Grizzlies Come Back Yet Again, Sweep Washington, Plus Weekend Roundup

SAUGET, ILL. – The Gateway Grizzlies were down 4-0 in the third inning of the series finale against the Washington Wild Things at Arsenal BG Ballpark on Thursday night, but a big crowd of 4,619 watched the home team come back for the third time in the series to record a 6-4 victory, clinching the Grizzlies’ first sweep at home in 2025 and their third overall.

St. Charles, Missouri native Andrew Schwaab struggled early on the mound, allowing a two-out solo home run to Tommy Caufield to put the visitors up in the top of the first inning for the third day in a row at 1-0. In the third inning, the Wild Things chased Schwaab from the game, scoring three runs on back-to-back RBI hits by Tyreque Reed and Andrew Czech to increase their lead to 4-0.

But Claudio Galva (3-1) stabilized things out of the bullpen, tossing two and two-thirds scoreless frames with three strikeouts, setting the table for yet another Gateway rally. With two outs, Victor Castillo broke his bat and blooped an RBI single out to shallow left field, putting the Grizzlies on the board against Wild Things starter Sebastian Rodriguez (0-1) in the bottom of the third inning.

Now down 3-1 in the game, the Grizzlies used back-to-back hit-by-pitches from Rodriguez to kickstart the comeback in the bottom of the fourth inning. Edwin Mateo made the score 3-2 with an RBI single, and after he stole second, Cole Brannen came up clutch against his former team with a game-tying two-run double to left-center field. With two outs later in the inning, Jose Alvarez stayed hot with an RBI single to right field, making the score 5-4 Grizzlies.

That put the home side ahead for good, although Washington got the tying run at least on base in every inning for the rest of the game. Alec Whaley followed Galva in the sixth with a scoreless frame, and Alvery De Los Santos did the same in the seventh. In the eighth inning, Czech led off with a double, and was at third base with no outs against Francis Peguero, but the right-hander got out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts.

In the ninth, after Gateway plated an insurance run on an Abdiel Diaz sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth to go ahead 6-4, Keegan Collett retired the first two batters he faced, then gave up back-to-back singles and threw a wild pitch, putting the tying run in scoring position. But he struck out Reed looking to end the game, and nail down his sixth save of the year.

Grizzlies Collapse Late, Lose Heartbreaker

The Gateway Grizzlies led 1-0 with two outs in the top of the ninth inning and had the final out in their hands, but a throwing error by Leoni De La Cruz kept the game going, and eventually led to a heartbreaking, 2-1 loss in 10 innings against the Lake Erie Crushers at Arsenal BG Ballpark.

The game was a pitcher’s duel deluxe all night long. Anthony Escobar ran his streak of shutout innings to 26 straight with his first six frames on the mound, and Gage Vailes was every bit his equal, turning in the finest outing of his young career by holding the Crushers scoreless through six and two-thirds innings with a career-high eight strikeouts.

In the bottom of the seventh, Abdiel Diaz led off with a single and stole second base before Edwin Mateo walked. After Cole Brannen bunted an 0-2 pitch foul for strike three, Diaz and Mateo stole second and third base, putting an elusive first run just 90 feet away. Escobar struck out Gabe Holt swinging, but he then made his first mistake of the game, tossing a wild pitch that got to the backstop, allowing Diaz to score to make it 1-0 Grizzlies, and finally snapping the scoreless streak against the Lake Erie right-hander at 26 2/3 frames.

The Grizzlies’ bullpen then held that lead, as Matt Hickey pitched a flawless eighth, and De La Cruz struck out the first two batters of the ninth. But with the Crushers down to their final strike, Jaidan Quinn hit a slow bouncer in front of the plate that De La Cruz fielded and threw to first base. The throw was in time, but pulled D.J. Stewart barely off the bag, resulting in an error.

De La Cruz then had Davie Morgan down to his final strike, but gave up a single before Burle Dixon broke the hearts of the Grizzlies with a game-tying RBI single to right field. With the score 1-1, Gateway did not get anyone on base in the ninth, and in the tenth inning with the International Tiebreaker in effect, Alfredo Gonzalez laid down a sacrifice bunt that was thrown wild to first base by Francis Peguero (2-3), scoring another unearned run and handing the Crushers a 2-1 lead.

