Grizzlies Drop Series Finale to Evansville
August 31, 2023 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
Sauget, IL - After clinching the West Division title on Wednesday night, the Gateway Grizzlies' bats fell silent in a 6-0 loss to the Evansville Otters on Thursday at Grizzlies Ballpark, spoiling a 17-strikeout performance by the pitching staff in the series finale.
Collin Sullivan (10-5) was in control early, allowing just one hit and two baserunners while striking out seven Evansville batters in the first four innings. In the fifth, after picking up his eighth strikeout, the right-hander got a ground ball to shortstop that would have ended the inning and extended the shutout streak, but a low throw to first by Mark Vierling got away for an error, allowing the Otters to take a 1-0 lead. Noah Myers followed with an RBI single that doubled the lead to 2-0 in the frame.
Evansville scored their four remaining runs in the top of the seventh against Trevor Tietz, with George Callil hitting a two-run home run to make the score 4-0, and Kona Quiggle hitting a two-run shot of his own after a dropped fly ball in left field for another Gateway error, accounting for the 6-0 final score.
Evansville's Tim Holdgrafer (9-5) went the distance in the contest, allowing six hits and no walks with five strikeouts. On the Gateway side, Sullivan finished with nine strikeouts, while Tietz, Nate Garkow, and Brian Eichhorn accounted for eight more out of the bullpen.
The Grizzlies still won the series three games to one against the Otters, and also claimed the season series against Evansville 5-4 to finish with a winning regular season record against every other member of the West Division.
Gateway will finish off their regular season slate this weekend at home when they host the Lake Erie Crushers, culminating with the Greatest Night in Baseball on Sunday night. The first game of the series will take place on Friday, September 1, with first pitch at Grizzlies Ballpark scheduled for 6:45 p.m. CT.
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