Grizzlies Win Fourth Straight, Sweep Mississippi
Published on June 7, 2026 under Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
SAUGET, ILL. - The Gateway Grizzlies came back late on Sunday afternoon at Arsenal BG Ballpark for their fourth consecutive win, walking off the Mississippi Mud Monsters on Bryson Horne's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the tenth inning by a final score of 6-5, and sweeping the weekend series.
The Grizzlies jumped out to an early lead yet again in the first inning- Victor Castillo led off with a double against Gage Bihm, and scored on a fielder's choice play off the bat of Horne for a 1-0 lead. Mississippi evened the game up at 1-1 in the third, taking advantage of four walks in the inning by Gateway starter Ben Gregory, but the rookie right-hander was able to minimize the damage in his professional debut, with just the single run allowed over three innings.
The Grizzlies got right back in the run column in the bottom of the third when Castillo drilled a solo home run to right-center field for a 2-1 lead. Two more runs then came across in the bottom of the fourth after Sawyer Smith and Tate Wargo opened the inning with a double and single, respectively. The pair eventually scored on a wild pitch and fielder's choice for a 4-2 lead after four innings.
Things then got hairy for Gateway after that, as the Mud Monsters scored a run in the top of the fifth on a two-out RBI single by A.J. Fritz, and followed it up with three more in the sixth, opening the inning with five straight base hits off Claudio Galva. A Travis Holt sacrifice fly would put Mississippi ahead 5-4, their first lead of the series.
Still trailing by that score in the seventh inning with two outs, Castillo worked a walk, advanced to second and then third base on a steal and a wild pitch by Connor Langrell, and scored on a clutch RBI single by Jose Alvarez to make it 5-5. The Grizzlies' bullpen would come up clutch when they needed to as well, firing four straight shutout innings despite dealing with runners in scoring position in every frame.
In the tenth, with the International Tiebreaker in effect, Matt Hickey (1-1) stranded the automatic runner in the top half, and in the bottom half, Alvarez would move Castillo to third base on an infield single, bring Horne to the plate against Chris Barraza (1-2). The Gateway first baseman hit a fly ball to the left-center field gap, proving deep enough to score Castillo and give the Grizzlies their first walk-off win of the season along with their third extra-inning win in their last seven games.
The win also allowed the Grizzlies to maintain their first-place standing in the West Division at one game ahead of the Schaumburg Boomers, who they will now face in a three-game series head-to-head beginning on Tuesday night, June 9, at 6:30 p.m. CT, continuing their long home stand at Arsenal BG Ballpark.
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