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BOX SCORE 

Bren Spillane had a career day in the second game of a short series against the Gateway Grizzlies en route to a 7-6 ThunderBolts victory at Ozinga Field on Saturday night. 

The Windy City (9-12) offense jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Spillane began his evening with an RBI triple and Junior Martina and Will Riley each chipped in with two-out RBI base hits.

Gateway (15-5) would get on the board shortly after on Jake Boone’s throwing error in the second inning.

Situational play outlined the third and fourth innings. Jonathan Waite laced a double into left field extending the Bolts lead to 4-1. Gateway’s Mark Vierling cut the deficit to 4-3 with a two-out base hit in the top of the fourth. 

Bolts first-baseman Peyton Isaacson got the run right back, singling home Jordan Wiley to pad the Bolt's lead at 5-3.

Boone began the bottom of the sixth inning with in infield single. Spillane blasted his fourth home run of the season extending the Bolts' lead to 7-3.

Things got dicey for the Bolts in the eighth, as Gateway was able to put up three runs on Alex McKenney before Derrick Edington came in to slam the door and keep the Windy City lead at 7-6. 

Daiveyon Whittle finished off the game off for his third save of the campaign, striking out two batters in the ninth.

Bellair (1-3) earned his first win this season for Windy City throwing seven strong innings, allowing only two runs in his first win of 2023. Bellair struck out four and walked five in the victory, pitching out of numerous jams to keep the Bolts out in front. 

Lukas Vienbergs (2-2) picked up the loss for the Grizzlies, throwing six innings in his fifth start of the season. Vienbergs allowed five earned runs on ten hits while punching eight and only walking two. 

The Bolts get a couple of days off as they head out east for a pair of three-game sets with the New York Boulders (11-8) and the Lake Erie Crushers (8-12). Garrett Christman (1-1, 3.78) is set to take the ball for the Bolts in the first game of the New York series on Tuesday night. First pitch is set for 6:00 CDT. Fans can catch the broadcast on the road through wcthunderbolts.com