The Gateway Grizzlies and Windy City ThunderBolts battle in action, Thursday night at GCS Ballpark in Sauget. (Photo: Nathan Assata)
by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
SAUGET, IL – Most times when a team scores 10 runs and gets more than 10 hits in a professional baseball game, that team is going to win that game. It almost always happens that way.
But on Thursday night at GCS Credit Union Ballpark, it didn’t. At least it didn’t for the Gateway Grizzlies, who did manage to bang out 13 hits and score 10 runs, but still lost to the visiting Windy City ThunderBolts, 12-10.
Windy City actually only had 11 hits, compared to Gateway’s 13, but the ThunderBolts did draw eight walks and got at least one hit from every player in their lineup. The big blow being a first inning grand slam by first baseman Rob Weissmeier.
That bomb over the right field fence gave Windy City a lead it would never relinquish, even though Gateway tried to battle back all night.
The Grizzlies got on the board in the second inning, when newly signed outfield Jack Harris delivered an RBI single in his first professional at-bat. Two runs scored on the play as Windy City made a defensive miscue that let an extra run score.
The ThunderBolts added three more runs in the third and fourth innings and were ahead 7-3 heading into the bottom of the fourth. But Harris made another big splash, blasting his first professional home run over the left field wall to cut the score to 7-5.
In the bottom of the fifth, Grizzlies slugger Jose Rosario launched his 10th homer of the season over the right field wall and Gateway was behind just 7-6.
Unfortunately, that was as close as the Grizzlies would get, as Windy City addedd five runs in the top of the sixth, to go up 12-7.
Harris got another RBI hit (his third of the night) in the bottom of the sixth and teammate Jay Prather added a two-run double to make it 12-9. Rosario added an RBI double in the ninth, but Windy City shut the door after that with reliever Layne Schnitz-Paxton getting the final two outs for his first Frontier League save.
The game was the last of a nine-game homestand for the Grizzlies, who will now go on the road for six straight, beginning with a three-game weekend set against the Evansville Otters.
Gateway will be back home next weekend, when it will host three games against Evansville.