SAUGET, Ill. — A strike away from a series-evening win, the Gateway Grizzlies allowed the game-tying run on a ninth-inning wild pitch and eventually committed a game-losing error in the 11th inning en route to a 5-4 defeat to the Schaumburg Boomers on Saturday night at Boomers Stadium.
Grizzlies closer Kevin Simmons had retired all 10 men he had faced in 2018 prior to Saturday, including saving a pair of one-run Gateway wins this week. But with a runner at third base and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Simmons’ 2-2 pitch missed low and outside and went to the backstop. Kewby Meyer scored to tie the game for Schaumburg.
After the Grizzlies failed to score in the top of the 11th under the international tiebreaker rule (which places a runner at second with no outs to start the inning), the Boomers loaded the bases with one out in their half. Meyer’s ground ball got past Gateway first baseman Trae Santos and allowed Josh Gardiner to score the walk-off run without a play.
Gateway drops to 2-4 in one-run games. Saturday night marked the Grizzlies’ first extra-inning affair.
Schaumburg scored the game’s first two runs — one in the third inning and one in the sixth — but the Grizzlies battled back with three in the seventh on RBI singles by Matt Hearn and Blake Brown, plus a Boomers error that brought home another run.
After the Boomers tied the game in their half of the seventh, the Grizzlies re-took the lead on a suicide squeeze: Brent Sakurai bunted home Terry McClure to put Gateway ahead 4-3.
Dalton Shalberg threw 5 2/3 innings in his second start of the year. He allowed two runs (one earned) and struck out five, but did not factor in the decision.
Grant Black (0-2) took the ultimate hard-luck loss in relief — he did not allow a run, hit or unintentional walk, but the international tiebreaker run (always unearned) scored to end the game.
Gateway and Schaumburg finish the three-game set and their six-game season series with a 1 p.m. first pitch Sunday at Boomers Stadium. Dakota Smith (1-1, 0.75 ERA) will pitch for the Grizzlies against Kit Fowler (0-2, 7.71 ERA) for the Boomers.
