Gateway’s Victor Castillo talks with Lake Erie’s Alberti Chavez during Tuesday’s Frontier League West Division Wild Card Game at Grizzlies Ballpark in Sauget. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

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SAUGET, IL — The Gateway Grizzlies had their fun and entertaining 2024 Frontier League Baseball season come to a disheartening end Tuesday night, when they blew a five-run lead and were one strike away from winning the game, but lost 10-8 to the Lake Erie Crushers in the West Division Wild Card Game at Grizzlies Ballpark.

Gateway trailed twice early, 2-0 and 3-2, but rallied to put up six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take an 8-3 lead heading into the seventh. But the batters from Lake Erie lived up to their nickname and crushed three home runs (five total in the game) in the final three innings to rally back for the win.

The big blow came from Crushers designated hitter Victor Byrd, Jr., who smashed a three-run home run off Grizzlies closer Leoni De La Cruz in the top of the ninth to put Lake Erie up for good.

It was Byrd’s second homer of the night and brought the entire Lake Erie dugout out onto the field to celebrate. Even the Crushers relief pitchers that were in the bullpen ran all the way down to home plate and the dugout to celebrate with Byrd as he crossed home plate.

In contrast, the rest of the stadium fell completely silent, as everyone rooting for Gateway and the Grizzlie players themselves couldn’t believe the sudden change of fortune that had them behind in the final inning of Tuesday’s winner-take-all playoff game.

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Byrd’s first homer came in the top of the first. It was a two-run blast over the center-field wall that gave the Crushers a 2-0 lead.

Gateway responded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first. The Grizzlies’ first three batters all reached base, on a hit, a walk, and a hit batter, which brought cleanup hitter D.J. Stewart to the plate.

He grounded into a double play, but Gabe Holt, who led off with a single, scored to put Gateway on the board. Then, with two outs, designated hitter Kevin Krause drilled a double into the left-field gap that scored Victor Castillo to tie the game.

The score stayed that way until the fifth inning, when Lake Erie’s Logan Thomason blasted a home over the right field wall to put the Crushers up 3-2. After that first inning, the Grizzlies had trouble putting together hits, but that changed in the sixth.

Castillo led off with a double and Peter Zimmermann followed with a single that put runners on first and third. Stewart came up and drilled a single to center that scored Castillo to tie the game. Then Krause lifted a high fly to center that was caught, but landed deep enough for Zimmermann to score and give Gateway a 4-3 lead.

The Grizzlies next two batters walked to load the bases, and after a strikeout, catcher Jose Alvarez came to the plate with the bases loaded. The rookie from Venezuela, who came to Gateway after a stint with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, launched a oppo-taco grand slam home run over the right-field wall that had every Grizzlies fan and player on their feet cheering with excitement.

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Gateway seemed to be in good shape, with its ace starter Deylen Miley on the mound. The all-star righthander, who had pitched six strong innings, with only three hits allowed and 10 strikeouts, gave up a solo homer to Lake Erie’s Jake Guenther to make the score 8-4.

That didn’t seem like much at the time, but it was enough to keep the Crushers believing they had a chance for a comeback. That feeling got even stronger later in the inning, when Gateway brought in Alec Whaley and he gave up two more runs to make the score 8-6.

Lake Erie even got the tying run on base in that seventh inning, but the Grizzlies brought in Lukas Veinbergs and he put out the potential comeback fire by striking out two batters to get out of the inning.

Gateway wasn’t able to add to its lead in the seventh or eighth innings and that set the stage for an incredible Crushers comeback in the ninth.

Jack Harris led off with a solo homer off De La Cruz to get the rally started. Then after a pair of strikeouts, the next two batters walked, which brought Byrd to the plate.

De La Cruz quickly got two strikes, and had his club one strike away from advancing to the West Division Championship Series. But Byrd found the pitch he wanted and launched it deep over the right-field wall to put the Crushers ahead 10-8.

The stunned Grizzlies did have a chance to possibly tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, but Lake Erie’s Trevor Kuncl got the three outs he needed to end the game.

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Gateway ended its season with a 59-36 record, while Lake Erie advances to the West Division Championship Series, where it will play regular season West Division champ, the Washington Wild Things, in a best-of-three series this weekend, with the winner advancing to next week’s Frontier League Finals.

Scoring Summary

InningsPlayV – H
Lake Erie Crushers  1stByrd, Jr homered, 2 RBI; J. Watkins scored.2 – 0
Gateway Grizzlies  1stD. Stewart grounded into double play p to 2b to 1b; P. Zimmerman out on the play; V. Castillo advanced to third; G. Holt scored.2 – 1
Gateway Grizzlies  1stK. Krause doubled, RBI; V. Castillo scored.2 – 2
Lake Erie Crushers  5thL. Thomason homered, RBI.3 – 2
Gateway Grizzlies  6thD. Stewart singled, RBI; P. Zimmerman advanced to second; V. Castillo scored.3 – 3
Gateway Grizzlies  6thK. Krause flied out to rf, sacrifice fly, RBI; D. Stewart advanced to third; P. Zimmerman scored.3 – 4
Gateway Grizzlies  6thJ. Alvarez homered, 4 RBI; K. Gaedele scored; A. Diaz scored; D. Stewart scored.3 – 8
Lake Erie Crushers  7thJ. Guenther homered, RBI.4 – 8
Lake Erie Crushers  7thJ. Watkins singled, 2 RBI; L. Thomason advanced to third; J. Harris scored; J. Tuccillo scored.6 – 8
Lake Erie Crushers  9thJ. Harris homered, RBI.7 – 8
Lake Erie Crushers  9thByrd, Jr homered, 3 RBI; S. Knotts scored; A. Chavez scored.10 – 8