Grizzlies Stay Hot In Sixth Straight Win

Sauget, Ill. – The Gateway Grizzlies cruised to a 10-2 win against the River City Rascals on Sunday evening at GCS Ballpark as Gateway earned a sixth straight win. The Grizzlies have now won 15 of 18 games and will go for a five-game series sweep of River City tomorrow night.

LHP Jon Jones made a spot start for Gateway (25-21) and came through with a solid performance. Jones (1-1) tossed six innings while allowing just two runs on four hits.

Trailing 1-0 in the third inning, the Grizzlies bats came alive in a big way against RHP Tim Koons (3-2). Josh Bunselmeyer began the inning with a single while Logan Davis bunted his way on base to put two runners on with nobody out. A throwing error from Koons on a bunt by Cody Livesay allowed Bunselmeyer to score, tying the game at 1-1.

Seth Heck then put the Grizzlies on top with an RBI single. Brandon Thomas extended the lead to 3-1 with a sac fly. Gateway poured it on against Koons, who gave up another RBI single to Blake Brown and the frame was capped off with Ben Waldrip’s two-RBI double down the right field line. The Grizzlies led 6-1 at the end of three innings.

After Kyle Gaedele’s solo shot in the sixth pulled River City (20-24) a bit closer, the Grizzlies responded immediately. Josh Bunselmeyer smacked his second professional home run over the right field wall to give the Grizzlies a 8-2 edge. Ben Waldrip put on the finishing touches with his third blast of the year in the eighth. His two-run shot made it 10-2.

Jordan Wellander shined in relief as the righty polished the game off with three scoreless frames out of Gateway’s bullpen.

Bunselmeyer, Waldrip, and Blake Brown all had multi-hit games as the Grizzlies moved to a season-best four games above .500.

The Grizzlies host the Rascals on Independence Day with first pitch at 6:35 p.m. RHP Vince Molesky (2-3, 3.08 ERA) takes the mound for the Grizzlies while RHP Francis Ramirez (0-2, 8.68 ERA) counters for River City.

The game can be heard on the Grizzlies Radio Network, which airs Monday on 1400 KJFF and online at www.GatewayGrizzlies.com/Radio. Sam Levitt and Matt Sabados have the call.