We at GameDay Sports PG were devastated to hear the loss of one of our local players this past July. Jaysen Carr was an active, intelligent, and athletic 12-year-old boy. He passed away in July 2025 from a rare and deadly brain infection caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri. He contracted the infection after swimming in Lake Murray, a warm freshwater reservoir near Columbia.

The Jaysen Carr Memorial Tournament will be held in the Midlands and CSRA area Oct 18-19, 2025. We have been in contact with two non-profit research centers specifically focusing on drugs to defeat Naegleria fowleri. One nonprofit group at Northeastern University, headed by professors, is working with two students on research centered around drug discovery for rare and neglected diseases that are often overlooked by the for-profit pharmaceutical industry. This brain-eating amoeba is at the top of their list. Also, James Morris from Clemson is in charge of a research group at the Clemson University Eukaryotic Pathogens Innovation Center. They have identified a compound that inhibits a key enzyme that brain-eating amoebas need to live, while a second laboratory is working on a more efficient and effective way to get that compound into the brain.

With the blessing of the Carr family, all money donated to this fundraiser will be split among the two research groups when the fundraiser closes the evening of October 19th, 2025.

We know our baseball families rise to the occasion when others are in need. Please support these great research groups in memory of Jaysen!