Grizzlies infielder Connor Owings drove in the game-winning run in Gateway’s 6-5 win over Schaumburg on Sunday.
by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
It had been an all around bad weekend for the Gateway Grizzlies, who were on their first road trip of the 2021 Frontier League season. The Grizzlies were shut out 7-0 Saturday night by the host Schaumburg Boomers, then bombed out 7-2 on Sunday.
And then on Memorial Day, Gateway found itself behind 4-0 heading into the seventh inning, and were just nine outs away from getting swept.
But that’s when the Grizzlies found some life and rallied with five runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, including three in that ninth inning to tie the score. They then added another run in the top of the 10th to somehow pull out a thrilling 6-5 victory to end their road trip on a high note.
The Grizzlies, who now own a 2-3 record on the season, which looks so much better than 1-4 would have, are now headed back home to GCS Credit Union Ballpark for an eight-game homestand beginning Wednesday evening against the Windy City ThunderBolts.
Hopefully, these eight games at home will go more like the final four innings in Schaumburg and nothing like the first two games plus six innings did against the Boomers.
The first two games were no fun at all, with Schaumburg winning 7-0 and 7-2. And it looked like more of that was coming on Monday, when Schaumburg jumped out to a 4-0 lead a pair of two-run singles in the second and third innings.
But Gateway’s Andres Regnault got the Grizzlies on the board with a solo home run — his first of the season — in the top of the seventh. Gateway then added another run in the top of the eighth, thanks to a leadoff single by Jose Rosario — his third hit of the game — and an RBI single after that by Chase Vallot.
That made the score 4-2, but Schaumburg added what looked like the insurance run it needed on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth to go up 5-2.
Fortunately though, the Grizzlies weren’t done.
Regnault walked to lead off the inning and after pinch runner Jose Reyes took his place, he advanced to third on a ground-ruled double by Jay Prather. Gateway got both those runners in on a pair of RBI groundouts by Rosario and rookie second baseman Adbiel Diaz to make the score 5-4.
That’s when Schaumburg brought in its closer Stephen Chamblee to try to finish out the game. But the veteran righthander didn’t have his best stuff and the Grizzlies were able to take advantage.
Gateway’s next two batters walked, setting up a potential game-tying situation for Grizzlie outfielder Nick Rotola. And the veteran from Wichita delivered with a line drive single to left-center, which allowed Chase Vallot to score from second and tie the game at 5.
Schaumburg got a man on in the bottom of the ninth so the game went to the 10th.
New rules in the Frontier League meant the Grizzlies began the inning with a man already on second base. And with that man being speedy shortstop Justin Jones, Gateway knew just a simple hit would be enough to get him in.
Grizzlie infielder Connor Owings made sure Jones would score easily by delivering a smash RBI double to give Gateway its first lead of the entire weekend. The Grizzlies managed to get Owings to third but couldn’t get him in, so the game went to the bottom of the 10th with Gateway ahead 6-5.
Righthander Geoff Bramblett, who pitched a clean ninth inning to get the game to extras, did the same in the 10th, as the Boomers went three-up, three-down, and Gateway went home with its first road win of the season.
The Grizzlie homestand, which begins on Wednesday, will feature two games against Windy City, a three-game weekend set against Florence, and after an off day on Monday, a three-game midweek set against Lake Erie.
Wednesday’s game against Windy City is scheduled for a 6:45 p.m. start.