Grizzlies Drop Series Finale, Fall Hard In Québec

In the top of the first inning against James Bradwell, the Grizzlies were able to get a rally going with two outs- Jack-Thomas Wold and Peter Zimmermann singled before a wild pitch move the runners to second and third base. D.J. Stewart then singled them both in for a quick 2-0 lead.

In the second inning, Mark Vierling and Cole Brannen led off the frame with singles, and after Bradwell balked the runners to second and third base, Andrew Moritz came through with a two-run double down the left field line, doubling the Grizzlies’ lead to 4-0.

But that is where the good feelings ended for the Grizzlies. It began in the bottom of the second for the Capitales on a Jake MacKenzie RBI single with two outs off Deylen Miley (2-3), making it 4-1. In the next inning, Québec scored a pair of runs on RBIs by Guillermo Garcia and Jonathan Lacroix, drawing within 4-3. The Capitales would then bat around and score four times in the bottom of the fourth, tying the game on Francisco Hernandez’s solo homer at 4-4, and taking the lead for good on Kyle Crowl’s two-out RBI double at 5-4. Garcia followed with a two-run single for a 7-4 lead.

Québec would add three more runs in the fifth, and two in the sixth to go ahead 10-4. Gateway plated a pair of runs in their half of the seventh on a Wold RBI double and a Stewart RBI single, giving the latter three RBIs on the night, but it was not enough, as the Capitales added another insurance run in the bottom of the eighth for the final margin.

Gateway will return home to Sauget on Tuesday, June 11, after a 2-3 road swing through Canada, taking on the Washington Wild Things at Grizzlies Ballpark to open a six-game home stand.

Grizzlies Lose On Walk-Off Homer

QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC – The Gateway Grizzlies lost to the Québec Capitales on a walk-off, two-out, two-strike home run by Jesmuel Valentin on Saturday night by a final score of 4-2 at Stade Canac, evening up the weekend series at one game apiece.

The game was scoreless through the first four innings as both Tyler Cornett and Ryan Sandberg were at their sharpest. Both starters allowed just one runner on base in the first half of the game, with Sandberg issuing a walk in the third, and Cornett allowing a leadoff single in the first inning before retiring the next 13 Capitales batters that he faced, including six on strikes.

Québec broke through in the fifth inning when Jonathan Lacroix hit a go-ahead solo home run to make it 1-0. They added to their lead in the sixth against Gage Vailes when Guillermo Garcia hit a two-out, two-strike RBI single up the middle to score Valentin from second base and make the score 2-0 Québec.

Gateway, who was no-hit until the top of the sixth inning when Abdiel Diaz singled to right field, would get even in the top of the seventh. Peter Zimmermann doubled down the third base line, and on the next pitch by ex-Grizzlie Jackson Sigman, Jack-Thomas Wold tied the game with a two-run home run to right field.

Gateway was able to keep the score tied in the seventh and the eighth, with Alec Whaley and Nate Garkow holding the Capitales off the board by stranding the potential lead run in scoring position. In the ninth, against Matt Hickey (1-1), Jake MacKenzie walked with one out to put the winning run on base again, but was picked off by Hickey for the second out.

Marc-Antoine Lebreux, however, extended the inning by singling off Diaz’s leaping glove at shortstop, and on a 2-2 pitch, with the game one strike away from heading to extra innings, Valentin walked if off with a home run to right field, dealing the Grizzlies the heartbreaking loss.

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