Lavigne will attend baseball dinner
- Updated: October 29, 2018
MANCHESTER — First-round draft pick and former Bedford High School standout Grant Lavigne will join the celebrity guest list for the 2018 Granite State Baseball Dinner, presented by Northeast Delta Dental.
Lavigne, who was drafted 42nd overall by the Colorado Rockies last June, is the first New Hampshire native selected in the first round of the MLB Draft since Chris Carpenter (1993), who attends the dinner annually.
This year’s fundraising event will be held on Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. at the Manchester Downtown Hotel Expo Center. Since 2007, the event has donated more than $1.65 million to its three beneficiaries: the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD), the Ted Williams Foundation, and the Fisher Cats Foundation. Tickets are available at NHFisherCats.com.
Lavigne was named New Hampshire’s Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year as a sophomore and a senior, hitting .639 with seven home runs and 26 RBIs this year. He led Bedford to four appearances in the NHIAA State Championship Game at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, and won a title in 2016.
His professional career began this summer, as he looks to become the first hitter drafted from a New Hampshire high school to make it to the big leagues.
Currently ranked No. 8 among Rockies prospects by MLB.com, the 19-year-old hit .350 with six home runs and 38 RBIs in 59 games with the Rookie Level Grand Junction Rockies. Lavigne was named a Pioneer League Mid-Season All-Star, Post-Season All-Star, and Player of the Week for the final week of June. He played first base, third base and left field while in high school, but is being developed as a power-hitting first baseman in the Colorado organization.
Lavigne will sign autographs along with the rest of the celebrity guests, including first ballot Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter, Big Red Machine staple George Foster, Orioles legend Scott McGregor, former big leaguer and current Fox Sports Sun broadcaster Orestes Destrade, as well as Red Sox greats Bill Lee, Luis Tiant, Rich Gedman and Bob Stanley.
The dinner will also include a live and silent auction, where attendees can bid on priceless memorabilia including a Ted Williams signed fighter pilot photo, a David Ortiz farewell collage, a Tom Brady ‘Greatest of All-Time’ collage, and a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. autographed baseball bat.
Tickets for this year’s event are $80 and can be purchased at NHFisherCats.com and by calling 603-641-2005.
Doors to the event will open at 5 p.m. with a silent auction and an autograph session with the honored guests from 5-7 p.m. The dinner and the evening’s program will begin at 7 p.m.
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