Grizzlies Come Back to Shock Otters in Extras
August 24, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
Evansville, Ind. - The Gateway Grizzlies trailed almost the entire game on Saturday night at Bosse Field, but tied the game on Abdiel Diaz's two-run triple in the ninth inning before winning 4-3 in 10 innings, evening the weekend road series in dramatic fashion. With Lake Erie's loss to Washington as well, the Grizzlies clinched no worse than the #2 seed in the upcoming Frontier League playoffs.
The Otters would strike early against Teague Conrad, with David Mendham and Gary Mattis leading off the game with a single and double, respectively. Pavin Parks then lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 1-0 Evansville, bringing an end to Conrad's 21-inning scoreless streak. Logan Brown would line a two-out RBI double later in the inning to make the score 2-0.
Conrad would settle down after the rocky start, however, permitting just one more run, unearned, across the rest of his six innings pitched. The rookie right-hander struck out six and walked just one for the "quality start," keeping the Grizzlies in the game.
Down 3-0 into the seventh inning, Gateway began their comeback when Kevin Krause hit a solo home run off Otters reliever Ryan Wiltse, making the score 3-1. Thanks to solid Grizzlies relief pitching by Kaleb Hill and Alec Whaley, it would stay 3-1 into the ninth inning, when the Otters brought Parks to the mound to try and get his second straight save.
The two-way star hit Peter Zimmermann, however, and gave up a single to D.J. Stewart to put the tying runs on base with no outs. After Krause flew out to right field, Diaz came up, and on the second pitch of his at-bat, he drove the ball into the right-center field gap over the head of Mattis, scoring Zimmermann and pinch-runner Cole Brannen to tie the game at 3-3 and send Bosse Field into a stunned state.
Gateway would be unable to score the go-ahead run afterwards, and former Otter Leoni De La Cruz (2-1) worked a scoreless bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extra innings. In the tenth, with the International Tiebreaker in effect, Jose Alvarez moved automatic runner Edwin Mateo to third base on a groundout, and Dale Thomas came through in the clutch with his third hit of the game and third RBI of the series, smashing a ground ball single past the diving Mendham at first base to give Gateway their first lead of the game at 4-3.
In the bottom of the inning, the Grizzlies went to Matt Hickey out of the bullpen, and after he hit Randy Bednar to put the winning run on base, he struck out Brown for the first out before getting Delvin Zinn to hit into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play, giving Gateway their first win this season when trailing after eight innings, and officially eliminating the Otters from playoff contention in 2024.
The Grizzlies will now look to win the series in the rubber game on Sunday, August 25, at Bosse Field. Collin Sullivan will start on the mound for Gateway against Evansville's Zach Smith in a rematch of Game Two of the 2023 Frontier League Division Series, with first pitch scheduled for 12:35 p.m. CT.
• Discuss this story on the Frontier League message board...
Frontier League Stories from August 24, 2024
- Otters' Win Streak Snapped in Extra Innings Affair - Evansville Otters
- Grizzlies Come Back to Shock Otters in Extras - Gateway Grizzlies
- Jack-Thomas Wold Belts Three Home Runs in Two Games; Knockouts Secure Series - New England Knockouts
- ValleyCats Stun Titans with Walk-off Winner - Tri-City ValleyCats
- Late Lead Evaporates, Titans Fall in Extras - Ottawa Titans
- Tuccillo Homers, Agresti Pitches, Early Hole Too Big to Climb Out Of - Lake Erie Crushers
- Bolts' Ten-Run First Fuels Win - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Boomers Squander Chance in Kentucky - Schaumburg Boomers
- Low-Scoring Duel Brings Rockin' Victory - Florence Y'alls
- FL Recap - FL
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
