Oliver, Grizzlies Handle Beach Bums 5-1
May 16, 2014 - Frontier League (FL)
Traverse City Beach Bums News Release
SAUGET, IL - Dejai Oliver dominated through seven one-hit innings and four unearned runs proved to be the difference as the Gateway Grizzlies knocked off the Traverse City Beach Bums 5-1 on Friday night at GCS Ballpark to open the 2014 season.
Oliver (1-0), making his first start with the Grizzlies, worked through some early self-created trouble before mowing down the Beach Bums in the later stages of his outing. Despite allowing just one hit, Oliver hit two batters and walked another four, but the Beach Bums couldn't find the hit to drive the runs in. Traverse City left two runners on in the second and the bases loaded in the fourth against Oliver, who retired seven of the final eight he faced to earn the win.
Gateway, meanwhile, took advantage of their opportunities against Beach Bums starter Alex Gillingham (0-1) to open up a 5-0 lead. In the second inning, Michael Wing reached on a one-out error that opened the floodgates for the Grizzlies. Two singles followed to load the bases and Garrett Vail gave Gateway the lead with an RBI groundout. After a two-out walk, Jonathan Johnson drove home a run with a single and Madison Beaird brought home two more with a single to left to make it 4-0.
In the fourth inning, Gillingham walked three straight batters to force in a run and end his outing after just 3.2 frames. Gillingham allowed five runs (one earned) on six hits to go along with three strikeouts and five walks. Rusty Shellhorn took over and was lights out for the Beach Bums the rest of the way. The southpaw yielded just one hit and struck out six in 4.1 innings of relief.
Traverse City had an opportunity to get back in the game with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth, but only scored one on a throwing error by the catcher Vail after he attempted to pick off a runner at first. In total, the Beach Bums left 12 runners on base despite managing just four hits in the contest.
Traverse City will look to bounce back on Saturday night at 8:05 p.m. ET in the middle game of the series. Mike Devine (0-0, --) will get his first start of the year opposite Aaron Newcomb (0-0, --) for Gateway. Fans can listen to the broadcast starting at 7:45 p.m. on Classic Rock the Bear 98.1/107.1 and classicrockthebear.com.
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