Prasco Park – On a day filled with excitement from players and fans alike, the best baseball players from all thirteen GLSCL teams made their way to Mason, Ohio on Tuesday, June 12 to compete in drills, showcase their talents to MLB scouts, and enjoy all the festivities of the 2022 GLSCL All-Star Game. In the ten inning matchup, the South All-Stars defeated the North All-Stars 3-0.
The first half of the game was a classic pitcher’s duel as the All-Star arms largely controlled the pace of the first five innings. The blue jersey clad South All-Stars pitchers held the North All-Stars to just a single hit throughout the entire matchup. Although the North All-Star pitchers also played respectably throughout the game, they did not have an answer for South All-Star Designated Hitter Austin Dearing (State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota).
“I have been grinding over the last seven months after getting Tommy John Surgery,” said Dearing. “I had nothing to do but hit, and it is finally paying off.”
In the bottom of the first inning, Dearing hammered the first hit of the evening on an RBI double to left field driving in Tommy Thamann (Tiffin University) for the first run of the day. On Dearing’s next at bat, the Richmond Jazz star recorded his second double of the day on a deep drive into center field in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jarrett Eaton (University of South Florida) would later drive in Dearing on a sacrifice hit giving the South All-Stars a 2-0 edge.
The final five innings were a continuation of the tone set by the South All-Star Pitchers as the best arms of the GLSCL South Division continued to stifle the North All-Star Batters. The impermeable South All-Stars fielders yielded no hits in the final six innings and made various exhilarating plays. The highlights came in the top of the ninth inning when Shortstop Tommy Rover (Fresno Pacific University) sprinted to shallow right field and made an impressive falling back catch on a fly ball from Michael Tchavdarov (Jackson Community College) to retire the side and in the top of the tenth inning when Right Fielder Kyle Ratliff (Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville) made a spectacular diving catch near the right field wall to rob a base hit from Jayden Davis (Samford University). The bats of the South All-Stars iced the game, adding another run when Grant Miller’s (Ball State University) sacrifice hit scored Tyler Haskins (Fairmont State University). At the end of the ten inning game, the South All-Stars shutout the North All-Stars 3-0.
The GLSCL awarded Austin Dearing with the GLSCL All-Star Game MVP Award. The Richmond Jazz All-Star finished the night 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles, an RBI, and a run. “It is a team award,” stated Dearing after winning the accolade. “We all played well, and it was a fun game.”
ABOUT THE GREAT LAKES SUMMER COLLEGIATE LEAGUE
The Great Lakes Summer Collegiate, founded in 1987, is a wood-bat league that is certified by the NCAA and is partially funded by Major League Baseball. The league currently consists of 13 active franchises in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana boasting several players that have earned service time in major league baseball.
