We have personnel news to report from the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Class AA; Southern League), Frisco RoughRiders (Class AA; Texas League) and the Syracuse Chiefs (Class AAA; International League).
The Blue Wahoos added Media and Public Relations Manager Maryjane Gardner and Corporate Sales Executive Brian Larkin to the front office. Gardner will oversee all media relation duties for the team while Larkin will be responsible for developing, managing and closing corporate sponsorships, group ticket sales and full and partial season ticket sales. Both Gardner and Larkin are locals to the Pensacola area.
“We are very excited about the addition of two people who have resided in this area and call it home,” said Jonathan Griffith, Blue Wahoos Executive Vice President. “As our team continues to grow in the community, it was important to fill these positions with two talented individuals and we have accomplished that feat.”
Gardner comes to the Blue Wahoos after spending 10 years with the Florida State University’s sports information office. During her tenure in Tallahassee, Gardner served as the Assistant Sports Information Director for both the men’s golf and men’s tennis teams while managing the press box operations for football and assisting media to cover the Seminoles on a day-to-day basis.
A Milton, Fla., native, Gardner graduated from Florida State in 2006 with a Bachelor’s degree in English-Literature and earned a Master of Science in Sports Management in 2012.
Larkin spent the 2014 season with the Blue Wahoos as a Box Office trainee where his primary responsibility was providing excellent customer service to our fans purchasing tickets at the Box Office and assisting with the management of season ticket holder accounts.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Larkin graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2013 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and has resided in Pace, Fla., the past year.
In addition, radio broadcaster Tommy Thrall will return for his fourth season with the team. Thrall, who has been with the team since its inaugural season, has covered 411 games for the Blue Wahoos.
Broadcasting professionally since 2003, Thrall also reports for WEAR with weekend coverage of college football and has hosted a midday radio show on Cat Country 98.7 since the end of last baseball season. During the fall he broadcasted the Friday Night Rivals high school game of the week on WFGX-TV. He also does regional television announcing with Cox Sports Television and works with the University of West Florida broadcasting some of their basketball and baseball games.
A native of Smithville, Missouri, Thrall earned his degree in broadcasting from Northwest Missouri State University.
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The RoughRiders added Nate Lucas to the organization’s broadcast team for the 2015 season. Lucas will join Riders broadcaster Alex Vispoli in the booth to deliver the play-by-play for every home game and will anchor the team’s pre- and post-game coverage for every contest. He will also assist with the team’s media relations and social media efforts.
Lucas has spent parts of the past seven years assisting with Major League Baseball broadcasts at Busch Stadium in his hometown of St. Louis, Mo. This included providing technical support as an on-site engineer, gathering highlights and player interviews, and serving as a radio booth assistant to St. Louis Cardinals broadcasters Mike Shannon and John Rooney. Lucas has also engineered NFL and NHL broadcasts in addition to working as a producer at The Big 550 KTRS in St. Louis.
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In Syracuse, Eric Gallanty as the team’s new Assistant Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations. Gallanty will join Kevin Brown, who returns for his fifth year with the Chiefs, in the 2015 broadcast booth. The pair will broadcast all Chiefs regular-season and post-season games this season on The Score 1260.
“I am extremely humbled and excited to join the Syracuse Chiefs’ broadcast team,” said Gallanty. “The Chiefs’ radio booth has a long history of exceptional broadcasters, and I am looking forward to working with Kevin to continue that tradition.”
Gallanty comes to the Chiefs after spending one year with the Salem Red Sox (High Class A; Carolina League), where he served as the team’s Media Relations & Broadcasting Assistant. He announced the majority of Salem’s games last year while contributing to the team’s media-relations department. Gallanty is currently the Assistant Sports Director at Syracuse University’s WAER-FM and WJPZ-FM and a senior at Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
“We’re excited to have Eric join us and continue his career in Syracuse,” said Chiefs general manager Jason Smorol. “The Chiefs have always carried on a tradition of excellence in the broadcasting booth. We know Kevin and Eric will keep the strength of that tradition alive.”
Gallanty will work with Brown, who begins his first full season as the team’s Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations. Brown, who started his career with the Chiefs in 2011, took over the lead role last August with the departure of Jason Benetti to national broadcast opportunities with ESPN and Westwood One Sports.
“We chose Eric from a pool of more than 70 applicants for the position,” said Brown. “His work in the Carolina League and at Syracuse University clearly shows his outstanding work ethic and on-air presence. I can’t wait to work with him in 2015, and I know Chiefs fans will enjoy getting to know him on and off the air.”