JOLIET – The Gateway Grizzlies and Joliet Slammers needed extra innings to decide the finale of their three-game series on Thursday night, and after being held down all game long offensively, they scored four runs in the top of the tenth inning for a 5-1 victory at Slammers Stadium, capping a 5-1 Chicago road trip and sweeping the series.
The pitching matchup lived up to its billing. The Frontier League’s leader in strikeouts, Deylen Miley, struck out nine batters in six innings to surpass the 100-strikeout mark for the season, while Geno Encina allowed just two men to reach base at all in the first six innings he threw. Both starters also made just one mistake for a solo home run to left field, with Miley surrendering a dinger to Matthew Warkentin leading off the top of the fourth to make it 1-0 Joliet.
In the top of the sixth, Miley walked the leadoff batter, and with two outs, Antonio Valdez doubled down the right field line. McArthur was thrown out at the plate, however, by two perfect throws by Kyle Gaedele and Gabe Holt, ending the inning and setting the stage for Peter Zimmermann leading off the next frame. Zimmermann would get Encina’s one mistake on the second pitch of his at-bat, a hanging slider, and crushed his team-leading 14th home run of the season to tie the game at 1-1, with the ball traveling an estimated 447 feet out to left field.
Both bullpens then held serve for the rest of regulation, sending the contest to the tenth and the International Tiebreaker, where Gateway pounced on Cameron Smith (1-1). Edwin Mateo reached on a bunt single to send Gaedele, the automatic runner, to third base. Cole Brannen then ripped an RBI single to right field to make it 2-1 Grizzlies. Jose Alvarez then sacrificed the speedy runners to second and third with a bunt for the first out of the inning, and Abdiel Diaz hit a ground ball to the right side, with Mateo beating Valdez’s throw home to make it a 3-1 game.
On the very next pitch Smith threw, Holt lined a double to the left-center field wall, scoring both Brannen and Diaz for what turned out to be the final 5-1 margin, as Leoni De La Cruz finished off the game with a scoreless bottom of the tenth, giving Gateway a huge victory to close out their successful road swing through Chicagoland.
Now having won four games in a row and six of their last seven since before the all-star break, Gateway will return home and look to keep momentum going when they take on the Schaumburg Boomers on Friday, July 26, at 6:30 p.m. to open up a three-game series and six-game home stand at Grizzlies Ballpark.
The Gateway Grizzlies are a professional baseball team, located a mere 10 minutes from downtown St. Louis in Sauget, Illinois. The Grizzlies offer baseball fans affordable, family fun at Grizzlies Ballpark with a great view of the St. Louis skyline. They have also won two Frontier League Organization of the Year Awards, four West Division titles, and the 2003 Frontier League Championship. For tickets or general information, please visit gatewaygrizzlies.com or call (618) 337-3000.
The Frontier League debuted in 1993, and is the largest of the Major League Baseball Partner Leagues, featuring teams stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, and from the Ohio River to the St. Lawrence Seaway. More information and the complete 2024 schedule can be found at frontierleague.com.
