PARK RIVER — A day after he was resuscitated by a defibrillator in the middle of a baseball game, Dex Avdem returned to the Park River fields with Life Saver gummies.

He distributed the candy to a select group: the bystanders who likely saved his life.

Avdem, a catcher for Thompson, suffered cardiac arrest on Aug. 3 after he was struck in the chest by a foul baseball in a North Dakota Class B American Legion state tournament game against LaMoure.

A paramedic with Altru, Todd Elfman, happened to be an umpire on the game. He quickly realized it was more than a standard injury.

Elfman, joined by a collection of fellow medically trained bystanders, rushed to address the situation. They began applying CPR.

Thanks in part to the planning of Misty Praska, the tournament director, an AED (aut

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