Grizzlies Win Streak Snapped in Extras
July 7, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
Sauget, Ill. - The Gateway Grizzlies surrendered five runs in the top of the tenth inning on Sunday night, including a grand slam home run by Aaron Simmons, and took an 8-5 loss to the Schaumburg Boomers to snap their four-game win streak in the series finale.
Gateway got the game's first run on a two-out RBI single by Gabe Holt off Cole Cook, one of 10 hits the Grizzlies would get off the reigning Frontier League Pitcher of the Year, to take a 1-0 lead. It held until the top of the fifth inning, when Schaumburg got the game tied off Lukas Veinbergs on an RBI single by Chase Dawson at 1-1. With two outs in the inning, Dawson stole second, and the throw by Jose Alvarez got away into center field for a costly error, scoring the go-ahead run from third base and making it 2-1 Boomers.
Simmons then ambushed Veinbergs for a solo home run on the first pitch of the sixth inning to go up 3-1. It was the final tally Veinbergs would allow in six innings as he tossed a "quality start" in the contest, and the Grizzlies had an answer in the bottom half against Cook, scoring a pair of runs on RBI singles by Peter Zimmermann and Edwin Mateo back-to-back to re-tie the score at 3-3.
Both bullpens then held the line from there, highlighted by Joel Condreay retiring all six Boomers he faced in the eighth and ninth innings. In extra innings, with the International Tiebreaker in effect, Matt Hickey (1-2) struggled, hitting the first batter he faced before a ground ball moved the two runners on base to scoring position. The Grizzlies then chose to intentionally walk Paxton Wallace to load the bases, and Hickey proceeded to walk Ty Crittenberger to force in the go-ahead run, making it a 5-4 game.
Simmons then ambushed the first pitch again for a grand slam home run to right field, making it 8-3 and putting the game out of reach. In the bottom of the tenth, Abdiel Diaz hit a two-run home run to lead off against Dylan Stutsman (4-0), but it was not enough as the Grizzlies were forced to settle for a two-games-to-one series win.
After an off day on Monday, the Grizzlies will head to Chicago for a three-game road trip, beginning a series against the Windy City ThunderBolts on Tuesday, July 9, at 6:35 p.m. CT. Deylen Miley will get the ball in the series opener for Gateway against Kevin "Buddie" Pindel for Windy City at Ozinga Field.
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Frontier League Stories from July 7, 2024
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