Offense Stays Hot as Grizzlies Beat Y'alls in Slugfest
September 1, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
Sauget, Ill. - The Gateway Grizzlies again fell behind early against the Florence Y'alls on The Greatest Night in Baseball at Grizzlies Ballpark on Sunday, but would come back with the long ball, hitting five homers as a team, and scoring in every inning but one in a 16-8 victory to finish the regular season with 59 wins for the second straight year.
Florence opened the scoring right away, drawing a bases-loaded walk against Justin Goossen-Brown (2-1) in the first inning to go ahead 1-0, and after the Grizzlies tied the score on a D.J. Stewart RBI double in the bottom half, the Y'alls went ahead again 2-1 on a Justin Lavey solo home run in the second inning. The visitors would increase the lead to 5-1 in the third inning on a three-run homer by Zade Richardson.
But the Grizzlies kept up the offensive attack when Goossen-Brown settled down to pitch two scoreless innings after the early flurry by Florence, and after not scoring a run in the second inning (the only frame where they would not have anyone cross the plate), Gateway got back into the game.
In the bottom of the third. Victor Castillo and Peter Zimmermann hit solo home runs back-to-back off Ty Good (1-2) to draw the Grizzlies within 5-3, and in the next inning, Gateway would roar ahead. After a leadoff walk by Cole Brannen, Jose Alvarez hit a two-run shot out to right field to tie the game at 5-5. Good then lost the strike zone, walking four straight batters to force in another run, with Stewart grabbing his second RBI to put the Grizzlies up 6-5.
Florence then made a pitching change, and Kevin Krause punctuated the seven-run inning with a grand slam home run over the right field fence off Evan Webster, putting the Grizzlies up 10-5 on their fourth home run of the game. The offense would keep up the onslaught in each of the next four innings, with Castillo picking up his second RBI on a groundout in the fifth, Alvarez collecting an RBI single in the sixth, Stewart making it a three-RBI night with a single in the seventh, Abdiel Diaz crushing a two-run home run in the same inning (the team's fifth of the contest), and Castillo adding yet another RBI on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly.
Florence would also score three runs in their half of the sixth inning, getting them within 11-8 at the time, but it was not enough to stem the Grizzlies' tide in front of a season-best crowd of 6,545 at Grizzlies Ballpark. Four Grizzlies finished with three or more RBIs while five different players had multi-hit performances. Zimmermann also stole two bases in addition to his home run on the night, giving him 20 on the season to become the first Grizzlies player in team history with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the same year.
The Grizzlies now turn their attention to the playoffs, as after an off day on Monday, they will host the winner-take-all West Division Wild Card game against the Lake Erie Crushers, with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. CT at Grizzlies Ballpark. Playoff tickets and gear are on sale NOW- go to gatewaygrizzlies.com or call (618) 337-3000 to be in attendance as Gateway embarks on their second-straight playoff run!
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Frontier League Stories from September 1, 2024
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