EVANSVILLE, IND. – The Gateway Grizzlies split a doubleheader on Saturday night against the Evansville Otters at Bosse Field, falling in extra innings 3-2 in the first game before blanking the hosts 4-0 in the second game to take the series two games to one, improving to 2-1 on the young season.
In the first game, Evansville again took an early lead on a two-run double in the bottom of the second inning by Keenan Taylor after two walks by Alvery De Los Santos, going ahead 2-0. That lead held until the top of the seventh inning as the Grizzlies struggled to solve Otters starter Parker Brahms. But for the second day in a row, a leadoff walk in the last regulation inning proved costly for the Evansville bullpen, as after Victor Castillo drew the base-on-balls leading off the seventh, Ross Friedrick clobbered his second big homer of the series, a two-run blast to right-center field to tie the game at 2-2.
The contest went to extra innings with the International Tiebreaker in effect, and with the lead run automatically placed on second base to begin the inning, the Grizzlies failed to score that runner against Grif Hughes (1-0). The Otters were then able to win the game when they scored their automatic baserunner on a walk-off single by J.T. Benson into center field, taking the contest 3-2 in eight innings.
In the second game, Lukas Veinbergs was able to match Evansville’s Jon Beymer (0-1) for the first four innings, with both starters shutting out the opposing offense. Veinbergs worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fourth to keep it scoreless, and after getting no one on base against Beymer all night to that point, the Grizzlies finally were able to get their bats going in the top of the fifth.
Friedrick led off the frame with a single, and Cole Brannen smacked a double to right field before Jose Alvarez came through with a single off the glove of the third baseman into left field, scoring both runners for a 2-0 Gateway lead. Two batters later, Calyn Halvorson singled home Alvarez to make the score 3-0, and put Gateway in the driver’s seat. They would add another run in the seventh when Alvarez singled leading off and circled the bases on a ground ball and two wild pitches by Chip Korbacher, accounting for the final 4-0 score.
The Grizzlies will now have two days off to prepare for their second series of the season, which begins on Tuesday, May 13, in Pearl, Mississippi against their new West Division rival in the Mississippi Mud Monsters. First pitch of the series is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT at Trustmark Park.
