SAUGET – The Gateway Grizzlies scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to come back from a late one-run deficit, holding the lead from there in a 6-4 victory over the Lake Erie Crushers in the back-and-forth series opener at Crushers Stadium.
Both Lukas Veinbergs and Jack Eisenbarger ended up tossing “quality starts” in the contest, with both men allowing three runs over six innings. Eisenbarger broke first, throwing a wild pitch with Cole Brannen on third base and two outs in the top of the third inning to give the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead, but in the bottom half, Veinbergs hit Jake Guenther with his first pitch of the inning before giving up a two-run home run to John Tuccillo, putting the home team ahead 2-1.
That would hold until the top of the fifth inning, when Dale Thomas hit his second home run of the road swing, a solo shot to tie the game at 2-2. In the bottom of the fifth, Lake Erie answered right back again when Logan Thomason circled the bases on an inside-the-park home run, putting the Crushers ahead again at 3-2. Gateway would then return the favor in the contest, tying the score on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Krause in the top of the sixth inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, a rare, costly one-out error by Abdiel Diaz allowed the lead run to get on base, and after a hit batter and a passed ball, Jarrod Watkins put Lake Erie up 4-3 on a sacrifice fly off Justin Goossen-Brown (1-1). But yet again, Gateway had an answer, and it would win them the game.
Against Sammy Tavarez (2-3) in the top of the eighth inning, Jose Alvarez and Gabe Holt led off with singles before Victor Castillo walked to load the bases. Tavarez then hit Peter Zimmermann with his first pitch to force in the tying run, and Krause smashed a single off the glove of the drawn-in Watkins and into center field, scoring Holt and Castillo to put the Grizzlies up 6-4.
In the bottom half of the eighth, Lake Erie threatened by getting the first two men on base against Gage Vailes, but a costly caught stealing for the first out of the runner leading at second base preceded a rain delay of about 40 minutes. When play resumed, Alec Whaley got through the rest of the inning, setting up Leoni De La Cruz in the ninth. The southpaw would permit the tying runs to get on base with two outs on a single and a walk, but struck out Vincent Byrd, Jr. representing the winning run to record his 14th save and end the game.
Gateway will look to keep their winning ways going in the middle game of the midweek series on Wednesday, August 28, at 12:05 p.m. CT. Alvery De Los Santos will start on the mound for the Grizzlies against the Crushers’ Darrien Ragiins for the matinee at Crushers Stadium
