SCHAUMBURG – The Gateway Grizzlies trailed early against the Schaumburg Boomers on Sunday afternoon, but Collin Sullivan (6-4) settled down for a “quality start,” and the offense woke up in a big way with a six-run sixth inning to take the lead for good in a 7-3 victory at Wintrust Field, clinching the weekend series win on the road.
Schaumburg struck first with a pair of hits and runs in the first inning against Sullivan, with Anthony Calarco’s two-out RBI single plating one run, and a second run scoring on the same play when Edwin Mateo’s throw to third base got away for an error, giving the home team a 2-0 lead.
But Sullivan would allow just three Boomers to reach base for the remainder of his outing, as the right-hander pitched into the seventh while allowing only three hits and four walks, striking out five to keep Gateway in the game. After the Grizzlies were stifled offensively again by reigning Frontier League Pitcher of the Year Cole Cook (3-3) for the first four innings, they got on the board with an RBI groundout by Jose Alvarez in the top of the fifth inning, making the score 2-1.
In the sixth inning, the Grizzlies would have one of their biggest offensive innings of the season. Mateo walked with one out, and Peter Zimmermann followed with an opposite-field, go-ahead, two-run home run, his team-leading 13th of the season, to put Gateway ahead 3-2. But the Grizzlies were not done there- after a groundout for the second out of the inning, D.J. Stewart walked, Cole Brannen singled, and Kyle Gaedele was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Alvarez again. The Gateway catcher capped off an incredible, eight-RBI weekend by clearing the bases with an opposite field double down the right field line, giving the Grizzlies a 6-2 lead.
Abdiel Diaz would double home Alvarez after a pitching change to make the score 7-2, and Sullivan and the Grizzlies’ bullpen would hold the line from there. The Boomers would score again on a two-out double, stolen base, and wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth, making the score 7-3, but would get no closer as the Grizzlies emerged victorious in the rubber game of the weekend series.
Gateway will next spend the off day in Chicagoland before taking on the Joliet Slammers on Tuesday, July 23, beginning a three-game midweek series at Slammers Stadium at 6:35 p.m. CT
Big Inning, Solid Pitching Lead Grizzlies To Road Win
The Gateway Grizzlies vaulted ahead of the Schaumburg Boomers with a five-run top of the third inning, and their pitching collectively held the line in a 6-3 victory at Wintrust Field on Friday night.
Reigning Frontier League Pitcher of the Week Deylen Miley (6-3) was outstanding to start the game, retiring the first nine Boomers he faced. Schaumburg starter Aaron Glickstein (3-5) retired the first six Grizzlies he faced as well, but in the top of the third, would surrender six consecutive hits as Gateway took the lead. Kevin Krause and Kyle Gaedele both hit singles to lead off, which set up Jose Alvarez, who took Glickstein deep to left-center field for his first home run of the season, a three-run shot to give the Grizzlies a 3-0 advantage.
Gateway was not finished. Abdiel Diaz and Gabe Holt followed with singles of their own, and Edwin Mateo came through with an RBI single to score Diaz and make it 4-0. After two flyouts, D.J. Stewart lined a two-out RBI single just over a leaping Paxton Wallace at third base for his team-leading 45th run batted in of the year, capping the inning and making the score 5-0 Grizzlies.
Miley would keep the no-hitter and shutout intact until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Schaumburg used three hits, including a triple by Aaron Simmons, as well as an error to get on the board and make the score 5-2. That score held until the seventh inning, when Anthony Calarco homered off Nathanial Tate to get the Boomers within 5-3. Schaumburg also put the tying runs on base with two outs in that inning, but Alec Whaley would get out of that jam.
In the top of the eighth, Peter Zimmermann announced his return from the injured list with a bang, hammering a solo shot of his own out to left field for a 6-3 Grizzlies lead, with the ball traveling an estimated 430 feet. That was all the Grizzlies’ pitching staff needed, as Matt Hickey and Leoni De La Cruz retired all six Boomers they faced between them down the stretch to nail down the victory. De La Cruz also earned his fourth save with the Grizzlies, who improved to nine games over the .500 mark for the first time this year at 33-24.
Grizzlies Stifled In Loss To Boomers
The Gateway Grizzlies did not get a runner on base until the fourth inning on Saturday night, and watched the Schaumburg Boomers score all their runs in the early frames in a 6-1 defeat at Wintrust Field, evening the series at one game apiece.
Schaumburg native Teague Conrad (5-3) was sharp in the first inning, retiring the side in order, but a leadoff walk in the second began the troubles for the right-hander. After a single and an error put runners at second and third base with no outs, a sacrifice fly by Aaron Simmons made it 1-0 Boomers, and later in the inning, Felix Aberouette made the score 2-0 on an 0-2 single to left field. With two outs and two men on, as well as a full count, Alec Craig tripled to right-center field to make it a 4-0 Schaumburg lead.
In the third inning, with no one on base and two outs, Conrad allowed a single and a walk before getting a ground ball to first that was thrown wide of the bag by David Maberry for the Grizzlies’ second error of the game, scoring both runners on base to make it a 6-0 contest.
The Grizzlies’ bullpen would not allow a run over the final four innings the Boomers batted in, with Alvery De Los Santos tossing three innings with three strikeouts, and Joel Condreay pitching one scoreless frame. But the damage was already done, and the Grizzlies were unable to get anything done against Boomers starter Jacob Smith (2-1), who carried a perfect game into the fourth inning and a no-hitter into the fifth.
The Grizzlies’ lone run came on a two-out RBI double that inning by Jose Alvarez, extending his hit streak to seven, but that was the only offense they could muster, as they only recorded two hits in dropping the middle contest of the weekend set.
The Grizzlies will look to bounce back in a gigantic rubber game at Wintrust Field on Sunday, July 21, complete with an outstanding matchup on the mound between the two top pitchers in the Frontier League in strikeouts from a season ago in Gateway’s Collin Sullivan and Schaumburg’s Cole Cook. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. CT.
