The Gateway Grizzlies fell behind big early, and could never recover in losing to the Tri-City ValleyCats on Friday night by a score of 16-4 at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.Â
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Carson LaRue (2-3) struggled in the game, allowing a pair of homers in the bottom of the first which gave Tri-City a 3-0 lead. The ValleyCats then scored a single run in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead before Gateway responded in the top of the third- Ian Bibiloni hit a solo homer in his first at-bat with the Grizzlies, and Isaac Benard followed with a bomb of his own later in the inning to make it a 4-2 Gateway deficit.Â
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But another homer, this one by Brad Zunica, made it 5-2, and the ValleyCats chased LaRue with a three-run fourth inning to make the score 8-2. After Justin Ferrell tossed a pair of scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth, the wheels fell off the cart for the Grizzlies in the seventh, as they issued five walks (giving them a season-high-tying nine in the game overall) and also gave up two more home runs in what became an eight-run inning, with Denis Phipps’ grand slam making the score 16-2.Â
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Kevin Krause would get the Grizzlies back on the board in the top of the eighth with a two-run double, but it was too little, too late for a comeback as Gateway dropped the series opener in their first-ever meeting with the ValleyCats.Â
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Gateway will look to bounce back on Saturday, July 23, at 6:00 p.m. CT in the middle game of the series against Tri-City, with J.P. Williams taking the mound for the Grizzlies against ValleyCats southpaw Ryan Williamson at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.
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.
