The Gateway Grizzlies broke open a close ballgame in the top of the eighth inning on Friday night, scoring five times in the frame to go ahead for good in an 8-3 win over the Joliet Slammers at Slammers Stadium to claim the opener of the weekend series and bounce back into the win column.
Gage Vailes and Bryan Pena began the game with three scoreless innings, and just like yesterday in both games of their doubleheader at Windy City, Gateway struck first for a 2-0 lead with Dale Thomas opening the scoring in the top of the fourth with an RBI double, and Jose Alvarez contributing a sacrifice fly to make it a two-run ballgame. Joliet answered in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Dylan Goldstein, but the Grizzlies answered back again in the top of the fifth on another sac fly, this time by D.J. Stewart, to take a 3-1 advantage.
That also would not hold, as Joliet used a leadoff walk to kickstart a two-run rally, tying the game on RBI singles by Liam McArthur and Antonio Valdez in the bottom of the fifth. Vailes, however, kept the game tied by getting out of a jam with the go-ahead run in scoring position, and in the next two innings, the combination of Dom Velazquez, Matt Hickey, and Francis Peguero (1-1) were able to work around leadoff doubles in the bottom of the sixth and seventh frames, setting up the game-winning rally in the eighth against Chase Hopewell (2-1).
Thomas began things with a walk, and went to third on a perfect hit-and-run base knock off the bat of Alvarez into right field. Corbin Shaw then put the Grizzlies in front 4-3 with his first pro RBI, a sacrifice fly to center field. But after another single by Edwin Mateo, then a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Gateway surged further ahead with clutch hitting. Tate Wargo delivered a two-run double just fair inside the first base bag to make the score 6-3, and Gateway followed with three straight singles to plate two more runs, with RBIs by Gabe Holt and Stewart, capping the big frame with an 8-3 advantage.
That was all Gateway needed, as Peguero finished off the game with perfect innings in the eighth and ninth for the road win. Offensively, the Grizzlies’ 14-hit attack was spearheaded by three-hit games by Mateo and Victor Castillo, plus two-hit nights from Holt, Stewart, and Alvarez in the bounce-back effort.
Gateway will look to make it back-to-back wins over the Slammers in the middle game of the three-game series on Saturday, June 7, at 6:05 p.m. CT. The Grizzlies starter has yet to be announced for the contest, while Joliet counters with left-hander C.J. Blowers at Slammers Stadium.
