GRIZZLIES SET NEW STOLEN BASE RECORD
Sauget, IL (August 15, 2023) – The Gateway Grizzlies set a new Frontier League single-season stolen base record on Tuesday night at Wild Things Park, with D.J. Stewart's swipe of second base in the top of the seventh standing as the 205th stolen base of the 2023 season in an eventual 9-4 road loss to the Washington Wild Things.
Gateway entered the game needing just two steals to match the 2021 Windy City ThunderBolts' single-season record of 204, and they secured that on a double-steal by league individual leader Jairus Richards and Cole Brannen in the sixth inning, with Richards stealing his 60th base of the year. Stewart then worked a leadoff walk in the seventh, and with Richards batting, the St. Louis native stole the record-setter uncontested. Brannen then added another to give the visitors four in the game, capping off the night on the basepaths in the eighth inning.
The game itself went south quickly for the Grizzlies, as Washington scored runs in each of their first four turns at bat against Joey Gonzalez (9-7), including five times in the first two innings, to eventually take a 7-0 lead before the Grizzlies got on the board in the fifth against Dariel Fregio (3-2).
In the frame, with two outs, Stewart walked, and Cole Barr hit a home run for the second game in a row for the Grizzlies to make it a 7-2 game. In the next stanza, Richards drew a leadoff walk and went to second on Brannen's single. On the aforementioned double-steal, Washington catcher Melvin Novoa's throw got into the outfield, allowing Richards to score and cut the deficit to 7-3. Mark Vierling then reached on a fielder's choice and another error by Washington shortstop Carson Clowers, scoring Brannen to cut the margin to 7-4.
But a pair of errors in the sixth and seventh innings (one in each frame) led to two unearned runs for the Wild Things against the Grizzlies' pitching staff, with the bats unable to stage a comeback against the Washington bullpen as the home team won the series opener.
Still ahead in the West Division standings by 3.0 games over the second-place Schaumburg Boomers thanks to the latter's loss on Tuesday night, the Grizzlies will look to even the series on Wednesday, August 16, at 5:05 p.m. CT. Carson LaRue will start the middle game of the midweek set for Gateway.
