The Southern Illinois Miners were able to rally back from a three-run deficit in the eighth inning to make it a one-run ballgame in the ninth, and got the tying run on base in the ninth but could not complete the comeback, falling 4-3 to the Normal CornBelters on Saturday night at Rent One Park.
The Miners led right away against true rookie right-hander Robert Baroniel in the first, as Aaron Gates led off with a triple and scored on Michael Earley’s sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. Miguel Ramirez (1-5), making his first start since coming off the disabled list, held the fort until the fourth inning, getting out of a couple jams against the CornBelters order before Mark Micowski hit a three-run homer to give the visitors a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Jon Klein was masterful out of the bullpen in relief of Ramirez, pitching five innings and giving up only three hits and one unearned run to keep the Miners in the game. His only run, however, proved to be the winning run as Pat McKenna reached on an error and scored in the top of the seventh inning, making the score 4-1.
The Miners got back on the board with a rally against Cole Brocker in the eighth. Gates led off with a walk, Earley singled and Niko Vasquez walked to load the bases with no one out. After a strikeout for the first out, Joe Rapp hit an RBI single to right to make it 4-2. Jerrud Sabourin then hit a sacrifice fly after an eight-pitch at-bat to advance all baserunners and make the score 4-3. With the tying run at third, Race Parmenter got the final out, however, and the Miners trailed by one. Gates got on with two outs in the ninth, but the Miners could not bring him home in suffering the series loss.
Southern Illinois will look to salvage the finale of the series on Sunday evening at 5:05 p.m., starting Adam Lopez against Normal’s Kevin Johnson.
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.
