Grizzlies Rally to Take Down Evansville in Extras
July 12, 2025 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
EVANSVILLE, IND. - The Gateway Grizzlies took down the Evansville Otters in a back-and-forth contest by a final score of 6-5 in 10 innings on Saturday night at Bosse Field, clinching the club's fourth win in a row as well as the series victory in the penultimate game before the all-star break.
The scoring began in the bottom of the second inning against Lukas Veinbergs, as Pavin Parks led off the frame with a walk, went from first to third base on an error on a pickoff throw by the Grizzlies starter, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0 Evansville. Gateway would also take advantage of a leadoff walk in the next half inning by Otters starter Joan Gonzalez, with Cole Brannen going from first to third base on a single by Jose Alvarez before Abdiel Diaz made it 1-1 on an RBI fielder's choice.
In the top of the fourth inning, Gateway took their first lead on a two-run home run by Dale Thomas out to left-center field, making the score 3-1. That lead held until the bottom of the fifth, when the Otters got back-to-back leadoff singles, then scored a run when David Mendham reached on a two-base error by Thomas to make it 3-2. After Veinbergs picked up a strikeout, he got Parks to ground out to shortstop, scoring the tying run, but minimizing the damage and keeping it a 3-3 ballgame into the sixth.
After a scoreless inning for both teams, Paxton Wallace led off the seventh with a double, went to third base on a sac bunt by Brannen, and scored on Alvarez's RBI single to put the Grizzlies in front for the second time at 4-3. That lead did not last long, however, as L.J. Jones hit a two-out solo home run off Alvery De Los Santos, tying the contest again at 4-4.
Evansville got chances with multiple baserunners on in both the eighth and ninth innings to take the lead or win the game, but the Gateway bullpen held strong, sending the contest to extra innings. With the International Tiebreaker in effect, a wild pitch by Alex Valdez (2-5) moved the automatic runner to third base before Diaz came up clutch with a go-ahead RBI double for his fifth run driven in of the series, putting Gateway ahead 5-4. With still no outs in the inning, Mark Shallenberger followed by hitting a ground ball to first base to move Diaz to third, and D.J. Stewart brought in a critical insurance run with an RBI single through the left side of the drawn-in Otters infield to make it a 6-4 Grizzlies advantage.
In the bottom of the tenth, Evansville moved their automatic baserunner to third on a groundout against Alec Whaley, then scored that run on a Keenan Taylor sacrifice fly to make it 6-5. J.J. Cruz then reached base on an infield single off Whaley's glove to put the tying run on base and bring the winning run to the plate, but the veteran earned just his second career save when he got J.T. Benson to hit into a game-ending fielder's choice to Stewart, sending the reeling Otters to their eleventh straight loss.
Now a season-high 14 games over .500 at 34-20, Gateway will look to sweep the Otters and win a fifth game in a row in the series finale on Sunday, July 13 in their last game before the all-star break. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. CT at Bosse Field.
Frontier League Stories from July 12, 2025
- Mud Monsters Resilient In Win - Mississippi Mud Monsters
- Otters Drop Heartbreaking Extra Innings Contest - Evansville Otters
- Grizzlies Rally to Take Down Evansville in Extras - Gateway Grizzlies
- Massey Notches Hit 1,000 - Florence Y'alls
- Seventh Inning Sends Boomers Past Brockton - Schaumburg Boomers
- Mississippi Scores Late to Beat Thunderbolts - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Wild Things Pitching Strong Again, Bats Remain Silent - Washington Wild Things
- Crushers Shut out Wild Things in Second Straight Game, Win 2-0 - Lake Erie Crushers
- Bird Dawgs Stumble in Game Two Loss to Boulders - Down East Bird Dawgs
- Boulders Roll Behind Three Two-Run Homers & Stellar Starting Pitching - New York Boulders
- Six-Run Eighth Deflates Titans in Middle Game - Ottawa Titans
- Walters and Reinisch Homer in Middle Game Defeat - Tri-City ValleyCats
- Novak's Homer Sets Tone in 'Cats 30th Victory - Tri-City ValleyCats
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.
