Gateway 2B Andrew Penner had two hits, four RBIs, and two stole bases in the Grizzlies’ 9-3 win over Joliet, Thursday night. (Photo courtesy: Gateway Grizzlies)
| Final – Aug. 3, 2023 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gateway Grizzlies | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 1 |
| Joliet Slammers | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
Steven Millbrook
Staff Writer
Joliet, IL -– The Gateway Grizzlies tied a Frontier League single-game record Thursday night, by stealing 13 bases, on their way to a convincing 9-3 win over the Joliet Slammers at Duly Health and Care Field, which allowed the Grizzlies to take two of three from the Slammers in a key series on the road.
The two wins in three games, and three of four on its current road trip, allowed Gateway to maintain its hold on first place in the Frontier League West Division. The Grizzlies are 43-25 on the season, with the second place Schaumburg Boomers right behind at 42-26.
Joliet won game one of the series, but Gateway came back and won games two and three, and will now head east for a weekend series against the Washington Wild Things.
Wednesday’s win was due to a dynamite pitching effort by Collin Sullivan, who threw seven shutout innings to keep the Slammers quiet until the Grizzlies’ bats got going late.
On Thursday, it was the combination of great pitching, timely hitting, but especially sensational baserunning that led Gateway to victory.
Two players, Cole Brannen and Abdiel Diaz, stole four bases each, while teammates Andrew Penner and Peter Zimmermann stole two each, with Jairus Richards — the league’s stolen base leader — adding one of his own.
Gateway’s ability to burn through the basepaths on Joliet, allowed them turn even the most minor of scoring chances into big time rallies that eventually led to the win.
It started in the first inning, as Eric Rivera was hit by Cam Aufderheide (1-8), and Brannen then reached on an infield single to advance Rivera to second base before Andrew Penner came up with two outs and hit a go-ahead RBI single to right field to put the Grizzlies ahead 1-0.
The onslaught of stolen bags really started in the third inning, as Gateway used four of them to assist in scoring two more runs as well as a pair of leadoff walks by Aufderheide, with Penner picking up another RBI on a fielder’s choice, and D.J. Stewart also recording a sacrifice fly in the inning.
Joliet would get a two-run homer by Phil Steering in the bottom of the third to get within a run, and then another homer by Matt Warkentin to draw within 4-3 after the Grizzlies stole three more bases to manufacture another leadoff walk into a run thanks to an RBI infield hit by Brannen. But Joey Gonzalez (8-6) was sharp from there on out, completing six innings for his second-straight win on the mound with four strikeouts in total.
Meanwhile, Gateway kept on running and kept on scoring, plating three runs in the sixth inning while stealing an additional four bases to take a 7-3 lead on a two-RBI single by Penner, giving him four runs batted in on the day. Diaz would cap the scoring with a two-run single in the ninth inning at 9-3, as the Grizzlies lowered their “magic number” to clinch a playoff spot down to 16 with Washington’s loss to Schaumburg.
The 13 stolen bases tie a Frontier League record that was ironically set earlier this season by the Slammers on June 28 against Windy City, while Diaz and Brannen both had four steals individually to come within one of tying Frontier League records themselves for a single game.
Now 3-1 on their road trip, Gateway will look to keep momentum going against Washington, Friday night at Wild Things Park in Washington, Penn. Righthander Carson LaRue (6-3) will start on the mound for the Grizzlies, while lefty Dariel Fregio (4-4) will make the start for the Wild Things.
Gateway Grizzlies media relations contributed to this story.
2023 Frontier League Standings
| Place | Frontier League West Division | W-L | Pct. | Streak | Last 10 | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Gateway Grizzlies | 43-25 | .632 | won 2 | 8-2 | — |
| 2. | Schaumburg Boomers | 42-26 | .618 | won 1 | 8-2 | 1.0 |
| 3. | Evansville Otters | 37-31 | .544 | lost 2 | 4-6 | 6.0 |
| 4. | Washington Wild Things | 31-38 | .449 | lost 1 | 5-5 | 12.5 |
| 5. | Windy City ThunderBolts | 30-38 | .441 | won 4 | 4-6 | 13.0 |
| 6. | Joliet Slammers | 29-40 | .420 | lost 2 | 3-7 | 14.5 |
| 7. | Florence Y’alls | 28-41 | .406 | won 2 | 3-7 | 15.5 |
| 8. | Lake Erie Crushers | 27-42 | .391 | lost 7 | 2-8 | 16.5 |
| Place | Frontier League East Division | W-L | Pct. | Streak | Last 10 | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tri-City Valley Cats | 44-25 | .638 | lost 1 | 9-1 | — |
| 2. | New Jersey Jackals | 43-25 | .632 | won 1 | 8-2 | 0.5 |
| 3. | Québec Capitales | 42-26 | .618 | won 1 | 6-4 | 1.5 |
| 4. | Sussex County Miners | 38-29 | .567 | lost 1 | 6-4 | 5.0 |
| 5. | New York Boulders | 37-29 | .561 | won 1 | 4-6 | 5.5 |
| 6. | Ottawa Titans | 34-34 | .500 | lost 1 | 5-5 | 9.5 |
| 7. | Trois-Rivieres Aigles | 27-41 | .397 | lost 1 | 5-5 | 16.5 |
| 8. | Empire State Greys | 13-55 | .191 | won 1 | 1-9 | 30.5 |