Grizzlies slugger D.J. Stewart (8) celebrates with Willie Estrada (22), after blasting a three-run homer in Game 2 of the Frontier League West Division Series, Saturday night at Grizzlies Ballpark. (Photo courtesy: Gateway Grizzlies)
| Game 2 – FLDS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evansville Otters | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 1 |
| Gateway Grizzlies | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | X | 15 | 9 | 0 |
Steven Millbrook
Staff Writer
SAUGET, IL — With the season on the line and facing elimination, the Gateway Grizzlies delivered one of their best performances of the season Saturday night.
The club, which won its first divisional regular season title and made the Frontier League playoffs for the first time since 2012, needed a win to keep its season going.
And Gateway did just that, as every player in the lineup either had an RBI or scored a run, as the Grizzlies pummeled the Evansville Otters, 15-5, in Game 2 of the Frontier League West Division Series, Saturday night at Grizzlies Ballpark.
Three different Grizzlies had two hits, three players had two RBIs, and two others had three RBIs, as Gateway forced a deciding Game 3, that will be played Sunday night at Grizzlies Ballpark.
Designated hitter Peter Zimmermann led the way. He reached base all four times he batted, with two hits and two walks. He also drove in two runs and scored two runs.
Centerfielder Eric Rivera also had two hits, two RBIs, and scored three runs, while third baseman D.J. Stewart had two hits and three RBIs, all of which coming on a three-run home run hit during an eight-run eighth inning which helped the Grizzlies put the game away.
The game got off to the rockiest of starts for Gateway and starting pitcher Collin Sullivan (1-0). He gave up four runs in the first inning, which included a three-run homer by Game 1 hero Kona Quiggle.
Sullivan then responded in a big way, as the ace of the staff turned on a faucet of strikeouts in the next few innings, striking out nine of the next 12 batters he faced while allowing just one Evansville batter to reach base at all.
Knowing it needed to respond, Gateway’s offense woke up in a big way. In the second inning, after Otters starter Zach Smith issued a pair of leadoff walks and Stewart hit into a fielder’s choice to move the lead runner to third base, Mark Vierling got Gateway on the board with a sacrifice fly at 4-1.
In the third, the Grizzlies would put up a five-run outburst to chase Smith from the game, as after Jairus Richards and Rivera walked, then stole third and second base, respectively.
Zimmermann drove both in on a single to make it 4-3. Clint Freeman then singled against new pitcher Parker Brahms (0-1), and Andrew Penner was hit by a pitch to set up a game-tying sacrifice fly by Kyle Gaedele, which knotted the score at 4-4. A wild pitch by Brahms brought in the go-ahead run before a second sacrifice fly by Vierling made it 6-4 Grizzlies after three innings.
Yet another sacrifice fly in the fourth inning expanded the lead to 7-4 while Sullivan dealt, and the Otters would not score again until the sixth inning, when Dakota Phillips ambushed the first pitch by Sullivan for a solo home run to cut the lead to 7-5. Evansville then got the tying run to the plate later in the sixth and seventh, while getting the tying runs on base in the eighth.
But after Nathanial Tate got out of the jam, the Grizzlies blew the game wide open in the bottom of the eighth, batting around and scoring eight runs on RBI singles by Vierling and Rivera, an error on Quiggle in center field, a two-run single by Penner, and the three-run homer by Stewart to complete the scoring.
In the do-or-die Game 3, Joey Gonzalez will start on the mound for Gateway opposite Evansville’s Tim Holdgrafer. First pitch at Grizzlies Ballpark is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.