Home BaseballGateway Grizzlies Grizzlies Sweep Crushers To Conclude 2022

Grizzlies Sweep Crushers To Conclude 2022

Gateway ends season strong, looks forward to more success in 2023

by Jason Guerette

The Gateway Grizzlies ended their season strong on the “Greatest Night in Baseball” by completing a sweep of the Lake Erie Crushers behind a great pitching performance from Carson LaRue (5-5), winning by a final score of 8-2 on Sunday night at GCS Credit Union Ballpark. 

 

In the top of the first inning, Jackson Valera hit a solo home run to left field to quickly give the Crushers a 1-0 lead. But the Grizzlies responded in the bottom of the frame when Kevin Krause launched his tenth home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field, to put the Grizzlies on top 2-1. 

 

The score remained 2-1 into the bottom of the fifth inning when the Grizzlies resumed their offense. Abdiel Diaz led off the frame by hitting a solo home run over the right field wall. Three batters later with two outs, Isaac Benard hit a single, Krause drew a walk, and Zach Racusin drove in a run on an RBI single to make it a 4-1 Grizzlies lead. In the next inning, the Grizzlies led off with a single by Peter Zimmermann and a double by Trevor Achenbach. Diaz then drove in Zimmermann on a groundout to third base and Achenbach two batters later scored on a passed ball. Benard capped the inning with a long, two-run home run to right field to give the Grizzlies an 8-1 lead.

 

LaRue would then finish his final start of the season strong, pitching six innings and allowing just one run while striking out six batters to earn his fifth win of the season. Lake Erie would use a solo homer by Kenen Irizarry to make it 8-2 in the eighth inning, but would get no closer as the Grizzlies completed the sweep with their fourth consecutive win.  

 

As a result, Gateway finished the season with a 47-49 overall record (the most victories on the field since winning 50 games in 2014), with GCS Credit Union Ballpark welcoming 75,766 fans this season over 50 home games in 2022, including 6,751 patrons Sunday in the season finale.

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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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