Brown Blasts Walk-Off Grand Slam to Lift Grizzlies over CornBelters
Published on August 25, 2015 under Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
SAUGET, Ill. -- Blake Brown's grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning on Tuesday night lifted the Gateway Grizzlies to a 6-3 win over the Normal CornBelters at GCS Ballpark.
The win was the Grizzlies' (36-48) seventh in walk-off fashion. Normal (52-33) led 3-2 entering the final inning and never trailed until Brown left the yard.
Cody Livesay and Seth Heck set the table for Brown's heroics with one-out walks. Heck's battle with Cole Brocker (4-2) lasted 10 pitches. After Craig Massoni struck out to put the Grizzlies down to their final out, Ben Waldrip walked to load the bases.
Brown then launched a 1-0 pitch over the right field fence to bring everybody home and give Gateway the dramatic 6-3 win. The Grizzlies have now won six of their past seven games.
Gateway also came back from a 2-0 deficit earlier in the game. Starting RHP Trevor Richards allowed only two earned runs in seven innings of work. Normal scored one run off the rookie in the first inning and another in the fourth when Santiago Churino went deep.
Outside of that, Richards kept the CornBelters off the scoreboard and the Gateway offense backed him up with a run in the fifth inning and another in the eighth.
Grant Buckner singled to lead off the fifth before RHP Jake Negrete settled down and retired the next two. However, Gateway had some two-out magic in them. Cody Livesay singled to move Buckner to second and Heck followed suit with an RBI single to bring Buckner home. That cut the deficit in half at 2-1.
Buckner also helped tie the game in the eighth inning with the score still 2-1. Brown walked with one out and advanced to third base after Tyler Tewell singled. Buckner then lifted a high fly ball to centerfield to score Brown to tie the game 2-2.
Jordan Wellander (3-3) picked up the win despite allowing a run in the top of the ninth inning. Heck paced the offense with three hits.
The Grizzlies and CornBelters continue their series Wednesday night. LHP Jordan Spencer (2-1, 3.37) will pitch for Gateway and RHP Kevin Johnson (7-4, 3.44) will take the mound for the CornBelters. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Sam Levitt and Kevin Schaefer will call the action on the Grizzlies Radio Network, which airs on 101 ESPN's digital platforms and 1400 AM KJFF.
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