TROY, NY. – The Gateway Grizzlies were down 5-3 against the Tri-City ValleyCats heading into the seventh inning on Thursday night, but scored one run in the seventh and six runs in the top of the eighth to snatch a 10-5 win, avoiding the sweep with their first-ever win in six tries at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.
Things could not have started much better for the Grizzlies in the game, as Gabe Holt swung at Easton Klein’s first pitch and deposited it over the right field wall for a solo home run and a quick 1-0 Grizzlies lead. Later in the inning with two outs and a man on second base, Dale Thomas took Klein out to left field for a two-run homer to make it 3-0 Gateway.
Tri-City would respond right away, however, scoring two runs with two outs in the bottom of the first inning to slice the deficit to 3-2 on RBI singles by Jake Reinisch and Ian Walters. There the score stayed for several innings as both Klein and Gage Vailes settled into grooves, but the ValleyCats eventually tied the game on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth inning at 3-3.
Tri-City then got their first three men on base to chase Vailes in the bottom of the sixth, and plated two runs in the frame to go ahead 5-3 on two more RBIs by Reinisch and Walters. But it was Gateway’s turn to respond right away, with Corbin Shaw’s sacrifice fly making the score 5-4. While the Grizzlies were unable to bring in the tying run in that inning after loading the bases, things would change dramatically in the top of the eighth.
Duke Brotherton (0-2) came on to pitch, and struggled with his command, throwing just one strike to the first three batters he faced combined to walk the bases loaded. Thomas then came up and tied the score with an RBI single to right-center field, knocking in his career-high third run of the contest, and Mark Shallenberger followed with the eventual game-winning hit, a clean RBI single to right field for a 6-5 Gateway lead. Edwin Mateo kept the scoring going with an RBI single of his own, and after a balk by Liu Fuenmayor with the bases still loaded made the score 8-5, two batters later, Holt reached base on an RBI fielder’s choice, followed by a Jose Alvarez RBI single that completed the big six-run frame and made it a 10-5 contest. It marked the 11th time in 2025 that the Grizzlies plated five or more runs in an inning.
Francis Peguero and Keegan Collett finished off the game by recording back-to-back scoreless innings as the Grizzlies improved to 5-4 on their long road trip, which will continue on Friday night, June 13, when Gateway opens up a weekend series against the New York Boulders. First pitch at Clover Stadium in Pomona, New York is set for 6:00 p.m. CT.
Grizzlies Stumble In Doubleheader Sweep
Gateway loses another heartbreaker in back end of twin-bill, drops both games at Tri-City
TROY, NY. – The Gateway Grizzlies played a doubleheader for the second time on their two-week road swing, and for the second time they lost both ends of the twin-bill with the second contest going to extra innings, falling 6-1 and 4-3 to the Tri-City ValleyCats to drop to 16-12 overall.
In the first game, Gateway fell behind early and was not able to recover. With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, four straight batters reached base against Lukas Veinbergs (2-2) on two singles and two walks, with Ian Walters’ two-run infield hit making the score 2-0. The ValleyCats would add on one run in the second inning, one in the fourth, and two more in the fifth inning to take a 6-0 lead.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies’ offense was held to a season-low two hits, the second of which came from Dale Thomas on a mammoth, 440-foot solo home run to left-center field in the seventh inning to break up the shutout as Gateway lost the front end of a doubleheader for the third time this season in three opportunities.
In the second game, the ValleyCats again struck first on a two-out infield single to go ahead 1-0 against Claudio Galva in the bottom of the first inning The left-hander would minimize the damage early, and Tri-City’s only other run against the Gateway starter over four innings of work came in the fourth frame without the aid of a hit, as back-to-back leadoff walks, a double steal, and an RBI groundout made the score 2-0.
The Grizzlies got on the board in the top of the fifth thanks to a sacrifice fly by Mark Shallenberger, and then took their first lead of the day in the top of the sixth inning when Victor Castillo was hit by a pitch and D.J. Stewart followed with a two-run, go-ahead home run to right field, making the score 3-2.
But in the bottom of the seventh inning against Leoni De La Cruz, Dylan Broderick tied the game with a solo home run, sending the contest to extra innings. The Grizzlies failed to plate the automatic runner in the International Tiebreaker in the eighth, with Thomas hitting a ball on the screws but right at Walters at third base for an inning-ending double play. In the bottom of the frame, Tri-City loaded the bases before yet another infield single, this time off the bat of Kyle Novak, won the game for the ValleyCats and dopped Gateway to 0-5 all-time at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium as well as 1-6 in extra innings or sudden death in 2025.
