GRIZZLIES CLINCH WEST TITLE WITH DOUBLE HEADER, DOUBLE WALK OFF DAY
Sauget, IL (August 30, 2023) – In a doubleheader that overflowed with late drama on both sides, the Gateway Grizzlies clinched the Frontier League West Division title thanks to a pair of walk-off victories at Grizzlies Ballpark, with Clint Freeman's come-from-behind, two-out, two run homer registering a 7-6 win in game one, and Andrew Penner's two-out, walk-off single in sudden death getting Gateway a 4-3 victory in game two.
In the first contest, most of the offense came early, with the Grizzlies opening the scoring in the bottom of the first. Freeman smacked a two-out RBI single to put the Grizzlies ahead 1-0, and after a double by Penner, Kyle Gaedele hit a subsequent single to make it 2-0.
The Otters responded by scoring five runs in the top of the second inning, including four on a grand slam by Kona Quiggle, taking a 5-2 advantage. But the Grizzlies responded right back in the bottom of the second, with Eric Rivera's RBI single getting them within 5-3, and Freeman coming up clutch again with a two-run automatic double down the left field line to tie the score at 5-5.
Evansville was able to scratch across the lead run on a Jeffrey Baez sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth, and held that lead until the bottom of the seventh. In the final regulation inning, Jairus Richards led off with a walk and stole second base before going to third on a pinch-hit sacrifice bunt by Willie Estrada. After a strikeout by Otters closer Jake Polancic (1-4) got the Grizzlies down to their final out, Freeman came up again, and crushed the first pitch over the right-center field wall for a two-run, walk-off home run to stun the visitors 7-6, clinching at least a split of the four-game series.
In between games, Schaumburg's loss to Florence lowered the Grizzlies' magic number for the division championship down to one, and in the second game, Gateway got off to a good start on Penner's RBI double in the bottom of the first inning. The Grizzlies held that 1-0 lead thanks to the work of Nathanial Tate, who pitched five outstanding, shutout innings in his second start of the season while striking out a career-high nine Otters batters. They would expand the advantage to 2-0 on a Mark Vierling solo home run in the bottom of the fourth.
In the top of the sixth inning, however, the twists and turns kicked into overdrive in game two. Dakota Phillips cracked a two-run, home run to left-center field off Tate to tie the score at 2-2, and in the bottom half, Estrada would give Gateway the lead back with a go-ahead RBI double just out of the reach of a diving Bryan Rosario in right field, making the score 3-2 Grizzlies with just three more outs to go in regulation.
In the top of the seventh, Baez reached on a pinch-hit single with one out, and moved to second base on a wild pitch by Josh Lucas. After a pop-out by pinch-hitter Ethan Skender, Lucas got the Otters down to their final strike when Baez stole third base, with a crucial throwing error by Estrada on the same play allowing the tying run to score, sending the game to extra innings at 3-3.
In the eighth, Lucas was able to get a strikeout and a caught-stealing from Estrada to allow no runs in the top half with the International Tiebreaker in effect, but neither was Gateway able to score the winning run in the bottom half against Kevin Davis. The game then went to "sudden death," with the Grizzlies choosing to hit, and getting an automatic runner, Vierling, placed on first base, representing the winning run.
Evansville brought Polancic back to the mound, and Cole Brannen laid down a sacrifice to put the winning run at second base. Estrada then worked a walk, and Peter Zimmermann reached on a pinch-hit single in his first at-bat in a live game since August 4, loading the bases with only one out for Richards.
Richards popped out to shallow left field, however, setting up Penner for the final, dramatic blow of the game, as the former Otter, down to his final strike, dumped a walk-off single into center field just out of the reach of a diving Noah Myers, sending Grizzlies Ballpark into a celebration, and delivering Gateway their fourth division title in club history, along with their first since their last playoff appearance in 2012.
