Home Baseball Miners Ride Ace, Long Ball To Win On Opening Night

Miners Ride Ace, Long Ball To Win On Opening Night

by Jason Guerette
The Southern Illinois Miners got seven innings from the reigning Frontier League Pitcher of the Year Matt Bywater and two homers that provided all the offense they needed in a 3-1 road win over the Lake Erie Crushers at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio on Friday night.
After both Bywater (1-0) and Lake Erie right-hander Jason Wilson (0-1) put zeroes on the scoreboard through the first two frames, the Miners broke through in the third when Toby DeMello planted an opposite-field homer over the fence in right in his first at-bat as a Miner for a 1-0 visitors lead.
Bywater then settled into a groove, retiring seven straight Crushers before giving up a ground-rule double in the fourth to Anderson Hidalgo, one of just three hits against him all night. After Hidalgo moved to third on a ground ball, an error on another grounder with two outs plated him and tied the game at 1-1.
DeMello would get the offense started again in the sixth when he tripled to right-center to lead off the inning on the first pitch he saw from Wilson. The next pitch was hit over the fence in right-center by Aaron Gates for a go-ahead two-run homer that provided the final margin of victory for Southern Illinois.
Lake Erie was able to get the tying runs on base in the eighth around a short rain delay, but Will Rankin came in and got Hidalgo to fly out to end the eighth before pitching a perfect ninth, fanning Ty Nelson to notch his first save in a Miners uniform and extend his scorless streak to 25 1/3 consecutive innings dating back to last season.
DeMello finished 2-for-3 with a triple, homer, two runs scored and an RBI while Gates went 1-for-3 with his two-run blast. Bywater ended up tossing 88 pitches in seven innings of work, surrendering just three hits and one unearned run with one walk and eight strikeouts to match his season-high from 2014.
The Miners will go for the series win in game two on Saturday evening, with righty Adam Lopez making his Miners debut against Lake Erie’s Brad Zambron.
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Jason Guerette is the Grizzlies' Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations and the "Voice of the Grizzlies." 2023 will be his second season with the organization, handling lead broadcasting duties on the Grizzlies Media Network as well as being in charge of all team press releases and game-day media materials.

2023 will also be Jason's ninth season in the Frontier League after spending 2014-21 in the same role with the Southern Illinois Miners. Overall, he has broadcasted close to 800 games in the league, including playoffs. During the baseball offseason, he serves as a play-by-play broadcaster for Manhattan College and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, with games being seen on ESPN+ among other platforms.

In addition to broadcasting, Jason works as a public address announcer for Seton Hall University women's basketball as well as Columbia University men's and women's basketball. He also spent nine years working "behind the scenes" as a freelance board operator and highlight editor at Westwood One for their coverage of the NFL, NCAA football, and NCAA basketball.

Jason graduated from Seton Hall in 2012 with B.A. in Communication Studies and a minor in Broadcasting & Visual Media.

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