CRESTWOOD, IL—The ThunderBolts offense continues to struggle, as Windy City has scored just three runs in the past four games. The ‘Bolts (23-34) were dominated by Gateway’s starting pitcher Jake Stephens in an 11-0 loss to the Grizzlies (35-21) at Standard Bank Stadium Tuesday afternoon.
Gateway scored on just the second batter of the ballgame and never looked back on a huge offensive day for the visiting team. Jonathon Johnson led off the game with a double, moved to third base on Nick DeLorenzo’s single, then scored on Kyle Robinson’s error in left field.
Travis Tingle walked Johnson to lead off the 3rd inning, followed by four singles from Gateway. DeLorenzo, Chris McClendon, Landon Hernandez, and Antone DeJesus all connected for base hits. A sacrifice fly from Jet Butler and a two out single from Jose Flores made the score 5-0.
Gateway kept the floodgates open and running. The Grizzlies scored three more runs in the 4th inning chasing Tingle out of the game.
The visiting team tacked on two more runs in the 6th inning. An RBI groundout from DeJesus and a single from Butler made it 10-0 Gateway.
Stephens handled the ThunderBolts all day as he allowed just three base hits, no walks, and struck out five in his first complete game shutout.
Stephens (2-1) picked up the win as Tingle (3-4) earned the loss.
Windy City will look to avoid the sweep on Wednesday. The ‘Bolts’ will send out Dyllon Nuernberg (5-1, 2.46) against Gateway’s Ethan McKinzie (0-0, 27.00). First pitch is scheduled for 10:35 a.m. at Standard Bank Stadium. Fans that cannot make it to Big Splash Day III can tune into the broadcast on 88.3 WXAV FM and wxav.com.
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