Grizzlies slugger Peter Zimmermann hit his Frontier League leading 20th home run of the season on Wednesday. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

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SAUGET, IL — The Gateway Grizzlies have been inching closer to clinching a playoff spot all through the month of August. And now the team finds itself on the verge of reaching that goal.

That’s because the Grizzlies defeated the Florence Y’alls 6-1 Wednesday night at Grizzlies Ballpark for their sixth straight win and lowered the team’s magic number to clinching a playoff spot to one.

That means if Gateway were to win its game against Florence on Thursday, or the Schaumburg Boomers lost their game, the Grizzlies would officially be in the 2024 Frontier League playoffs.

Gateway and Florence will meet in the final game of their three-game set, Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, the Grizzlies scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and got a strong start from pitcher Lukas Veinbergs to cruise to another fun win.

Gateway hit three home runs in the game — one each by Cole Brannen, Edwin Mateo, and Peter Zimmermann — to power through Florence’s pitching, while Veinbergs (5-4) pitched six innings and allowed just one run on six hits, with three walks and six strikeouts.

The Grizzlies took control of the game right away. The got four hits, had another batter get hit by a pitch, and had a base runner steal second and advance to third on a wild pitch.

All of that was in between an RBI hit by Zimmermann, a sacrifice fly by D.J. Stewart, and a two-out, two-run homer by Mateo (his second of the season). That gave Gateway a 4-0 lead. Florence got on the board with a run in the fourth, but that was all the Y’alls would get through the night.

Brannen got that run back when he hit his sixth homer of the season in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 5-1. Then Zimmermann closed out the night, when he hit his 20th homer of the season in the bottom of the seventh.

Zimmermann is now tied with Joliet’s Matt Warkentin for the Frontier League lead in home runs this season.

Pitchers Alec Whaley, Gage Vailes, and Keegan Collett each tossed a scoreless inning to get the Grizzlies through the night. Collett struck out the side in the ninth to get the final three outs.

The final game of the series will be on Thursday, with Alvery De Los Santos making the start for the Grizzlies and lefthander Evan Webster getting the ball for Florence.

SCORING SUMMARY

InningsPlayV – H
Gateway Grizzlies  1stP. Zimmerman singled, RBI; G. Holt scored.0 – 1
Gateway Grizzlies  1stD. Stewart flied out to rf, sacrifice fly, RBI; P. Zimmerman scored.0 – 2
Gateway Grizzlies  1stE. Mateo (2) homered, 2 RBI; A. Diaz scored.0 – 4
Florence Y’alls  4thT. Reeves grounded out to ss, RBI; H. Zeisler scored.1 – 4
Gateway Grizzlies  4thC. Brannen (6) homered, RBI.1 – 5
Gateway Grizzlies  7thP. Zimmerman (20) homered, RBI.1 – 6

UPCOMING GATEWAY GRIZZLIES BASEBALL GAMES

DateTimeAtOpponentLocation
August 22, 2024 (Thursday)6:30 pmHomeFlorence Y’allsGrizzlies Ballpark / Sauget, IL
August 23, 2024 (Friday)6:35 pmAwayEvansville OttersBosse Field / Evansville, IL
August 24, 2024 (Saturday)6:35 pmAwayEvansville OttersBosse Field / Evansville, IL
August 25, 2024 (Sunday)12:35 pmAwayEvansville OttersBosse Field / Evansville, IL
August 27, 2024 (Tuesday)5:35 pmAwayLake Erie CrushersCrushers Stadium / Avon, OH
August 28, 2024 (Wednesday)5:35 pmAwayLake Erie CrushersCrushers Stadium / Avon, OH
August 29, 2024 (Thursday)5:35 pmAwayLake Erie CrushersCrushers Stadium / Avon, OH
August 30, 2024 (Friday)6:30 pmHomeFlorence Y’allsGrizzlies Ballpark / Sauget, IL
August 31, 2024 (Saturday)6:30 pmHomeFlorence Y’allsGrizzlies Ballpark / Sauget, IL
September 1, 2024 (Sunday)6:05 pmHomeFlorence Y’allsGrizzlies Ballpark / Sauget, IL