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FL River City Rascals

Rascals Beat Otters in Opener

August 21, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


O'Fallon, MO - The Rascals (47-35) won their series opener 8-7 against the Evansville Otters (51-31) on Friday, August 21 at T.R. Hughes Ballpark. LHP Lucas Laster (W, 4-3) earned the win after tossing 6.2 innings. He allowed three runs, two in his final inning, on six hits; he walked one and struck out five. Laster has now thrown 6.0 or more innings in eight of his 12 starts.

Otters starter Blaine Howell (L, 0-1) earned his first decision in his second start. He surrendered five runs on eight hits and three walks. The lefty struck out four batters of 6.0 frames.

The Rascals took a 3-0 lead in the second inning. With two outs, RF Zach Kometani hit a solo homerun, his eighth of the season. DH Josh Ludy then singled, C Jackson Slaid walked, and SS Johnny Morales hit a two-run double.

Evansville did not score until the sixth inning when Josh Allen led off with a single. He then moved to second on a wild pitch and third base on a groundout. Rolando Gomez plated Allen with a groundout to shortstop.

The Rascals responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs. 2B Hector Crespo led off with a walk, and Ludy singled. Following a double steal, Slaid hit a run-scoring single, and Morales had an RBI groundout.

John Schultz led off the seventh with a single, and Chris Sweeney doubled, putting two men in scoring position with no outs. After a couple of pop ups left both men on base, Nik Balog hit a two-out single to plate both men.

The Rascals then scored three more in their half of the seventh. LF Josh Silver singled and eventually reached third base with two down. Crespo reached on an error by shortstop Cody Urquhart, and Silver scored. With Kometani at the dish, Crespo stole second and third base and scored on Kometani's double. RF Casey Rodrigue entered as a pinch runner for Kometani, stole second base, and scored the third run of the inning on a throwing error by catcher Dane Phillips.

The Otters plated four runs in the ninth inning off of RHP Derek Cape to pull within one run, but their rally fell short. Phillips hit a one out single. After a walk by Chris Elder, Allen hit a two-out RBI single. Pinch-hitter Kurt Wertz Jr. the hit a three-run homer, cutting the Rascals' lead to 8-7. RHP Zac Treece (S, 2) entered and needed just two pitches to retire Urquhart to end the game.

RHP Will Schierholz was the first man out of the bullpen for the Rascals. He punched out two in 1.0 scoreless frame. Cape was charged with four runs on four hits in 1.0 inning of work. Treece tossed just 0.1 inning.

Ludy finished the day 4-for-4 with two runs and a steal, his 12th. Crespo swiped three total bases and now leads the league with 35 steals.

The Rascals and Evansville Otters continue their series on Saturday, August 22 at T.R. Hughes Ballpark at 6:35 p.m. CDT.

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