Peguero kept the deficit to a single run, but the Grizzlies could not get the job done in the bottom of the tenth inning, with Michael Brewer getting a pair of strikeouts before Stewart popped out into the Lake Erie bullpen on a ball that evaded the side netting by centimeters, ending the game.

Bullpen Holds True, Grizzlies Even Weekend Series

The Gateway Grizzlies became the third club in the Frontier League this season to 30 victories, grabbing an early lead and using stout relief pitching down the stretch to beat the Lake Erie Crushers 7-5 at Arsenal BG Ballpark, knotting up the weekend set at one game apiece.

As has happened more often than not on their current home stand, the Grizzlies’ opponents scored in the top of the first inning, this time on a Jordan Harrison-Dudley home run that scraped over the left field wall for a 1-0 early deficit. Ben Harris (4-0) would recover from the early blow and put up three straight scoreless frames, and in the meantime, the Grizzlies would take advantage of Lake Erie defensive miscues to take the lead for good.

In the bottom of the second inning, Mark Shallenberger led off with a walk, and on the next pitch from Ethan Smith (3-4), Paxton Wallace hit what appeared to be a sure double-play ball to shortstop Zach Campbell, but it was dropped on the transfer towards second base for an error, allowing Wallace and Shallenberger to advance safely. The next batter, Abdiel Diaz, laid down a sacrifice bunt up the third base line, and Jaidan Quinn’s throw on the run towards first base got away for the second error of the inning, scoring the tying run and making the score 1-1.

Tanner Garrison followed with a go-ahead, two-run double to right center field in his return to the lineup, making it a 3-1 Grizzlies lead, and Victor Castillo would come through with a two-out RBI single to cap the four-run inning. In the third, after D.J. Stewart was hit by a pitch, Shallenberger corked a two-run home run deep over the right field fence to increase the Gateway lead to 6-1.

That lead was held by Harris until the fifth inning with two outs, with the right-hander amassing eight strikeouts in the contest to set a new career-high. He allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Harrison-Dudley and Derek Vegas, however, as Lake Erie got back in the game. Following a Diaz sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth that made the score 7-3 Grizzlies, the Crushers would plate two more runs in the sixth off Xander Lovin to make it a close game at 7-5.

But that is where the momentum was halted. Lovin got the second out of the inning, and Alec Whaley retired the two batters he faced in the frame. Matt Hickey, Alvery De Los Santos, and Keegan Collett then sent down all nine batters they collectively faced to slam the door shut, with Collett earning his seventh save of the season in the ninth.

Grizzlies Drop Another Close Game To Lake Erie

The Gateway Grizzlies opened their ballgame with four straight singles and a 2-0 lead on Sunday night against the Lake Erie Crushers, but gave up two home runs late in suffering a 3-2 loss at Arsenal BG Ballpark that dropped the club back into second place in the Frontier League West Division standings.

Gabe Holt started off the game against Jack Eisenbarger (4-2) with an infield single, and Victor Castillo followed with a single of his own, one of three he would hit in the game. On a hit-and-run, Jose Alvarez bounced an RBI single into right-center field for a 1-0 Grizzlies lead, and on the very next pitch, Dale Thomas rocketed an RBI single to left field, making the score 2-0.

Lukas Veinbergs was brilliant on the mound for Gateway, fanning five and shutting out the Crushers offense for five and two-thirds innings, retiring 10 batters in a row at one point. But with two outs in the sixth, he gave up a first-pitch single to Alfredo Gonzalez, and with two strikes on Jarrod Watkins, surrendered a game-tying, two-run home run over the right field fence.

In the next frame, Francis Peguero (2-4) surrendered a leadoff solo shot to left field off the bat of Jaidan Quinn, giving Lake Erie their first lead of the night at 3-2 with what turned out to be the winning run.

Meanwhile, after the early flurry of offense with four men on base in the first inning, the Grizzlies were held to just four runners on base for the entire rest of the game in losing the weekend series to the Crushers despite scoring first in each of the two one-run losses.

Gateway will look to bounce back after an off day on Monday in the final series of their nine-game home stand when the Joliet Slammers come to Sauget for a midweek set beginning Tuesday, July 8, at Arsenal BG Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT.

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