Richards Dazzles as Grizzlies Protect Early Lead in Win
August 1, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
Gateway Grizzlies News Release
Richards (4-4) lifted the Grizzlies (24-40) to a win in the second game of the series after going seven innings for the third consecutive outing. The rookie allowed three runs on six hits.
He was backed by an early power surge from the Gateway offense. Blake Brown singled to start the second inning and later scored when Grant Buckner belted his sixth home run of the season over the left field fence.
That shot put Gateway ahead 2-0 after two innings. An inning later, Brown took his turn leaving the yard. After Ben Waldrip doubled, Brown took a 2-0 delivery to the opposite field and hit it out out for his team-leading 15th home run of the season. The bomb put the Grizzlies up 4-0 after three innings.
Although Gateway would never trail, the Boomers chipped away in the middle innings and had chances to score late. Schaumburg tagged Richards for two runs in the fourth inning via the home run ball. Ty Nelson singled with one out and scored when Craig Massey homered to cut the Boomers' deficit in half at 4-2. Schaumburg then took advantage of two wild pitches in the next inning to trail by just one after five innings, 4-3.
The Grizzlies took advantage of a costly error by the Boomers in the seventh inning. With two down and a runner at third, Brown hit a routine grounder to third baseman TJ Bennett. Bennett fielded it cleanly, but threw wild to first base allowing Seth Heck to score from third. The miscue put Gateway ahead 5-3 and proved to be costly.
Schaumburg made things interesting against Gateway reliever Pete Perez in the eighth inning. Perez loaded the bases with one out, which brought Willi Martin to the dish. The count went full but the right-hander got Martin to strikeout swinging for out number two. However, Perez exited the game after walking in a run that made it a 5-4 game. That allowed Tyler Thompson to enter in a big spot.
Thompson retired Michael Valadez on a fly out and stranded the bases loaded. The new Gateway closer allowed the tying run to get to second base in the ninth, but completed the four-out save after setting down Nelson on strikes to end the game.
Richards picked up the win, while Peter Gehle (2-4) took the loss after allowing four runs on 11 hits in his six innings of work.
The rubber match between the Grizzlies and Boomers will take place on Sunday night at GCS Ballpark. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. Rookie RHP Collin Shaw will make his professional debut for Gateway and the Boomers will send RHP Brett Mabry (3-2, 3.59) to the mound. Sam Levitt and Kevin Schaefer will call the action on the Grizzlies Radio Network, which airs on 101 ESPN's digital channels and 1400 AM KJFF.
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