SAUGET, Ill. — The Gateway Grizzlies used a strong start from rookie LHP Dillon Haviland Tuesday night to defeat the Frontier Greys 5-4 at GCS Ballpark.
Haviland (1-2) pitched six innings of three-run ball to earn his first professional victory. The Grizzlies (30-48) trailed early, but then rattled off five unanswered runs.
Francisco Rosario tripled to lead off the game and later scored two batters later on an RBI sacrifice fly from Brandon Tierney. The Greys (38-41) led 1-0 after one inning, but Haviland would keep them off the scoreboard in the following five frames.
Meanwhile, the Gateway offense picked up the rookie with five runs through the first five innings. Gateway took the lead in the second inning thanks to a Blake Brown lead-off triple. Brown later scored on an RBI groundout from Tyler Tewell to tie the game. Cody Livesay gave Gateway a 2-1 lead with an RBI infield single to score Grant Buckner, who singled with one out.
The Grizzlies tacked on two more runs in the fourth and another in the fifth. Livesay started a rally of four straight singles in the fourth inning. The final two by Craig Massoni and Ben Waldrip scored Livesay and Seth Heck to put Gateway up 4-1. Gateway’s fifth run came off a two-out single from Heck in the fifth inning.
The Greys finally got to Haviland again in the seventh inning. The first batter Shane Brown singled and Michael Antonio followed that up with a home run to bring the Greys within two runs at 5-3.
Gateway RHP Pete Perez made things interesting in the ninth inning, but worked himself out of a jam to give the Grizzlies the victory. The Greys scored one run on one hit in the inning and brought the tying run to third base. Perez ended the threat by striking out Rosario to end the game.
The Grizzlies and Greys continue their series Wednesday night. RHP Trevor Richards (4-5, 3.98) will take the mound for Gateway and RHP Max Duval (1-1, 3.99) will pitch for the Greys. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Sam Levitt and Kevin Schaefer will call the action on the Grizzlies Radio Network, which airs on 101 ESPN’s digital platforms and 1400 AM KJFF.
