RIVERSIDE – The 8th annual Austin Gorrell Memorial Baseball Classic recently featured 47 local high school teams playing in games, honoring the former JW North and University of Nevada baseball player, as well as his mother, Gina, who lost her battle to pancreatic cancer in late October.

Austin’s condition, called cardiomyopathy, was diagnosed during his preseason freshman physical in 2015, before he passed away in his dorm room bed months later. The Austin Gorrell Memorial Baseball Classic was then created as a way to not only help honor Austin, but to also help local players with scholarship opportunities for college.

After five days of winter baseball over the weekend before Thanksgiving, as well as during the week of, the tournament wrapped up with the gold bracket championship game between Orange Lutheran and Los Osos. This was the largest field of teams the tournament has seen to date and the Gorrell family wasn’t alone in seeing this year’s event through. With an army of extended family, friends, former teammates, former coaches and volunteers, Kerry, and Adam Gorrell (Austin’s dad and brother) were full of so many emotions while this year’s tournament went off as Gina had planned, and then some.

“We just kept our faith, and did what we always do,” said Kerry. “I know next year is going to be hard, (Gina) was the backbone to getting things done. We had coaches telling us they had just heard from her on the Wednesday before she passed, and she was asking me about numbers of teams the day before. That’s who my wife was, strong to the finish.”

As for the final game, the OC Lightning defeated Los Osos 2-1 with game-winning run coming in the bottom of the seventh inning. Not only was the outcome exciting for the final two teams competing, but it was also an emotional all-around ending to help the family deal with this year’s extra cause. The real highlight of the night came for 10 recipients of the Austin Gorrell Scholarship awards, which took place prior to the game where $45,300 was awarded to 10 essay winners, which was an increase of more than $12,000 from last year.

The senior ball players were asked to write an essay detailing what the scholarship would mean to them, and those 10 winners included three players from the Southwestern League, all from Great Oak. Senior Dylan Fien, who is headed to UCLA after graduation in 2024, was awarded a $10,000 scholarship for his essay about the death of his younger brother and his parent’s divorce.

Dylan Fien of Great Oak, pictured here with Kerry and Adam Gorrell (left), was awarded the highest amount of this year’s scholarship fund from the Austin Gorrell Memorial Baseball Classic. Valley News/Courtesy photo

“I wrote about how those things impacted me at such a vulnerable time in my life, and how I use baseball as a conduit to get through the challenging times. It also helps me find an identity in myself,” Fien told the media afterwards.

2023 scholarship recipients are Oscar Saldana of JW North ($2,000); Ryan Carter of Great Oak ($2,000); Nathan Albrecht of Riverside Poly ($2,500); Adam Booker of JW North ($3,000); Gabriel Cortez of JW North ($3,300 in honor of Gina); Josh Trapp of Great Oak ($4,000); Luke Medure of Riverside Poly ($5,000); Bret Inmon of Citrus Hill ($6,500); Cade Pue of Eleanor Roosevelt ($7,000); Dylan Fein of Great Oak ($10,000).

The tournament has now awarded more than 70 high school seniors with more than $203,000 in scholarships since 2015. Area high school teams that competed in the tournament this year included Great Oak, Chaparral, Heritage, Citrus Hill, Liberty, Temescal Canyon, Paloma Valley, Murrieta Mesa, Murrieta Valley, and Vista Murrieta. As December arrives, preparations are already underway for next year’s tournament. To find out more information, visit www.austingorrellbaseballclassic.com.

JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia.com.

JP Raineri
JP Raineri

JP is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and head of the Sports Department for the Valley News. Over his time in the Temecula Valley, JP, a former Southwestern League head baseball coach, was also an on-air radio personality at Q103.3, KATY 101.3, Hot 103.9, and was a television host for the Outdoor Channel. When not covering local, or national sports, JP also serves as an Associate Baseball Scout with NSR.