FL River City Rascals

Martinez's Two Homers Not Enough in 7-4 Loss

Published on June 3, 2017 under Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


The River City Rascals (9-10) fell to the Gateway Grizzlies (4-15), 7-4, behind a pair of three-run home runs from outfielder Blake Brown in game one of three game series Friday night at GCS Ballpark.

The long ball has haunted the Rascals the entire duration of the road trip and this time around it came in the opponent's first opportunity against Rascals starter Nate Hoffmann.

Grizzlies left fielder Cody Livesay opened up the bottom of the first with a single and then a fielding error gave the Grizzlies a pair of baserunners with no outs for Brown.

Ahead in the count 3-1, Brown laced a ball over the wall in right center to put his club on top 3-0 for starter Will Landsheft.

However, the second year Grizzly was unable to retain the lead as the Rascals notched a long ball of their own, a two-run homer from Braxton Martinez to cut the deficit to one.

"I was trying to play to the park, it wasn't a moonshot or a bomb by any means, but it was good to get the club back in the game," Martinez said.

Jason Merjano followed that up with a single to give the Rascals their third consecutive hit and then went base to base during the Rascals' next two at-bats to put him 90 feet away from tying up the game at three.

Former Grizzly Brandon Thomas laid a bunt down the third base line and a throwing error on Ryan O'Malley allowed Merjano to score and the game was knotted at three a piece going into the bottom of the second.

Rascals starter Nate Hoffmann was pulled from the game in the bottom of the second with two on and two out and manager Steve Brook brought in Reese Gregory to try and limit the damage.

Gregory did just that and stranded both runners on base with the help of a diving stop by Jason Merjano and an inning ending strikeout.

In the fourth though, Gregory wasn't as successful with runners on base. After a missed played ball in shallow right that went down as a double for Evan Rogers, Blake Brown was due up with two on and he matched his at-bat in the opening frame with an opposite field three-run shot to give the Grizzlies a three run lead once again.

Looking to snap an eight game losing streak, the Grizzlies extended their lead to 7-3 via a RBI double from Zach Lavy in the sixth inning against southpaw Lucas Laster and that would go on to be their largest lead of the night.

Laster threw a scoreless seventh inning and Joe Iorio a scoreless eighth to give the Rascals one last shot to avoid a series opening loss.

On Thursday night, River City scored four runs in the top of the ninth and looked to be on a similar pace after a solo shot from Martinez made it 7-4, his second blast of the night and third career at GCS Ballpark.

However, Kaleb Earls halted the offense right there retiring the next three batters to end the game and give the Grizzlies their fourth win of the year.

The win went to Landsheft, tossing seven innings allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits and struck out seven. Gregory got the loss, his second of the year.

In total, the Rascals tallied seven hits and besides Martinez's two homers, Jimmy Kerrigan notched two doubles.

River City is scheduled to play game two of the series Saturday night at GCS Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 with southpaw Austin Warner on the mound.

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Frontier League Stories from June 3, 2017


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