The Gateway Grizzlies used home runs by the double-play combination of Abdiel Diaz and Gabe Holt, plus a solid team-wide pitching effort to beat the Washington Wild Things on Sunday night at Grizzlies Ballpark, sweeping the weekend series with their fourth win in a row overall.
Both starters were sharp early, as Zac Ryan and Hayden Shenefield worked around men on base in the first couple of frames. Diaz broke the scoreless tie with a solo home run over the left-center field wall to make it 1-0 Gateway, and in the fifth inning, J.C. Santini answered with his first professional home run to the same part of the ballpark, tying the score at 1-1.
Gateway would regain the lead, however, in the sixth inning. Diaz led off the inning with a single, and Holt stepped up to the plate and cracked a two-run, go-ahead home run down the left field line to put the Grizzlies up 3-1. They would also add an insurance run in the eighth inning on an RBI infield hit by Andrew Penner, taking a 4-1 lead into the ninth.
That insurance run would prove to be the game winner, as Washington scored multiple runs in the ninth inning for the third night in a row in Sauget, this time on a two-run home run by Wagner Lagrange to get within 4-3. But Colton Easterwood locked things down from there, nailing down his sixth save of the season as the Grizzlies swept Washington for the first time since 2019 and the first time at home since 2013.
Ryan set the tone with five innings on the mound for the Grizzlies, with Trevor Tietz (1-0), Alec Whaley, and Nate Garkow combining for three shutout innings of relief to hold the Wild Things’ offense down.
Now back in a tie for first with the Schaumburg Boomers atop the Frontier League’s West division, the Grizzlies will look to keep their win streak going when they head back to Bosse Field for a rematch against the Evansville Otters, against whom they dropped two out of three games last weekend. The first pitch of the midweek series is set for 6:35 p.m. CT in Evansville
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.
