Last night the Gateway Grizzlies faced a tough defeat against the Schaumburg Boomers, dropping the middle game of their series 17-10. The Boomers set the tone early and capitalized on a disastrous sixth inning to hand the Grizzlies a season-high 17 runs allowed, overshadowing Gateway’s spirited comeback efforts.
The game started with Schaumburg jumping to a 4-0 lead over the first two innings, scoring three runs in the first and one in the second, with three of those runs coming with two outs. But the Grizzlies showed resilience. In the bottom of the second, Edwin Mateo drove in a run with a fielder’s choice, and in the third, Victor Castillo and D.J. Stewart launched back-to-back home runs to tie the game at 4-4.
The Boomers responded quickly when Michael Gould smashed a solo homer to lead off the fourth, but Gateway answered back. Gabe Holt hustled out a two-out infield single in the bottom of the fourth, plating a run to knot the score at 5-5. At that point, the game felt like it could go either way.
Then came the sixth inning, where things unraveled for the Grizzlies’ pitching staff. Schaumburg loaded the bases against Dom Velazquez (1-1) with two walks and a double, prompting a pitching change. Unfortunately, reliever Alvery De Los Santos couldn’t stem the tide. Bren Spillane ripped a two-run double to give the Boomers a 7-5 lead, and after a groundout, Banks Tolley’s RBI single and Andrew Sojka’s bases-clearing double pushed the score to 11-5. The inning’s exclamation point came when Gould crushed his second homer of the night, a three-run blast, capping a nine-run frame that left Gateway trailing 14-5.
Schaumburg tacked on two more runs in the seventh to make it 16-5, but the Grizzlies refused to go quietly. In the bottom of the seventh, Mark Shallenberger, Abdiel Diaz, Cole Brannen, and Tanner Garrison delivered RBI hits, plating five runs to cut the deficit to 16-10. Despite the effort, the gap was too wide to close, and the Boomers secured the victory.
The series now comes down to a decisive rubber match tonight, June 19, at 6:30 p.m. CT. Gage Vailes will take the mound for the Grizzlies, facing off against Schaumburg’s lefty Cole Cook. After last night’s slugfest, Gateway will look to tighten up their pitching and even the score.
