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.
The Grizzlies will now seek a series win against the Crushers in the rubber game of the three-game set on Sunday, July 6. Lukas Veinbergs will get the ball for Gateway against Lake Erie southpaw and St. Louis-area native Jack Eisenbarger, with first pitch scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT at Arsenal BG Ballpark.
