Grizzlies Blast Off Late To Take Series From Slammers

SAUGET – The Gateway Grizzlies and Joliet Slammers were tied at 1-1 going to the bottom of the eighth inning, and on the first pitch of the frame, D.J. Stewart hit a go-ahead home run as part of a two-run inning that stood as the difference in a 3-1 victory at Grizzlies Ballpark for the home team.

In a game where both teams used “spot starters,” both Alvery De Los Santos and Zach Grace kept things low-scoring. De Los Santos would surrender the game’s first run in the top of the fourth inning after a pair of Gateway errors began the frame, leading eventually to an RBI groundout by Cal Hejza for a 1-0 Slammers lead.

But the right-hander would allow just the single unearned run while pitching into the sixth inning, walking one and striking out six to keep the Grizzlies in the game. After his counterpart Grace departed following four innings of work, Gateway would then tie the score with two outs in the bottom of the fifth on a clutch single down the third base line by Gabe Holt, making the score 1-1 against Frank Plesac.

The Gateway bullpen would hold the line there. Alec Whaley finished off the sixth inning for De Los Santos, with Joel Condreay and Matt Hickey (2-2) tossing scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth, respectively. In the bottom of the eighth, after Ian Delleman (0-3) had previously tossed a scoreless seventh, Stewart led off and cracked Delleman’s first pitch over the double wall in left field for a go-ahead home run, putting the Grizzlies in front for the first time in the game at 2-1.

Gateway would also add another run of insurance later in the inning against David Harrison, with Edwin Mateo doubling with one out, going to third on a wild pitch, and scoring on a two-out RBI single by Cole Brannen to center field. Now leading 3-1, the Grizzlies turned the ball over to Leoni De La Cruz, and the flamethrowing left-hander worked around a pair of walks in the top of the ninth to record his third save of the season, clinching the series victory and bringing an end to Gateway’s five-game losing skid on Sundays.

Now at 32-24, having once again tied their season-high water mark of eight games over .500, the Grizzlies will rest up this week during the Frontier League All-Star break before returning to action on Friday, July 19, on the road against the Schaumburg Boomers, with first pitch of the series opener scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT.

Grizzlies’ Late Rally Snuffed Out In Loss To Slammers

The Gateway Grizzlies nearly came back from a 5-0 deficit on Saturday night, plating four unanswered runs in the later innings, but could not equalize in a 5-4 loss at Grizzlies Ballpark against the Joliet Slammers.

The game was scoreless until the top of the third inning, when Joliet ended up plating all five of their runs. A bunt single followed by three consecutive walks issued by Lukas Veinbergs (1-4) plated the game’s first run, with an RBI going to Victor Nova. On the next at-bat, Matthew Warkentin dumped an RBI single into center field, with the ball bouncing high on the turf and off Cole Brannen’s glove for a critical error, clearing the bases on the play while sending Warkentin to third, and putting the Slammers up 4-0. An Antonio Valdez sacrifice fly then made the score 5-0.

Including that sacrifice fly, Veinbergs bore down, retiring 11 of the final 12 batters he faced in a six-inning start. Offensively, the Grizzlies began their comeback in the fifth inning against Brett Sanchez (4-1), as Tate Wargo led off with a bunt single, and went to third base on a single by Jose Alvarez before Abdiel Diaz scored Wargo on a sacrifice fly, making it 5-1. In the seventh inning, Gateway got within 5-2 on a wild pitch by reliever Ian Delleman, setting up the consequential bottom of the eighth inning.

Joliet’s David Harrison got the first two men of the inning out, but Kevin Krause extended the inning with an infield single to shortstop. Brannen then walked after being behind 0-2 in the count, and pinch-hitter Kyle Gaedele was hit by the pitch, loading the bases and putting the tying run on first, and forcing a pitching change. Alvarez then reached on an RBI infield single of his own up the middle, scoring Krause to make it 5-3. Diaz then followed with a single to left field to make it 5-4, but while obstruction was called as Gaedele made his way towards third base, the tying runner was not awarded home plate, and instead was thrown out at home to end the inning, keeping the Grizzlies down a run.

In the ninth, Gabe Holt led off with his fourth hit of the game off Cameron Smith, but a double-play ground ball and a pop-out ended the contest, and sent Gateway to their first loss against the Slammers this season in four contests.

Bats Come Alive Late As Grizzlies Top Joliet

The Gateway Grizzlies broke open a 1-1 game with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, then piled on insurance late in an 8-2 victory over the Joliet Slammers on Friday night at Grizzlies Ballpark, the club’s seventh in their last nine games.

The game began as yet another pitcher’s duel this week, as Teague Conrad (5-2) and Dwayne Marshall (1-7) were both sharp. It was Marshall who broke first, as David Maberry led off the second inning with a single against his former Sussex County teammate, and Jack-Thomas Wold doubled to right field. With runners at second and third base, Kevin Krause brought in Maberry with an RBI groundout for a 1-0 Grizzlies lead.

Joliet would score the tying run off Conrad in the fifth inning, as Braden Duhon hit a one-out, sinking line drive into left field that eluded a sliding Krause, going all the way to the wall for a triple. Liam McArthur then tied the game at 1-1 on a sacrifice fly, but Conrad would permit just the one run in seven outstanding innings, walking just one and striking out nine.

He would then become the winning pitcher when the Grizzlies’ bats woke up in the late innings. In the bottom of the sixth, Edwin Mateo led off with a single, and stole second after a Maberry strikeout. Wold then scored the go-ahead run with an RBI double to left-center field to make it 2-1 Grizzlies, and was followed by back-to-back infield singles by Krause and Tate Wargo, the latter of which brought in Wold to make the score 3-1. Jose Alvarez then came up clutch with a two-out RBI single to center field two batters later for a three-run inning and a 4-1 Grizzlies advantage.

Gateway would keep up the offense in the seventh and eighth innings, scoring a pair of runs in both frames to pull away. In the seventh, Krause came up with runners at second and third base and two outs, and doubled down the left field line to push the lead to 6-1, and in the eighth, after Joliet scored a run on an Antonio Valdez RBI single, Gabe Holt and Mateo knocked back-to-back RBI singles for the final 8-2 margin.

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