With the victory, Gateway clinched the midweek series against Evansville, and will go for a four-game sweep in the finale on Thursday, August 31, at 6:45 p.m. CT. Collin Sullivan will take the mound for his final regular season start in a matchup of aces against the Otters' Tim Holdgrafer at Grizzlies Ballpark.
FLORENCE, KY – The Florence Y'alls (38-54), presented by Towne Properties, broke through offensively late in the game against the Schaumburg Boomers (52-39) in a series-clinching 8-1 win on Wednesday evening.
Pitching dominated most of the early portion between Florence and Schaumburg. The Y'alls led 1-0 through four full innings of play as Schaumburg righthander Hunter Hoopes (4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) and Florence starter Edgar Martinez (7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 6 K) matched one another pitch-for-pitch. The Y'alls scraped out their first run when left fielder Hank Zeisler singled to lead off the bottom of the third, moved to third on a passed ball and an infield single, then scored on a two-out single from catcher Zade Richardson. In the fifth, Florence scored again when Zeisler doubled, move to third on a balk, then scored on a sacrifice fly from first baseman Craig Massey.
Martinez took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Schaumburg rallied for its only offense of the evening. A leadoff walk to shortstop Alec Craig and a single from third baseman Travis Holt put two aboard to begin the inning. Two batters later, center fielder Chase Dawson grounded out to first to score Craig from third base and cut the Florence lead to 2-1.
The Y'alls tacked on an insurance run in the seventh against the Schaumburg bullpen. A one-out double from designated hitter Brennan Price brought up third baseman Brian Fuentes, who doubled to left past a drawn-in infield to score Price and put the Y'alls ahead 3-1. Florence put the game out of reach in the eighth with a five-run rally. After a one-out walk and single, Hank Zeisler notched his third hit of the day on an RBI single that brought home second baseman Tristin Garcia. A two-run double from Brennan Price and a two-run home run off the bat of Brian Fuentes – his second consecutive day with a home run – put the Y'alls ahead 8-1.
Righthander Nick Ernst locked down a scoreless ninth to hand the Y'alls a dominating Game 2 win and a series victory over Schaumburg. The season series between the Y'alls and Boomers is now tied 4-4 with Game 3 scheduled for Thursday. The Y'alls' final home game of the 2023 season is set for Thursday, August 31st at 6:34 p.m. ET.
WASHINGTON, Pa. (August 30) – Behind Kobe Foster's quality start over seven frames, a couple homers, a three-run sixth and more, Washington dropped Joliet in the middle game at Wild Things Park, 6-4 to secure the club's third-straight series win.
Washington got the scoring started by scoring in the first on an error to make it 1-0 and in the third to make it 2-0 on an RBI single by Wagner Lagrange, which was good for his team-leading 69th RBI of the season.
Joliet got its first run on a solo shot by Tommy Stevenson to make it 2-1 in the fourth.
That was the only blemish on the line of starter Kobe Foster, who worked seven innings of one-run ball and fanned seven. Joliet amassed just five hits against the southpaw. The quality start was the 27th for Washington this season and Foster's ninth.
In the sixth, the second batter of the inning, Andrew Czech, drew a walk. The walk was his league and team-leading 88th of the season broke a tie with Kane Sweeney (2017) at the top of Washington's single-season walk chart. Czech is now the single-season record holder in the category.
The next hitter, Anthony Brocato, launched a two-run homer to left. It was Brocato's 27th of the season and made the score 4-1 Washington. JC Santini then doubled home Scotty Dubrule to make it 5-1. In the seventh, Caleb McNeely hit his second home run, making it 6-1.
After Christian James worked a scoreless eighth, Stephen Knapp came on to close the game. Joliet scratched across three in the ninth but left the tying run at the dish in the middle game.
The win secures the series and gives Washington a chance for a sweep tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. when Zach Kirby takes the mound still in search of what's turned out to be an elusive first professional win despite a 2.97 ERA. Ricky Castro goes for Joliet. It's Single and Mingle Night on a Thirsty Thursday, presented by the Molson Coors Beverage Company.
