Writers’ Player of the Game vs. Falmouth Commodores: Jon Jon Gazdar

Shortstop reaches base in each at-bat to take home WPOTG

By: Mike Maynard

Jon Jon Gazdar took home Writers’ Player of the Game Monday night against the Falmouth Commodores. The shortstop went 3-3 with an RBI in the tough, one-run loss.

Gazdar’s most impactful at-bat of the night came in the top of the sixth inning. With runners on second and third for the Harbor Hawks, the Austin Peay product grounded a ball deep into the whole near the Commodores shortstop.

Immediately, Gazdar flew out of the batter’s box, dashing down the first base line to beat the throw. This allowed the runner from third to score in the process, giving Gazdar an RBI single and at the time, shortening the deficit to just two runs for Hyannis.

“[Gazdar] was underneath a couple of balls before driving that one up the middle,” head coach Eric Beattie said. “We talked about it when he was on third base, his ability to make pitch-by-pitch adjustments.”

That wasn’t Gazdar’s only groundball for a hit, as he also found holes in the Falmouth defense in the third and eighth inning. This left his line at 3-3 for the night.

“I think some of the times in my more recent games, I’ve gotten a little sped up,” Gazdar said. “I was just really trying to keep it simple and go one pitch at a time and it paid off.”

The only other opportunity Gazdar had at the plate came in the fifth inning where he worked a ten-pitch at-bat. After fouling off four pitches, he was plunked and issued over to first base to make it four times on the night.

In a tough division loss against the Commodores, Gazdar was quite a nice bright spot. Reaching base each time he came to the plate will never be looked at as anything but a success.

“We just take it day by day,” Gazdar said. “We’ll be right back at it tomorrow. I have no worries for us.”

Mike Maynard can be reached at mikemay62@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @mikecmaynard