GRIZZLIES WIN ONE-RUN RUBBER MATCH
MARION, Ill. — Trae Santos hit a solo home run in the sixth inning and Grant Black hurled two scoreless innings to slam the door Sunday night in the Gateway Grizzlies' 2-1 win over the Southern Illinois Miners at Rent One Park.
Gateway (36-49) won Sunday rubber match to take the hotly-contested series, two games to one. After a two-run Grizzlies win Friday night, each of the following two games were decided by a single tally. Southern Illinois (42-39) won 7-6 Saturday in 10 innings before the Grizzlies' triumph Sunday.
Taso Stathopoulos (2-5) tossed the third quality start of his young career and earned the win with six innings of one-run ball. He struck out five. Patrick Boyle was credited with a hold for a shutout seventh inning to bridge the gap to Black.
Santos' sixth-inning homer — his 15th of the season — gave the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead before the Miners scratched out a run in the bottom of the sixth. Shane Mardirosian drove in the Grizzlies' only other run on an RBI single in the fifth.
After he threw 18 pitches in two scorless frames Thursday night and 20 pitches for a save Friday night, Black came back Sunday and bailed out a tired Grizzlies bullpen. He fired 40 pitches to record the final six outs and his sixth save of the season.
Mitch Piatnik was 3-for-3 with a sacrifice and a run scored. He raised his average to .474 in five games with the Grizzlies. Jeff Cardenas added two hits.
Gateway is off Monday and Tuesday before opening a two-game set at 6:05 p.m. Wednesday against the River City Rascals in O'Fallon, Missouri.
ABOUT THE GATEWAY GRIZZLIES: The Gateway Grizzlies are a professional baseball team, located a mere 100-yards from I-255 (10 minutes from downtown St. Louis). The Grizzlies offer baseball fans entertainment, the likes of which are difficult to find - affordable, family, fun in the comfortable GCS Credit Union Ballpark with a great view of the St. Louis skyline. For tickets or general information please visit gatewaygrizzlies.com or call 618.337.3000.
ABOUT THE FRONTIER LEAGUE: The Frontier League is a professional, independent baseball organization. Since its inception, the Frontier League has provided millions of fans to a fun and exciting baseball experience within the American Midwest. Consisting of 12 teams in two divisions and 96 game schedules, the league is recognized for the amount of talented athletes that are picked up by various MLB teams every year.