LA CROSSE — Mateo Gray struggles with making a choice on the highlight of his first season as a La Crosse Logger.
That makes sense because his ability to both swing a bat and pitch a baseball is helping the Northwoods League team chase a first-half championship in the Great Plains East Division.
So weighing a walk-off grand slam against a complete-game shutout takes a minute.
“Energy-wise, that walk-off at home was pretty sick,” Gray said with a big smile. “It was great with the home crowd, but going nine innings is something I’ve never done before.
“Definitely a new feeling for me.”
Gray has enjoyed a month of being able to show what kind of baseball player he can be. Field time was difficult to find at the University of Central Florida, but he’s making a case for more time in the future this summer.
“He’s a guy who can come up and hit the ball like he has and pitch with a sub-4 ERA,” Loggers field manager Josh Frye said. “There aren’t many guys in the world who can do that.”
Gray’s walk-off grand slam provided La Crosse with an 8-4 victory over the Waterloo Bucks on June 15.
That’s been the high point of a season that has included a .311 batting average, 2 doubles, 3 home runs and 20 RBIs over 17 games. He has also drawn 16 walks against 14 strikeouts and is 2 for 2 on attempts at stolen bases.
Gray has also pieced together an ERA of 3.45 and record of 2-0 and 23 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings over five games for a team that is 21-9 and leads its division by 1 game heading into Wednesday night’s home game against Eau Claire.
The high point from that side of the game has been his three-hit shutout of the Eau Claire Express on Monday.
Gray needed just 92 pitches in that victory and felt locked in from the beginning. He struck out 7, walked 2 and all of the hits allowed were singles.
“I threw all five pitches for strikes and was mixing in perfectly,” Gray said. “Cutters to righties, changeups to lefties exactly how I wanted to.”
Gray retired the first eight batters in order and escaped a bases-loaded jam — a single, an error and a walk — by striking out Quinton Coats on three pitches for the final out of the third inning.
Eau Claire wasn’t able to put another runner in scoring position, and Gray retired the final 10 in order to complete the shutout.
The complete game was the team’s third since the start of the 2020 season and only complete-game shutout during that span.
Gray hopes his performance this summer leads to more playing time at Central Florida after pitching in four games and starting four at first base as a freshman. Gray batted .150 with 7 RBIs and didn’t allow a run with 3 strikeouts, 4 walks and 2 hits allowed over 3 1/3 innings.
“What I wanted her was to get as many reps as possible coming off my freshman year,” Gray said. “One of the key things my coaches wanted me to get was experience and to make good use of that experience.
“I’m doing pretty well. I feel like I’m improving myself as a hitter and as a pitcher.”
