Chase Vallot blasted his fifth homer of the season Tuesday night, in Gateway’s 3-2 win over Southern Illinois. (Photo courtesy Nathan Assata)
by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
The Gateway Grizzlies kept their win streak going — up to three in a row now — thanks to a 3-2 win in extra innings over the Southern Illinois Miners, Tuesday night at Rent One Park in Marion, Ill.
Shortstop Justin Jones delivered the winning blow in the 10th inning, when he slapped a line drive single into left field to score teammate Nick Rotola to put Gateway up for good. Rotola was on second due to the Frontier League’s new rule of both teams beginning the final inning with a runner already on base.
Rotola had made the final out of the ninth, thus making him the player eligible to begin the 10th on second base. And with one out, Jones jumped on a 2-2 curveball and ripped it into the outfield, making it easy for Rotola to score and give the Grizzlies the lead.
In Southern Illinois’ half of the 10th, they also began the inning with a runner on second and even moved him to third on a sacrifice bunt. But that’s as far as he would get, as Gateway closer Geoff Bramblett struck out the final two batters to finish the game and pick up his third save of the season.
Bramblett was one of five Grizzlie pitchers who combined to give up just two runs on Tuesday. Starter Christian Camacho tossed six innings and only allowed one run on three hits, while striking out seven, while rookie Carlos Vega (3-1) pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth to get the win.
Offensively, Jones and Rotola both had two hits, while second baseman Jay Prather and first baseman Chase Vallot each had one. Vallot’s hit was one of the big blows of the night — a 410 foot home run in the fifth inning (his fifth of the season) — that gave the Grizzlies their first lead of the night.
Southern Illinois tied the game in the bottom of the sixth, but Gateway got a walk and a stolen base from centerfielder Dustin Woodcock, followed by an RBI hit from Rotola to take the lead back again.
The Miners then got a solo homer from Luke Mangieri to tie the game again in the bottom of the seventh. Neither team could score in the eighth or ninth, which set up the dramatic finish in the 10th.
The Grizzlies three-game winning streak and five wins in their last six games has raised the clubs overall record to 15-22. The loss dropped Southern Illinois’ record to 18-19.
The two clubs will meet again in Game 2 of their midweek series on Wednesday. First pitch at Rent One Park is set for 7:05 p.m.