SAUGET – The Gateway Grizzlies again fell behind early against the Florence Y’alls on The Greatest Night in Baseball at Grizzlies Ballpark on Sunday, but would come back with the long ball, hitting five homers as a team, and scoring in every inning but one in a 16-8 victory to finish the regular season with 59 wins for the second straight year.
Florence opened the scoring right away, drawing a bases-loaded walk against Justin Goossen-Brown (2-1) in the first inning to go ahead 1-0, and after the Grizzlies tied the score on a D.J. Stewart RBI double in the bottom half, the Y’alls went ahead again 2-1 on a Justin Lavey solo home run in the second inning. The visitors would increase the lead to 5-1 in the third inning on a three-run homer by Zade Richardson.
But the Grizzlies kept up the offensive attack when Goossen-Brown settled down to pitch two scoreless innings after the early flurry by Florence, and after not scoring a run in the second inning (the only frame where they would not have anyone cross the plate), Gateway got back into the game.
In the bottom of the third. Victor Castillo and Peter Zimmermann hit solo home runs back-to-back off Ty Good (1-2) to draw the Grizzlies within 5-3, and in the next inning, Gateway would roar ahead. After a leadoff walk by Cole Brannen, Jose Alvarez hit a two-run shot out to right field to tie the game at 5-5. Good then lost the strike zone, walking four straight batters to force in another run, with Stewart grabbing his second RBI to put the Grizzlies up 6-5.
Florence then made a pitching change, and Kevin Krause punctuated the seven-run inning with a grand slam home run over the right field fence off Evan Webster, putting the Grizzlies up 10-5 on their fourth home run of the game. The offense would keep up the onslaught in each of the next four innings, with Castillo picking up his second RBI on a groundout in the fifth, Alvarez collecting an RBI single in the sixth, Stewart making it a three-RBI night with a single in the seventh, Abdiel Diaz crushing a two-run home run in the same inning (the team’s fifth of the contest), and Castillo adding yet another RBI on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly.
Florence would also score three runs in their half of the sixth inning, getting them within 11-8 at the time, but it was not enough to stem the Grizzlies’ tide in front of a season-best crowd of 6,545 at Grizzlies Ballpark. Four Grizzlies finished with three or more RBIs while five different players had multi-hit performances. Zimmermann also stole two bases in addition to his home run on the night, giving him 20 on the season to become the first Grizzlies player in team history with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the same year.
The Grizzlies now turn their attention to the playoffs, as after an off day on Monday, they will host the winner-take-all West Division Wild Card game against the Lake Erie Crushers, with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. CT at Grizzlies Ballpark. Playoff tickets and gear are on sale NOW- go to gatewaygrizzlies.com or call (618) 337-3000 to be in attendance as Gateway embarks on their second-straight playoff run!
Grizzlies Walk Off, Cap Massive Comeback Over Y’alls
The Gateway Grizzlies fell behind 10-1 against the Florence Y’alls on Saturday night, but came all the way back in stunning fashion, scoring 10 unanswered runs and walking off on a Gabe Holt RBI single in the bottom of the ninth by a final score of 11-10 at raucous Grizzlies Ballpark. The victory, one of the biggest comebacks in club history, snapped a three-game losing skid, and evened up the weekend series at one game apiece.
Grizzlies starter Tyler Cornett struggled mightily on the mound in the early innings, as Florence hit a pair of two run homers in their first two turns at bat, then took advantage of six walks in the fourth inning to jump out to their big lead. On the Gateway side, they mustered just a D.J. Stewart RBI fielder’s choice in the bottom of the first inning against Florence starter Jonaiker Villalobos in falling behind 10-1.
The comeback began innocently in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Dale Thomas lined an RBI double to left-center field with two outs to make it 10-2. In the bottom of the fifth, Holt would kick off a four-hit inning with a leadoff single, and scored three batters hence on an RBI single by Stewart to make it 10-3. Kevin Krause hit a ground ball to shortstop that brought in an additional run, and Abdiel Diaz completed the frame with a two-out RBI single, drawing the Grizzlies within 10-5.
In the sixth inning, after the Y’alls made a pitching change, things really started to get interesting. Darrien Williams walked both Cole Brannen and Holt with one out before Victor Castillo ripped an RBI double to right field, making the score 10-6. With two outs in the same frame, Stewart hit a fly ball to shallow left field, and after calling off the shortstop, Florence outfielder Stephen Hrustich failed to make a diving catch, scoring two more runs and making the score 10-8.
The comeback would not stop there. With two outs and none on in the seventh inning against Kent Klyman, Thomas drew a walk, and Brannen stepped up to the plate, working the count full before tying the game at 10-10 on a two-run, opposite-field home run to left. The Grizzlies then nearly took the lead in the bottom of the eighth against Ross Thompson (3-5), with Krause grounding a base hit into left field with a runner on second. Pinch-runner Tate Wargo was thrown out at the plate by Hrustich, however, and Krause was called out on the bases as well, ending the frame.
But after Alec Whaley (5-1) capped a phenomenal night by the Grizzlies’ bullpen with a scoreless top of the ninth inning that also featured an out at home plate, the game went to the bottom of the ninth. Diaz led off with a double off Thompson, and Kyle Gaedele worked a walk. Thomas then laid down a bunt, with Diaz just beating the throw from Thompson to third base to load up the bases with no one out.
Thompson followed by striking Brannen out looking for the first out of the inning, bringing up Holt, who scorched a walk-off single into right field past the glove of the drawn-in second baseman to complete the incredible comeback in Sauget.
Holt, Castillo, Peter Zimmermann and Diaz all had three-hit games to lead a 17-hit offensive attack for the Grizzlies, with Stewart driving in four total runs as well. But the biggest heroes of the night were the Grizzlies’ bullpen, who followed up Cornett’s rocky outing by completely shutting down the Y’alls for the final five and one-third innings of the game, striking out six and walking two while giving up just three hits. Included in the group was Edwin Mateo, with the Grizzlies outfielder tossing a scoreless eighth inning after Gateway had tied the score.
Grizzlies Drop Game To Y’alls
The Gateway Grizzlies dropped a third straight game for the first time all season, losing 4-2 to the Florence Y’alls at Grizzlies Ballpark on Friday night.
The Grizzlies got the initial lead in the contest in the bottom of the fourth inning when Peter Zimmermann continued his home run tear, lining his 21st of the season over the right field wall to put the home team up 1-0. But that lead did not last, as Florence got three straight hits to begin the next half-inning off Teague Conrad (7-4), with an RBI single by Justin Lavey tying the game at 1-1. Conrad would come as close as possible to getting out of the rest of the inning unscathed, but with two outs and two strikes on Brian Fuentes, he surrendered a go-ahead, two-run single that made it 3-1 Florence.
The two teams then traded solo home runs in the sixth inning, with Dalton Davis squeaking one over the left field wall in the top half to make it 4-1, and Zimmermann answering with a moonshot off Hunter Mink (2-0) to left-center field to get the Grizzlies back within 4-2, his second of the game and his sixth against the Y’alls in August.
