Grizzlies Come Back Again, Stun Y'alls Late to Win Series

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FL Gateway Grizzlies

Grizzlies Come Back Again, Stun Y'alls Late to Win Series

May 22, 2025 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release


FLORENCE, KY. - The Gateway Grizzlies have made a habit of coming back on their opponents this year, and on a chilly Thursday night at Thomas More Stadium, they pulled off what may be their most-impressive comeback victory yet, as they scored all 10 of their runs in the last three innings to erase a 4-0 deficit, and went ahead for good with a six-run top of the eighth in a 10-7 victory over the Florence Y'alls, clinching the series in Kentucky.

The contest began as a pitcher's duel between Alvery De Los Santos and Florence southpaw Jonaiker Villalobos, with both pitchers trading scoreless frames in the early innings. De Los Santos ran into a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the fourth, but struck out two and got out of the inning unscathed. In the following inning, though, Florence loaded the bases again with one out, and Hank Zeisler hit a grand slam to left field, putting the Y'alls up 4-0.

Thanks to Villalobos pitching six shutout innings with seven strikeouts, the score was still 4-0 with two outs in the top of the seventh, and the Grizzlies comeback began with power against reliever Zane Robbins. Tanner Garrison began the rally with a solo home run to left field, his first dinger and RBI as a professional, to make it 4-1, and Edwin Mateo followed by taking Robbins deep to right field for another solo shot. Just like that, the Grizzlies' deficit was sliced in half, and after a scoreless bottom half of the seventh from Claudio Galva (2-0), Gateway roared all the way back in the eighth inning.

Victor Castillo led off with a single, and Paxton Wallace followed with another single against Florence reliever Jett Lodes (0-1). D.J. Stewart then came through with an RBI single to make it 4-3 Y'alls, and after Cole Brannen walked to load the bases, Dale Thomas bounced an infield single over the head of Florence third baseman Armani Smith, tying the game at 4-4.

Then, after Lodes got Ross Friedrick to fly out to shallow left field for the first out of the inning, Garrison came up again, and put the Grizzlies in front with a single to center field, with the ball getting by T.J. Reeves for an error on the same play, allowing all three runners on base to score and Garrison to go to third base with the Grizzlies stunningly in front 7-4. Mateo followed with another RBI single, making the score 8-4.

Florence had a response in the bottom of the eighth- with rain intensifying, the Y'alls drew two walks and a hit batter from Leoni De La Cruz, and the game halted at that point for a short rain delay. When play resumed, the Y'alls were able to score all three runners on an RBI groundout and a pair of wild pitches, but Alec Whaley kept Gateway in the lead at 8-7.

The Grizzlies then scored a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning on RBI singles by Friedrick and Garrison with two outs, handing a 10-7 lead to Sam Coonrod in the bottom of the ninth, and the Gateway closer struck out the side in order for the save, sealing the incredible come-from-behind victory.

Garrison and Mateo led the charge from the bottom of the lineup, with the former going 3-for-5 with four RBIs, and the latter also going 3-for-5 while driving in two runs, as the Grizzlies improved to 9-3 on the season with their fifth comeback win of 2025.

Gateway will now look to carry the momentum into their next series, as they head to Schaumburg to open up a weekend series against the Boomers at Wintrust Field. Lukas Veinbergs will pitch the series opener for the Grizzlies against Schaumburg's Dylan Kirkeby, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT.

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