Ottawa, ON - The Ottawa Titans (48-44) got big-time pitching performances and a pair of key hits in a 2-1 extra-innings win over Trois-Rivières Aigles (36-55) on Wednesday.
With a pitcher's duel lined up on paper, Damon Casetta-Stubbs (ND, 5-5) and Osman Gutierrez (ND, 8-4) each lived up to the hype, throwing three shutout innings to keep the game scoreless.
In the fourth, a lead-off solo homer from Jake Sanford put the Titans ahead 1-0. Sanford's second homer of the season was finally able to break the ice.
The lead stood for Casetta-Stubbs, who fell into trouble in the fifth inning. The Aigles threatened to load the bases, seeing the Titans make a pair of errors in the frame. The right-hander would get former Titan Brendon Dadson to pop out on the infield to escape the jam.
After leaving in line for the win, Casetta-Stubbs tossed six shutout frames and allowed four hits, walked two, and punched out eight. In the process, the right-hander set a new career high by reaching 109 strikeouts on the season.
Nick MacDonald entered for the seventh and allowed the tying run to score on a Tyler Wiber RBI single to centre to pull the Aigles level at one.
Osman Gutierrez threw a season-high eight innings for the Aigles and also ended up with a no-decision. The right-hander allowed just one run on four hits, walked one, and struck out ten.
In a tie game late, Erasmo Pinales (win, 5-1) slammed the door of any hopes for the visitors, striking out five over two innings of relief.
Down to their final out in the tenth, a wild pitch by Christian Scafidi (loss, 1-2) put the potential winning run at third. Up 3-0 in the count, the Aigles intentionally put the pinch hitter Jackie Urbaez on base with a walk to face Jamey Smart, who rocketed a walk-off single to the wall in right.
With the win, the Titans win their third consecutive series and guarantee themselves at least a .500 finish in 2023.
AJ Wright extended his hit streak to 13 with a 1-for-4 performance by recording a double. Jamey Smart also reached base three times, going 2-for-4 with a walk.
CRESTWOOD, IL – The Windy City ThunderBolts took the second game of a three game set over the Lake Erie Crushers, 3-1 Wednesday night at Ozinga Field.
Following a double in the first inning by Micah Yonamine, Junior Martina doubled home the first run of the ballgame in the bottom of the first for a 1-0 Windy City lead.
The ballgame was quiet following the first inning run. Windy City all-star Garrett Christman breezed through 5.2 innings of work. Christman surrendered no runs on four hits while walking one and striking out seven.
Lake Erie (36-55) starting pitcher Stephen Chamblee threw six innings, surrendering two hits and one earned run while walking three and striking out six.
Tyler LaPorte tossed 1.1 innings of scoreless ball heading into the top of the eighth inning.
Sebastian Selway entered the game in relief in the top of the eighth inning, walking over a Crushers' run, which knotted the game at 1-1.
Matt Morgan was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Following a fielder's choice at bat for Troy Viola and a Paul Coumoulos fly out, Yonamine hammered a two run double to opposite field. Yonamine now leads the Bolts with his 46th RBI of the season, putting the Bolts ahead 3-1 entering the top of the ninth inning.
Derrick Edington struck out two Crushers in the ninth and sealed his fifth save of the month, cementing a 3-1 Windy City victory.
Justin Miller (1-2) earned his first win of the season, relieving Selway in the eighth inning.
The ThunderBolts go for the sweep of Lake Erie in their final home game of the season Thursday night at 6:35. They'll become the Windy City Sliders for White Castle Wrestling Night, which will feature a jersey auction and a postgame wrestling show from EGO Pro Wrestling. Fans can bid on the Sliders' jerseys at 32auctions.com/sliders2023.
On the field, Javier Reynoso (4-1, 5.00) starts for Windy City against Lake Erie's Darrien Ragins (4-5, 2.03).
