SCHAUMBURG – The Gateway Grizzlies got another outstanding performance on the mound from Collin Sullivan (7-4) on Friday night, and broke a 1-1 tie with clutch, two-out hits in the sixth inning to beat the Schaumburg Boomers 4-1 at Wintrust Field.
Both starters were sharp in the early game, as both Sullivan and Antonio Frias (0-1) held the opposing offenses down. In the fourth inning, both also gave up single runs. In the top of the frame, Peter Zimmermann reached on a one-out single, and came all the way home when Tyler Shelnut doubled off the base of the left-center field wall to make the score 1-0.
In the bottom of the frame, Schaumburg got a leadoff walk against Sullivan, who hit the next batter as well before David Harris’ RBI single tied the game at 1-1. But Sullivan got out of that jam with a flyout and a double-play ground ball, and did not allow another run in the rest of his appearance. Overall, the second-year Grizzlie tied his season-high with seven innings pitched, permitting just the lone run on four singles and two walks, striking out two to earn his team-leading seventh win of the year.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies’ offense chased Frias in the top of the sixth inning. With one out, Abdiel Diaz and Zimmermann worked back-to-back walks, with Diaz also stealing third base. After Shelnut struck out, Kevin Krause came up with the eventual game-winning hit, an RBI single into left field to put Gateway ahead 2-1. On the very next pitch by Frias, D.J. Stewart followed by scorching a double down the third base line, plating both Zimmermann and Krause to make it 4-1.
The Grizzlies held the line from there- Matt Hickey worked around a leadoff walk for a scoreless eighth inning in relief of Sullivan, and Leoni De La Cruz earned the save for the third consecutive night with a 1-2-3 ninth inning as Gateway improved to a season-high 15 games over .500, and with their seventh win of the season against the Boomers clinched the head-to-head season series against Schaumburg as well.
The Grizzlies will look to keep their win streak alive and go for the series win in the middle game of the weekend on Saturday, August 3, at Wintrust Field. Lukas Veinbergs will start for Gateway opposite the Boomers’ Cole Cook, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT.
Grizzlies Win Fourth Straight, Claim Series In Schaumburg
The Gateway Grizzlies won their fourth straight game in convincing fashion, amassing 12 hits and six runs offensively while holding the Schaumburg Boomers to just one run for the second straight night, clinching the weekend series with a 6-1 decision at Wintrust Field on Saturday night.
Gateway started the game off against Cole Cook (3-4) with three straight hits that produced a run before Cook could record a single out. Gabe Holt reached base on a bunt single on the first pitch of the game, went to third on an automatic double by Abdiel Diaz, and scored on an RBI single by Peter Zimmermann to make it 1-0 Grizzlies. Gateway would double the lead to 2-0 in the third inning on another RBI single by Zimmermann after Cook had walked back-to-back batters with one out.
Then, in the fourth inning, the Grizzlies pulled away. With a runner on first base and one out, Edwin Mateo reached first with a bunt single, and went to second on an error on the same play by Boomers third baseman Paxton Wallace. The lead runner, Cole Brannen, then scored along with Mateo on an two-run double by Dale Thomas, marking the rookie’s first professional RBIs and giving the Grizzlies a 4-0 lead. Holt’s sacrifice fly later in the inning would increase the lead to 5-0.
On the mound, Lukas Veinbergs (3-4) had to work around many baserunners in his five innings of work, but only allowed one run to score despite walking five batters and allowing five hits. That run came on a two-out RBI single by Alec Craig in the bottom of the fourth inning, making the score 5-1. Gateway would get that run back in the top of the sixth, however, when Diaz reached base on an RBI single that was lost in the night sky by Chase Dawson in center field, accounting for the final run of the game and the 6-1 final score.
Alvery De Los Santos did the rest, as the right-hander pitched the final four innings of the game for the save, allowing two hits and three walks, but no runs as the Grizzlies clinched their fourth series victory over the Boomers this season in four tries.
Gateway will now look to sweep the weekend series and win a fifth consecutive game on Sunday, August 4, at 1:00 p.m. CT at Wintrust Field, with both teams having yet to announce their starting pitcher.
Grizzlies Denied In Bid To Sweep Boomers
The Gateway Grizzlies saw their four-game win streak snapped on Sunday afternoon in Schaumburg, losing 4-1 to the Boomers at Wintrust Field in their bid to record what would have been their first-ever three-game sweep on the road against the West Division foe.
Aaron Dona was outstanding in his Grizzlies debut after coming over from the New York Boulders, as the right-hander struck out seven batters over four and two-thirds innings while scattering five hits and one walk. He got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth, but in the fifth, departed with two outs and runner on second base. That runner would score against Joel Condreay (1-1) on an RBI single by Brett Milazzo, making the score 1-0 Schaumburg.
The Grizzlies responded in kind in the next inning, as Peter Zimmermann doubled with one out, and came home to score the tying run on a two-out double by D.J. Stewart two batters later, making the score 1-1. The Boomers would score the go-ahead run in the bottom half, however, as Condreay surrendered a leadoff single to Chase Dawson before departing, with Dawson scoring later in the inning on an RBI fielder’s choice against Kaleb Hill to make it 2-1 Schaumburg.
Hill then walked back-to-back batters leading off the bottom of the seventh inning, with the Boomers able to plate those two runners against Matt Hickey on an RBI infield hit by Dawson off Hickey’s glove as well as a sacrifice fly by Anthony Calarco.
The Grizzlies would threaten late as well, getting the tying run on base in the seventh, and the tying run to the plate in the eighth, but could not get closer in dropping the series finale.
Having still won nine straight series overall, the Grizzlies will remain in Chicagoland on the off day tomorrow before opening a three-game series against the Joliet Slammers on Tuesday, August 6. Deylen Miley will look to continue his outstanding late-season run on the mound for Gateway in the series opener against the Slammers’ Geno Encina, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT at Slammers Stadium.
