The Gateway Grizzlies kicked off their Independence Week series against the Florence Y’alls with a bang, scoring 10 runs in their first three turns at bat, and crushing five homers as a club en route to a 15-1 blowout victory in front of 6,712 fans at Grizzlies Ballpark.
In the first inning, the newly-minted Grizzlies all-stars shone brightly, with Gabe Holt leading off with a double, then scoring on an RBI single by Jairus Richards for a 1-0 Gateway lead. Two batters later, Peter Zimmermann unloaded a two-run home run to left field to make it 3-0, picking up his league-leading 59th and 60th RBIs in the process.
The Grizzlies were far from done. In the second inning, they increased the lead to 4-0 on an RBI single by Holt, and three batters later, with two outs, Zimmermann came up again and hit another home run, this time a three-run shot, to give him five RBIs on the day and put the Grizzlies ahead 7-0.
In the third, after Florence scored what proved to be their only run of the ballgame on an RBI groundout by Lane Hoover, Gateway tacked on even more runs, with Alex Hernandez wrapping his first home run of the season around the left field foul pole to make the score 9-1. Holt then followed on the next pitch with a home run of his own to right-center field, pushing the Grizzlies’ lead out to 10-1.
Gateway would complete their scoring in the sixth inning, when they plated five runs with two outs on an RBI double by Clint Freeman, an RBI single by D.J. Stewart, and a three-run bomb by Eric Rivera to right field.
Holt’s three hits led a 16-hit effort by the club that included seven different players with multi-hit performances. Zimmermann finished 2-for-2 with three runs scored and five RBIs, with three other Grizzlies also recording two or more runs batted in on the night. Meanwhile, on the mound, Joey Gonzalez (4-5) was brilliant, limiting the Florence bats to a single run over seven innings on three hits to earn his first victory since June 2.
After the total team victory, Gateway will look to take the series from the Y’alls on Independence Day, July 4, at 7:05 p.m. Lukas Veinbergs will look to ride the momentum when he takes the mound to start the contest for the Grizzlies against the Y’alls and right-hander Jake McMahill.
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.
