Gateway Grizzlies’ ace Collin Sullivan (10-4) pitched yet another quality start on the road at Mercy Health Stadium on Saturday night, and set a new club single-season strikeout record in the process, but the offense could not back up the performance on the mound in a 2-1 loss to the Lake Erie Crushers.
After Lake Erie jumped in front in the bottom of the first inning against Sullivan on a Josh Rego RBI bloop single, Sullivan settled in, and ended up allowing just one more run in the game on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning off the bat of Jackson Pritchard, making the score 2-0. The right-hander struck out five in the contest, and his strikeout of former Grizzlie Zach Racusin in the fifth inning was historic, as it was his league-leading 121st of the season to surpass former Gateway aces Scott Patterson (who struck out 120 batters in 2003 and 2004) and Vince Molesky (who fanned 120 in the 2017 season) for the most in a single campaign in Grizzlies history.
The Grizzlies’ bats, however, were nearly silent against a quintet of Lake Erie pitchers. Gateway had numerous opportunities with the tying run on base and in scoring position in the game against several different Crushers arms, but could not come through in the clutch until Kyle Gaedele put them on the board in the top of the eighth inning with a two-out RBI single. They would go quietly in the ninth, however, in suffering the road loss.
Gateway will look to win the series in the rubber game on Sunday, August 20, with an afternoon first pitch time of 1:05 p.m. CT at Mercy Health Stadium. Joey Gonzalez will look to bounce back on the bump against former Grizzlie Matt Mulhearn.
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.
