Grizzlies Crush Lake Erie, Win 50th Game
August 18, 2023 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
Avon, OH - The Gateway Grizzlies scored right away on Friday night against the Lake Erie Crushers, and put up double-digit runs and hits while simultaneously shutting out the home team on only four hits in an 11-0 victory at Mercy Health Stadium. The win, the club's 50th of 2023, also lowered their magic number to clinch a spot in the 2023 Frontier League Playoffs down to four with 15 games remaining.
Jairus Richards got the ballgame started by parking the third pitch of the contest by Stephen Chamblee (1-1) over the right field wall for a solo home run, putting Gateway ahead 1-0. Later in the inning, Cole Brannen tripled, and then scored on the throw to first base when Mark Vierling struck out to make it 2-0.
Parker Johnson (1-3) took that lead and ran with it, as the rookie right-hander twirled a gem in his fourth pro start with seven shutout innings, no walks, and a career-best nine strikeouts to earn his first professional win.
Gateway's offense would add on two runs in the fourth on RBI singles by Cole Barr and Eric Rivera, then two more runs in the seventh on a balk by Perry Bewley as well as an RBI single by Brannen.
They busted the game open in the eighth by scoring five more times off Brayden Bonner on just two hits, drawing four walks and one hit batter off the Crushers' reliever. Brannen and Kyle Gaedele drew the base-on-balls with the bases loaded to force in two of the runs, with Vierling and D.J. Stewart combining their singles to drive in the remaining three as the Grizzlies won going away.
Richards led the charge by reaching base five times, scoring three runs total, while Brannen added three hits and two runs scored as well as two RBIs. In relief on the pitching side, Nate Garkow and Trevor Tietz capped off the night with perfect innings in the eighth and ninth to get the Grizzlies their third shutout victory of the season.
Gateway will look to take the series and win a third game in a row in the middle game on Saturday, August 19, at 5:05 p.m. CT, with Collin Sullivan drawing the starting assignment on the mound at Mercy Health Stadium.
Frontier League Stories from August 18, 2023
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- Washington Dominates in Series Opener Versus Otters - Washington Wild Things
- Grizzlies Crush Lake Erie, Win 50th Game - Gateway Grizzlies
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