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O’Fallon, Mo. – The Gateway Grizzlies fell in the rubber game of their three-game set against the River City Rascals on Sunday evening at CarShield Field, 5-2.Â
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RHP Dakota Smith (0-1) took the mound for the Grizzlies in his first start of 2016. In the first, Dominique Taylor led off the game with a double to right field. Josh Silver stepped in with one out and hit an RBI single to score Taylor. The hit gave River City a 1-0 edge.Â
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The Grizzlies (4-5) struck right back in the top half of the second. Vin Guglietti started the frame with a single while Brandon Thomas reached on an error by River City starting pitcher Josh Wright (1-0). A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third with no outs.Â
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Blake Brown came to the plate and rocketed a double to deep centerfield. The hit scored both Guglietti and Thomas, putting Gateway ahead 2-1.Â
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In the bottom half of the fourth, the Rascals scratched across a run against Smith when Robby Enslen picked up an RBI on a groundout. The score was even at 2-2.Â
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In the fifth, River City (5-3) jumped in front when Clint Freeman popped a solo shot over the right field wall. They tacked on another run in the inning with Josh Ludy’s RBI single to make it 4-2. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies’ offense never scored another run off Wright, who completed 5.1 innings in his Frontier League debut.Â
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RHP Jon Pusateri was terrific in relief of Smith for the Grizzlies, as he tossed 2.1 scoreless innings while allowing just one hit. River City LHP Max Gunn matched Pusateri by throwing 2.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
The score remained 4-2 until the bottom half of the eighth, when JaVaun West allowed an RBI single to Jason Merjano to give the Rascals an insurance run.
In the ninth, the Grizzlies threatened to tie things up. Guglietti and Thomas began the inning with back-to-back singles against Rascals RHP Jared Wilson. Although Gateway would send Brown, Tyler Tewell, and Sam Fischer to the plate all representing the tying run, Wilson retired all three hitters in a row to secure the win for River City. Wilson earned his first save of the season.
After a day off on Monday, the Grizzlies return to GCS Ballpark for the start of a seven-game homestand on Tuesday night in Sauget. Gateway sends RHP Vince Molesky to the mound for the first of three games against the Normal CornBelters. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
The game can be heard on the Grizzlies Radio Network, which airs Tuesday on 1400 AM KJFF and online at www.GatewayGrizzlies.com/Radio
For tickets, please call the Grizzlies’ ticket office at (618) 337-3000 or visit www.GatewayGrizzlies.com
