't even bring up the brother thing. I didn't want to put any more pressure on him.

“I know it was going through his mind. I just stayed quiet and let him pitch his game.”

Shawn Cannon confessed he didn't know who to root for or when.

“I just watched the game and let it transpire,” he said.

Mount Aloysius only won 10 games during Doug's freshman year. The Mounties won 27 last year, were nationally ranked for a brief time in Division III, and have hopes of winning their conference this year.

Chatham's baseball program is in its fourth year.

“We just want to get better every day,” D.J. said.

Mount Aloysius plays in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. Chatham plays in the Presidents' Athletic Conference.

The Mounties swept Sunday's twinbill, 4-3 and 4-2. Now the teams — and brothers — go their separate ways for the season.

“My family won that day,” D.J. said of Sunday. “It was an awesome day for everyone. This is a forever family memory, that's for sure.”