The busier Lakewood Ranch native Gia Ciaccio is at LECOM Park during a Bradenton Marauders game, the better.
Ciaccio, a Florida State University student, has hopes of a career with a professional sports club. Just listening to her talk about her ambitions as a broadcaster, the excitement in her voice screams ambitiously loud. As this season’s in-game host on the Marauders home schedule, Ciaccio takes her love for the game and appreciation for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Florida State League affiliate seriously.
With the support of Marauders general manager Craig Warzecha and Brian Spradlin, manager of game presentation and marketing, Ciaccio’s role with the club has increased. With 20 Marauders games slated to air on SportsNet Pittsburgh this season, Ciaccio will be joining Bradenton’s play-by-play voice Matthew Hargrove on the broadcasts as the color commentator.
Ciaccio, like Hargrove and many more among the Minor League Baseball ranks, is perfecting her craft with aspirations of one day making it to the MLB level. The upcoming 10 Marauders telecasts from LECOM Park that Ciaccio is scheduled to be a part of can be viewed by subscribers throughout Pirates Nation on either SportsNet or sister channel SportsNet+ (a secondary TV channel used by the regional sports network that features the Pirates and NHL Pittsburgh Pirates). The next game being sent back to Pittsburgh from 'The Friendly City' is set for May 28 at 6:30 p.m. EDT. The St. Lucie Mets (New York Mets affiliate) are in town for the week of May 26-31.
“I love baseball,” Ciaccio said during a phone conversation on Wednesday. “I want to go into broadcasting; that’s my end goal. Brian (Spradlin) gave me the in-game host promotion. When the team wins, I get to do post-game interviews with the star of the game. I’m always coming up with ideas and wanting to do more.”
The Marauders' May 14 mid-week home game with the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (Minnesota Twins affiliate) was Ciaccio’s broadcast debut, sitting alongside Hargrove. She tells of receiving good feedback on what Ciaccio labeled as a “great experience.”
During the telecasts from Bradenton, baseball fans viewing on the SportsNet Pittsburgh platform will see nine of the 10 FSL teams featured. Only the Jupiter Hammerheads won’t be seen on the Marauders’ broadcast schedule when they visit LECOM Park in mid-August.
The 20 Marauders games that are scheduled for SportsNet Pittsburgh run through Saturday, September 5, which is the next-to-last regular-season game. 11 games will be shown on SNP+, and 9 on SNP.
When handling in-game promotions between innings, Ciaccio tells of being given the freedom to make the experience as entertaining as possible. Having fun with baseball for Ciaccio starts with role models she has in the industry. MLB Network’s Lauren Shehadi, Apple TV’s MLB Friday Night sideline reporter Tricia Whitaker, and Tampa Bay Rays sideline reporter Ryan Bass are those Ciaccio follows and would like to emulate in the coming years.
Most importantly for Ciaccio, this baseball season, she has a foot solidly in the industry’s proverbial door. What she is learning in journalism classes at FSU, tied with a “can-do” attitude on game day at LECOM Park, Ciaccio’s future appears bright.
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