SPORTS
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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015
Former Gulls go to bat for Gizdavich
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Budnick,
DeGandi, Knutsen, Mizell,
Pfund, Wickersham … the
names from the past were
all familiar ones Saturday in
Seaside, for an afternoon of
alumni baseball.
Nearly 30 former Sea-
side players gathered for the
first annual Jon Gizdavich
Memorial Doubleheader, to
raise money for a Seaside
High School scholarship,
and also to honor a former
friend and teammate who
lost his life following a car
accident in Corvallis in Jan-
uary 2013.
If the first one is any in-
dication, this alumni day is
going to be a fun one.
“This has been a year in
the making,” said longtime
Seaside baseball coach Joel
Dierickx. “I know Astoria
has an alumni game; at War-
renton, Lennie (Wolfe) was
talking about what a great
event they had last summer.
“So I just thought, we’ll
do something like that, but
let’s make it worth some-
thing,” he said. “And the
very first person that came
to my mind was Jon. He was
a special person, and obvi-
ously his life was cut short.”
Gizdavich was a Class
of 2007 graduate of Seaside
High School, and was near-
ing his graduation from Or-
egon State University at the
time of his death.
“To me, Jon was always
the epitome of someone
who consistently cared
about other people and was
a pleasure to be around,”
Dierickx said. “He had to
overcome some things, but
was about ready to graduate
from college. And then the
tragedy happened.”
To start a scholarship
in his name, Dierickx said,
“was a no-brainer. The goal
was to bring everybody
together and give a little
something. I talked to Bri
GARY HENLEY — The Daily Astorian
Players who participated in Seaside’s first annual Jon Gizdavich Memorial Doubleheader gather for a post-game team photo.
GARY HENLEY — The Daily Astoiran
Terry Gizdavich,wearing her son’s hat, and Jon Gizdav-
ich’s girlfriend, Bri Hostetler, right, were on hand for Sat-
urday’s alumni games.
Hostetler, who was Jon’s
girlfriend, and she and Ter-
ry (Gizdavich), his mother,
jumped on board. It just
steam-rolled from the idea.”
Seaside graduate Ross
Knutsen also helped with
some of the organizing.
Wearing her son’s team
jacket and hat, Terry Gizda-
vich threw out the first pitch
Saturday.
“It’s very emotional,”
she said. “It’s an amazing
thing. Jonny would be so
pleased. He loved baseball.”
Hostetler was also on
hand, and called the day
“awesome. We had a great
response.”
GARY HENLEY — The Daily Astorian
Jeremy Carow, SHS Class of 2009, makes a diving catch
in Game 1 of Saturday’s alumni doubleheader.
There were two play-
ers from the Class of 2000
(Blake Bakken and Mike
Mizell), with others from
2001 to 2014. For most
of the “old” Gulls, it was
their first chance of play-
ing on the new Broadway
Field.
“I really didn’t know
what we’d get from the
pitching side to the hitting
side, but it’s been fun,”
Dierickx said. “They’re
very competitive. It’s been
a good time. We’ve fall-
en on some challenges the
last few years, but when
you look at all these guys,
there’s a lot of playoffs and
victories from the guys who
are here.”
For the record, the
young graduates (2007-14)
beat the older graduates
(2000-06) 6-0 in the first
game, before the old guys
held on for a 4-3 win in
Game 2. The recent grads
trailed by one run with the
bases loaded and one out in
the bottom of the seventh,
before the older graduates
turned a double play to end
the game.
“It was a great event,”
said Dierickx, who served
as the umpire in Game 1,
and was a catcher in Game
2. “Word of mouth got
around. We tried to do it
the best way we thought
— Facebook — and from
that point it just spread.
It’s been fun, and I know
it’s going to get bigger and
better.”
Each player paid a $30
entry fee, with all proceeds
from concessions and the
sales of an alumni day
T-shirt going to the scholar-
ship fund.
Said Dierickx, “In start-
ing a scholarship, I think
we’re going to have a very
good fund right away.”
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