GRIZZLIES STRAND 13 IN DEFEAT
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — The Gateway Grizzlies left 13 runners on base — eight of them in scoring position — in a 6-3 loss Wednesday to the Schaumburg Boomers at Boomers Stadium.
Gateway (9-14) has lost three in a row and seven of its last eight. In each game of the series against Schaumburg (15-8), the Grizzlies have scored first but allowed the Boomers to come back.
Three straight singles to open the top of the fourth inning gave the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead. Connor Owings drove in Jamey Smart. Owings went 2-for-4 with a walk to bring his series numbers to 6-for-10 with three doubles and six RBIs over two games.
Schaumburg immediately answered back on a three-run Matt Rose home run in the botom of the fourth inning and the Boomers did not trail again.
Chris Carden (2-1) took the loss for the Grizzlies. He retired six Boomers in a row to start the game, then wiggled out of trouble in the third inning before Rose's blast in the fourth. Carden allowed six runs (all earned) over six innings and struck out three.
Shawon Dunston Jr. brought the Grizzlies back within one with an RBI single in the fifth inning that scored Brent Sakurai, but Schaumburg piled on three more in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Gateway brought the potential tying run to the plate in the eighth and put the potential tying run on first base in the seventh but stranded five combined runners over those two innings alone.
Thomas Nicoll provided a bright spot out of the Grizzlies' bullpen with two perfect innings of relief and four strikeouts.
Luke Lowery, Anthony Ray, Andrew Daniel, and Owings had two hits apiece.
Gateway will finish its series in Schaumburg at 6:30 p.m. CDT Thursday before moving 37 miles southeast to face the Windy City ThunderBolts starting Friday.
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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 10 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.