Connor Owings doubled and homered and Shawon Dunston Jr. set a Gateway Grizzlies single-season record with his 31st steal of the year, but the Grizzlies lost 4-3 to the Lake Erie Crushers at Sprenger Stadium.
Gateway (32-48) came back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game on Owings’ homer down the right-field line in the fifth inning — his eighth blast of the year.
Lake Erie (42-37) took its 3-0 lead on back-to-back home runs from Logan Farrar and Dale Burdick in the first inning. Burdick added a sixth-inning RBI double to score Emmanuel Marrero for the eventual game-winning run.
Dunston’s record-setting steal was a swipe of third base in the second inning. He broke a tie with Matt Hearn, who stole 30 bases for the Grizzlies in 2017.
In between Lake Erie’s back-to-back homers in the first inning and two doubles in the sixth, Dominic Topoozian(5-6) retired 14 Crushers in a row. He struck out seven without a walk over seven innings and took the loss.
Cletis Avery added his first multi-hit game as a Grizzlie to Owings’ two-hit night with an RBI single and double of his own.
Gateway and Lake Erie will tangle in the finale of their four-game series Thursday with a 6:05 p.m. CDT first pitch.
