Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Gladstone Indians outfielders Ian Schwalbach (left) and Blake Krouth hold up a No. 8 jersey in center field prior to Tuesday night’s home game against Escanaba to honor the life of former Indian Christian Groleau, who passed away in January. Indians manager Justin Jurek says “I think Gladstone will always have an angel in the outfield.”

GLADSTONE — Before the Escanaba Cubs and Gladstone Indians met for a fun night of rivalry baseball Tuesday night, the Indians took a moment to remember the life of Christian Groleau, who was part of the Indians state championship team in 2014.

He passed away a couple months ago, and the Indians felt they needed to do something to honor him. Indians manager Justin Jurek wrote a letter about Groleau and what he meant to Gladstone baseball. The letter was read by the PA announcer before the game and was followed by a moment of silence.

Then before the first pitch was thrown, Indians’ left fielder Ian Schwalbach and right fielder Blake Krouth joined together to hold up Groleau’s No. 8 jersey in center field in his honor.

Christian’s dad, Jim, was also involved in Gladstone baseball for many years from Little League all the way on up to managing the Indians’ state title team in ’14.

“With Christian passing here a couple months ago, it only felt right that we did something, not only in his honor, but to honor Jim and the legacy that both of them kind of left together,” Jurek said. “Since I was nine years old, him and I had played on the same all-star teams and travel teams together, and Jim was always the coach of our teams. So even tonight when I saw the guys bring in the jersey from center field and give it to Jim and Charlotte (Christian’s mother), it was kind of cool. It brought the memory back of when we won the state championship in ’14 when Crazy (Christian’s nickname) actually caught the last out of the game, and he went sprinting all the way in and just went straight to Jim and just gave him a big hug. It was a long time coming championship.

“Over the years, since I was nine, we had taken second in states, third in states, back and forth all over again and we had never got over that hump until ironically the last season where we all together there in 2014. That older group finally graduated, so it was a big relief to finally get over that hump for everyone. That’s one memory that I always kind of remember is Crazy just going straight to his dad’s arms to give him that ‘finally got over the hump’ hug.”

The Indians also plan on honoring Christian by planting a tree in his honor outside of the fence down the third baseline.

“I think Gladstone will always have an angel in the outfield with Crazy,” Jurek said. “He’s very well known for racing and baseball. I think nobody will ever forget him in that spot in center field.”