Grizzlies Bounce Back, Walk-off Otters
August 9, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
Sauget, Ill. - The Gateway Grizzlies came back home on Friday night to take on the Evansville Otters for the first time in over two months, and in a low-scoring, tight pitcher's duel, it was the home side who emerged victorious 4-3 on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Abdiel Diaz, delighting the 3,051 fans at Grizzlies Ballpark.
Both Grizzlies starter Lukas Veinbergs and Evansville starter Zach Smith brought their A-games to the yard. Smith struck out eight batters over six and two-thirds innings, while Veinbergs fanned five and walked just one while working into the eighth inning for Gateway, his longest start of the season and the second-longest for a Grizzlies pitcher this year.
Both men gave up just two runs in their outings, and it was the Grizzlies breaking the scoreless tie for the fourth straight game in the bottom of the fifth inning on a solo home run by Kyle Gaedele, giving Gateway a 1-0 lead on their first home run in the month of August, and ending a homerless drought of more than 300 team at-bats. That lead was short-lived, as J.J. Cruz smacked a solo home run to right field against Veinbergs in the top of the sixth, evening the score at 1-1.
Gateway would re-take the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning against Smith. D.J. Stewart reached base on a one-out infield single, with Gaedele following with a single to put the lead runner in scoring position. After a flyout for the second out of the frame, Smith walked Edwin Mateo, loading the bases, and Alex Valdez came in from the bullpen, tossing a wild pitch to score Stewart and make it 2-1 Gateway.
That lead, unfortunately, was also short-lived, as David Mendham led off the eighth inning with a triple that bounced over Mateo's head in center field, and scored on another RBI hit by Cruz, this time a single, to tie the game at 2-2.
In the ninth, making his first appearance against his former team since being traded by the Otters in June, Leoni De La Cruz (1-1) struck out the side in order, and the game went to extras when the Grizzlies could not score the winning run against Evansville relief ace Michael McAvene (1-5).
In the tenth, Mendham's RBI single scored the automatic runner in the International Tiebreaker to give Evansville their first lead of the night at 3-2, but De La Cruz bore down to limit the damage, stranding a pair of runners in scoring position. In the bottom half, Gabe Holt lasered a base hit to the right-center field gap that got all the way to the wall for an RBI triple, scoring Mateo to make it 3-3. That set up Diaz, who followed with the walk-off sacrifice fly to right field, winning the contest for the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies will look to make it back-to-back victories over the Otters in the middle game of the weekend series on Saturday, August 10. Aaron Dona will make his home debut for the Grizzlies on the mound against Evansville veteran Casey Delgado, with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. CT at Grizzlies Ballpark.
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