Bluffton University baseball players are going to bat against childhood cancer. Most, however, won't be taking their hair to the plate with them.

More than 40 Bluffton players-plus coaches-have been raising money this month for the St. Baldrick's Foundation, a Monrovia, Calif.-based charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancer.

Setting a goal of $2,500 on the first day of preseason practice, the team had already exceeded it by more than $1,000 on Feb. 6-less than a week later-and just surpassed the doubled goal of $5,000.

The fundraising effort is part of Bluffton baseball's participation in BaseBald for the Cure, the "bald" part of which will happen, at Bluffton, when the players and coaches have their heads shaved at noon Wednesday, Feb. 29, in The Commons in Marbeck Center.

The mass shaving, courtesy of stylists from The Curling Iron in Bluffton, is a show of support for children battling cancer, and just in time for the team's annual season-opening, spring-break games in Florida.

BaseBald for the Cure was organized two years ago at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill by Chase Jones, a brain cancer survivor. He is now working to expand the program through St. Baldrick's, recruiting participating teams such as Bluffton, whose assistant coach, Aaron Hutchison, learned about it at a recent national coaches' conference.

For more information about St. Baldrick's, or to make a donation, visit the organization's website at www.stbaldricks.org.