Home Baseball Grizzlies Slug Past Miners To Win Fifth Straight Series

Grizzlies Slug Past Miners To Win Fifth Straight Series

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The Grizzlies used three home runs to power past the Southern Illinois Miners 10-7 on Wednesday night in a back-and-forth battle at GCS Ballpark.

The Grizzlies (41-50) have now won five consecutive series and 11 of 14 overall. The Miners (61-31) have dropped back-to-back games after entering the series with nine wins in 10 games.

Gateway eventually clawed its way back after facing an early deficit. The Miners touched up Dakota Smith for two runs in the first inning. Jerrud Sabourin delivered a one-out two RBI double to give Southern Illinois the early 2-0 lead.

The Grizzlies cut the deficit in half when Richard Seigel grounded into a fielder’s choice in the second inning. However, Sabourin came through again with an RBI double in the third to put the Miners back up 3-1.

Dakota Smith settled into a groove and kept Southern Illinois off the scoreboard during the remainder of his outing. The Grizzlies used the long ball to back him up with six unanswered runs.

Tyler Tewell launched his third home run of the series with one out in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 3-2. Craig Massoni joined the home run party with a solo shot to tie things up the very next inning. Then Tewell came through again moments later.

The Gateway catcher clubbed his second homer of the game and fourth of the series over the fence to give the Grizzlies a 4-3 lead. That started a four-run sixth inning for Gateway that also included RBI doubles from Cody Livesay and Seth Heck. Gateway led 7-3 after all the damage was done.

The seventh inning proved troublesome for Gateway. The Miners took advantage of three Gateway errors to cut the deficit to a lone run. Two of Southern’s three runs came with two outs.

The poor defensive inning made it just a 7-6 Gateway lead, but they quickly got all three runs back in the eighth inning. Heck contributed an RBI single and the Grizzlies’ final two runs came around after an error by the Miners catcher along with a wild pitch.

Jordan Wellander (4-3) picked up the win after allowing no earned runs in one inning of relief. Brandon Cowan (2-3) took the loss after allowing four runs in one inning of work.

The Grizzlies will go for the sweep Thursday night at GCS Ballpark. First pitch is set for 7:05. Vince Molesky (5-6, 5.48) will take the mound for Gateway. 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.

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