Little mistake means a lot in Grizzlies' loss to Miners

SAUGET -- A failure to communicate proved costly to the Gateway Grizzlies on Sunday in their 11-3 loss to the Southern Illinois Miners at GCS Ballpark.

Adam Hale had a two-run double to highlight a three-run Southern Illinois uprising in the seventh inning as the Miners collected a series-opening win before a crowd of 5,460.

Charlie Lisk, Brandon Johnson and Nate Lape hit solo home runs for Gateway (24-33), which entered Sunday eight games in back of West Division leading River City.

Beginning perhaps its most important homestand of the season, Gateway trailed just 3-2 and had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth inning following singles by Stephen Holdren and Lisk and a walk to Joe Agreste.

Southern Illinois relief pitcher Mike Damchuk then fell behind Danny Morrow 3-0.

But to everybody's surprise, Morrow swung at the next pitch, lining a hard one-hopper to Miners second baseman William Block, who fielded the ball, stepped on second and threw to first to complete the double play.

"No, he didn't have the green light on 3-0. Maybe if it's Barry Bonds or Albert Pujols, you maybe think about letting him swing. (Third base coach) Darin Kinsolving gave him (Morrow) the take sign. He swung anyway,'' Grizzlies manager Phil Warren said. "It's just dumb baseball. That's the only way to put it.''

Southern Illinois (31-26) quickly pounced on the deflated Grizzlies, scoring three runs in the seventh to increase its lead to 6-2.

Landon Camp and Andrew Sweet then drove in two runs each in the ninth as the Miners put the game away by scoring five runs.

"That play (in the sixth) may have changed the complexion of the game. But you'll never know what would have happened,'' Warren said. "It's been a season where mental mistakes have hurt us. Sometimes, it's just been a matter of not listening to your coaches. Basic things like that.

"It's just been very frustrating.''

Alex Rollin worked the first five innings to get the win, while Mark Brackman (3-7) took the loss for Gateway.

The Miners struck for a run in the second inning against Gateway starter Mark Brackman.

Joey Metropoulos and Brad Miller lined back-to-back singles to start the inning, and one out later, a single by Camp scored the game's first run.

Lisk tied the game in the bottom of the inning when he took a 3-0 pitch and drilled his Frontier League-leading 21st home run of the year over the left-field wall.

Southern Illinois retook the lead in the third inning on a double by Tony Roth, a run-scoring bloop single by Andrew Sweet and a pair of wild pitches by Brackman.

Brackman's second wild pitch of the inning scored Jereme Milons, who had reached on a walk.

Johnson cut the Grizzlies' deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the third inning with a line-drive home run.

The home run was the 10th of the season for Johnson.

Gateway's three home runs gave them 104 for the season, tops in the Frontier League.

The Grizzlies and Miners will continue their series today and Tuesday with both games beginning at 7:05 p.m.

Guns and hoses

The area Fire Fighters dominated the area Police Officers at the inaugural Guns vs. Hoses Softball Tournament at GCS Ballpark on Saturday night.

A crowd of more than 500 fans came through the gates to show their support and helped raised more than $5,000 for BackStoppers.

BackStoppers provides support and financial assistance to the spouses and children of local and county police officers, firefighters, publicly-funded paramedics and EMTs and volunteer fire protection units who have lost their lives performing their duty. Deaths from natural causes, illnesses or injuries are outside the organization's scope.

"This was a great event for BackStoppers and we thank the community for all of their support," said Grizzlies Events Coordinator Jeff O'Neill. "The Grizzlies are proud to support such a worthy cause and we hope to continue this great event."