The Gateway Grizzlies set a new Frontier League single-season stolen base record on Tuesday night at Wild Things Park, with D.J. Stewart’s swipe of second base in the top of the seventh standing as the 205th stolen base of the 2023 season in an eventual 9-4 road loss to the Washington Wild Things.
Gateway entered the game needing just two steals to match the 2021 Windy City ThunderBolts’ single-season record of 204, and they secured that on a double-steal by league individual leader Jairus Richards and Cole Brannen in the sixth inning, with Richards stealing his 60th base of the year. Stewart then worked a leadoff walk in the seventh, and with Richards batting, the St. Louis native stole the record-setter uncontested. Brannen then added another to give the visitors four in the game, capping off the night on the basepaths in the eighth inning.
The game itself went south quickly for the Grizzlies, as Washington scored runs in each of their first four turns at bat against Joey Gonzalez (9-7), including five times in the first two innings, to eventually take a 7-0 lead before the Grizzlies got on the board in the fifth against Dariel Fregio (3-2).
In the frame, with two outs, Stewart walked, and Cole Barr hit a home run for the second game in a row for the Grizzlies to make it a 7-2 game. In the next stanza, Richards drew a leadoff walk and went to second on Brannen’s single. On the aforementioned double-steal, Washington catcher Melvin Novoa’s throw got into the outfield, allowing Richards to score and cut the deficit to 7-3. Mark Vierling then reached on a fielder’s choice and another error by Washington shortstop Carson Clowers, scoring Brannen to cut the margin to 7-4.
But a pair of errors in the sixth and seventh innings (one in each frame) led to two unearned runs for the Wild Things against the Grizzlies’ pitching staff, with the bats unable to stage a comeback against the Washington bullpen as the home team won the series opener.
Still ahead in the West Division standings by 3.0 games over the second-place Schaumburg Boomers thanks to the latter’s loss on Tuesday night, the Grizzlies will look to even the series on Wednesday, August 16, at 5:05 p.m. CT. Carson LaRue will start the middle game of the midweek set for Gateway.
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.
