The Gateway Grizzlies surrendered four two-out home runs, accounting for eight of the nine runs the Tri-City ValleyCats scored on Friday night at Grizzlies Ballpark, and despite a late offensive surge, they fell 9-5 in the series opener.
The scoring started in the second inning when Trey Hair hit a solo home run off Joey Gonzalez (3-2) with two outs, making the score 1-0. The next frame, Carson McCusker hit a three-run shot to make it 4-0, also with two outs, and after Gonzalez settled down with a pair of scoreless frames, Hair came up in the sixth and made it 5-0 with his second two-out solo shot of the contest.
Gateway was unable to solve Tri-City starter Dan Beebe (1-0) until the sixth inning, when they chased the rookie from his professional debut with a leadoff double by Gabe Holt followed two batters later by an RBI single from Clint Freeman, putting the Grizzlies on the board and making the score 5-1. Gateway would also score a pair of runs in both the seventh and the eighth thanks to RBI doubles by Abdiel Diaz and Holt in the former, and RBIs from D.J. Stewart and Holt in the latter.
But Tri-City kept on scoring with two outs, as Zach Biermann hit a three-run home run in the top of the seventh, and the ValleyCats got their final run on no hits thanks to a two-out, two-base error in the top of the eighth inning, becoming the first team this season to beat the Grizzlies in an opener of a three-game series as well as the first road team to record a victory in Sauget in a night game in 2023.
Holt led the way for the Grizzlies’ 13-hit attack by going 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs, while Stewart, Diaz, and Jairus Richards also enjoyed multi-hit games in the defeat.
The Grizzlies will try and even their series against the ValleyCats on Saturday night, June 10, at 6:45 p.m. CT. Lukas Veinbergs will pitch for Gateway against Dwayne Marshall of Tri-City in the contest.
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.
