The Gateway Grizzlies took both ends of a doubleheader against the Empire State Greys on Saturday night, coming back to win 7-6 on a walk-off single by D.J. Stewart in the resumption of last night’s rain-shortened contest before a four-run fourth inning plus a quality start from Collin Sullivan led Gateway to a 6-2 victory in the second game.
With a 2-0 lead entering the top of the fifth inning of the first game when play resumed this evening, the Greys came back to tie the score in the top of the sixth inning thanks to an RBI single by Manny Garcia and a solo home run by Josh Sears. After Stewart’s second RBI single of the game put Gateway ahead again at 3-2 in the bottom of the same inning, the Greys plated four runs in their half of the seventh, going ahead on a three-run home run by Quentin Holmes, and making the score 6-2 on a balk by Trevor Tietz.
Gateway would come all the way back in the contest. An RBI infield single by Mark Vierling with the bases loaded cut their deficit to 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh before rain came and caused a delay of around 30 minutes. In the eighth inning, a two-out error by shortstop Luis Atiles plated Eric Rivera and made it a 6-5 game heading to the ninth.
Peter Zimmermann led off the final inning with an infield single, and moved to second, then third base on a pair of wild pitches by Tanner Propst (1-2). Vierling also walked on the second wild toss to put the winning run on base, then went to second on yet another wild pitch. Stewart came up next, and hit a walk-off, two-run single off the top of the left-center field wall, giving him four RBIs in the contest and giving Gateway their first walk-off win of the season.
Stewart would also lead off game two in the bottom of the first inning by getting the Grizzlies the lead with another RBI single, this time with two outs off Michael Barker (3-6). That lead would hold until the fourth inning, when the Grizzlies used the extra-base hit to plate four runs in the frame, expanding the lead to 5-0 thanks to an RBI double by Willie Estrada, an RBI triple by Jairus Richards, and a two-run home run by Andrew Penner.
Sullivan (7-2) took it from there, as the Grizzlies’ all-star right-hander tossed six innings of two-run ball with no walks and nine strikeouts in the series-clinching contest.
Gateway will look to sweep the series at Grizzlies Ballpark on Sunday, July 16, at 5:45 p.m. CT, sending Joey Gonzalez to the mound for the finale against Greys right-hander and former Grizzlie Andres Rodriguez.
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.
