Grizzlies Stumble in Evansville Opener
August 23, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
Evansville, Ind. - After clinching a spot in the playoffs last night, the Gateway Grizzlies saw their seven-game win streak come to an end, as missed opportunities with men on base and free passes issued to the Evansville Otters cost them in a 6-4 loss at Bosse Field on Friday night.
It was a great pitching matchup on paper coming in, and it lived up to the billing. Deylen Miley (8-4) and Braden Scott (5-9), the Frontier League's leader and fourth-place pitcher in strikeouts on the season, both struck out nine opposing hitters in their time on the mound. For Miley, the nine punchouts give him 157 on the season, tied for the second-most in Frontier League history.
Gateway got him the lead as well in the top of the third inning, as with Cole Brannen on third base and one out, Dale Thomas blasted his first professional home run over the left field fence, making the score 2-0 Gateway. Evansville would score one run back on an RBI fielder's choice by Randy Bednar in the bottom of the fourth inning, but with the score 2-1 in the fifth, a wild pitch by Scott brought Thomas home from third base with two outs, making it 3-1 Grizzlies heading into the sixth.
After Miley struck out Gio DiGiacomo for his ninth strikeout of the night to lead off the bottom of the sixth, however, he ran into trouble, as David Mendham walked, Gary Mattis reached base on an infield single, and Pavin Parks hit a three-run homer to right field to give Evansville the 4-3 lead, ending Miley's night. But the Otters were also given another run in the inning, as with two outs, Gaige Vailes allowed a double to Logan Brown, hit J.J. Cruz, walked Mason White, and then hit Justin Felix to make the score 5-3.
That would score the eventual game-winning run as well. In the top of the eighth inning, the Grizzlies were able to load the bases with no outs against reliever Alex Valdez on singles by Peter Zimmermann and D.J. Stewart as well as a walk by Kevin Krause. But despite getting one run in the frame on a double-play ground ball by Abdiel Diaz to get within 5-4, Gateway was left wanting much more, and Evansville would take advantage by bringing a leadoff walk by Justin Goossen-Brown around to score in the bottom of the eighth for the final margin.
Gateway finished the contest 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, while issuing six walks and three hit batters in the contest, with half of the Otters' runs reaching base for free in the loss.
Despite the defeat, the Grizzlies' magic number to clinch the 2-seed in the West Division dropped to 2 with Lake Erie's loss to Washington tonight, and Gateway will look to bounce back tomorrow, Saturday, August 24, at 6:35 p.m. CT in the middle game of the series. Teague Conrad will pitch for the Grizzlies against Evansville's Casey Delgado at Bosse Field.
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