Grizzlies Drop Regular Season Finale, Gear Up for Playoffs, Plus Weekend Roundup

SAUGET, ILL. – The Gateway Grizzlies had a 4-2 lead after five innings on Sunday night at Arsenal BG Ballpark, but a quartet of position players pitching could not stem the tide of late offense from the Evansville Otters in a 12-4 loss on the “Greatest Night in Baseball,” concluding the regular season with a 56-40 record in front of a season-best crowd of 6,122 fans.

Entering the game with pitchers in the final five spots in the batting order, it was Gateway’s top of the lineup that got them going right away in the bottom of the first inning- Matthew Lee walked and Sawyer Smith singled before Mark Shallenberger walked loaded the bases against Otters starter Alex Canney. Dale Thomas then lined a two-run double to right-center field to put the Grizzlies up 2-0.

Xander Lovin was sharp on the mound as well, but would surrender single runs in the third and fifth to tie the game at 2-2 on an RBI single by Graham Brown and a solo home run by Dennis Pierce, respectively. The Grizzlies responded right away thanks to a pair of solo home runs off the bats of Shallenberger and pitcher-turned-infielder Matt Hickey, with the latter’s first professional home run making the score 4-2 Gateway.

The Otters would not be denied, however, as after Lovin departed, the Grizzlies used nothing but position players on the mound to finish the game. Abdiel Diaz struck out a batter in his first pro inning of work, but gave up a run to make it 4-3, and Jose Alvarez (0-1) surrendered three runs in the seventh to put Evansville up 6-4. The visitors then scored five times with two outs against Edwin Mateo in the eighth to go up 11-4, and capped the scoring in the game with another run in the ninth against D.J. Stewart.

Having secured the #3 seed in the Midwest Conference thanks to their efforts on the field this summer, the Grizzlies will focus their attention on the playoffs when they host the #2 seed and Central Division champion Washington Wild Things, kicking off the best-of-three series on Wednesday, September 3, at Arsenal BG Ballpark. First pitch between the two clubs, who split six regular season meetings down the middle at 3-3, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT.

ALL tickets for ALL home playoff games in 2025 are priced at just $5. Call the box office at (618) 337-3000 or go online to GatewayGrizzlies.com to secure your seats to cheer on the Grizzlies as they embark on a quest for their second Frontier League championship in their third straight postseason appearance!

Grizzlies Use Big Inning to Beat Evansville, Win Series

Gateway scores six in second frame to vault ahead, clinch #3 seed in playoffs

SAUGET, ILL. – The Gateway Grizzlies fell behind 2-0 in the top of the second inning on Saturday night against the Evansville Otters, but surged ahead with a six-run bottom of the second and would end up with an 11-6 victory at the end of the night at Arsenal BG Ballpark, locking up a series win as well as the #3 seed in the upcoming Midwest Conference playoffs.

Jake Burcham got out of a jam in the first inning, but could not navigate around another in the second while keeping the game scoreless, as the Otters got four singles in the frame to score the first two runs.

Down 2-0, however, the Grizzlies quickly went to work against Joan Gonzalez (6-3) in the bottom of the inning, as Sawyer Smith and Jose Alvarez began the inning with singles and Abdiel Diaz walked to load the bases. Mark Shallenberger then cleared them all with a grand slam home run, putting Gateway up 4-2. Two more walks put a couple more men on base for Gabe Holt, who cracked a double down the left field line to cap a six-run inning and put the Grizzlies up 6-2.

After Dale Thomas hit a two-run, two-out homer in the third inning to make it 8-2, the Otters struck back on a three-run homer by Keenan Taylor in the top of the fifth, getting within 8-5. But again the Grizzlies had a big answer, with a Diaz single and Shallenberger double preceding a Thomas sacrifice fly for a 9-5 lead before Edwin Mateo smacked a two-run home run to right field to make the score 11-5.

The Otters would score an additional run in the seventh inning, but it was not enough to make a dent in the final margin as the Grizzlies secured the #3 seed in the Midwest Conference bracket of the Frontier League playoffs. They will host the Central Division champion in Game 1 of the best-of-three Wild Card Series on Wednesday, September 3, at 6:30 p.m. at Arsenal BG Ballpark, with the opponent to be decided by the results of Sunday’s action in the Frontier League.

Grizzlies Take Wire-to-Wire Opener from Otters

Gateway veterans hit milestones in Friday night contest against Evansville

SAUGET, ILL. – The Gateway Grizzlies got a solid, all-around team effort on both sides of the baseball on Friday night at Arsenal BG Ballpark, riding early offense and outstanding pitching to an 8-3 victory over the Evansville Otters to kick off their final series of the regular season.

Gateway took command of the game early. Lukas Veinbergs (7-5) struck out two in the first inning to retire the side in order, and in the bottom of the frame, Victor Castillo was hit by a pitch and stole second base before D.J. Stewart smashed an RBI double to right-center field to get the Grizzlies on the board and make it 1-0.

In the bottom of the third inning with two outs, Gateway would expand their lead, as Jose Alvarez stayed hot with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead, and three pitches later, Abdiel Diaz cranked a three-run home run down the right field line off Parker Brahms (2-9), giving the Grizzlies a 5-0 lead.

Evansville would get a run back in the top of the fourth on a two-out RBI single by Cohen Wilbanks, but that was the only run Veinbergs would allow in six outstanding innings, finishing with no walks and nine strikeouts to not only tie his season-high, but also surpass 100 strikeouts on the season for the first time in his four-year Gateway career.

In the meantime, the Grizzlies kept up the offense in the bottom of the fifth, as Diaz crushed a double to center field with Alvarez on first base before an error by the Otters allowed the latter to score to make it 6-1. Edwin Mateo then scored Diaz with an RBI single two batters later to knock Brahms out of the game and increase the lead to 7-1.

Evansville would score two more runs in the contest on a home run by Keenan Taylor off Bennett Stice, but the right-hander minimized the damage in throwing the final three innings of the contest to pick up his first professional save. The Grizzlies’ final run came in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Stewart, which gave him his 80th RBI of the season, making the native St. Louisan the fourth Gateway player in club history to amass 80 or more in a single campaign (Charlie Lisk, Mike Breyman, Peter Zimmermann).

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