FL River City Rascals

Rascals Fall 13-10 In Game Five; Crushers Win First League Title

Published on September 24, 2009 under Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


O'FALLON, MO - The River City Rascals battled back all night, but fell 13-10 to the Lake Erie Crushers in game five of the Frontier League Championship Series in front of 2,480 at T.R. Hughes Ballpark Wednesday night. Lake Erie won the best of five series three games to two and captured the Frontier Cup in their inaugural season in the Frontier League.

The Rascals (5-3) rallied with seven runs in the final four frames, but couldn't quite climb atop the Crushers. Trailing 8-3 entering the bottom of the sixth, Chris Colton singled and Danny Sawyer blasted a two run shot to cut into the lead at 8-5.

River City again responded with three in the seventh after two Lake Erie runs in the top half of the inning. Ernie Banks doubled home Chad Maddox after a leadoff single and Colton followed with a two run long ball to make it a 10-8 contest.

Lake Erie (6-4) didn't let up the entire night, answering the Rascals three runs with three tallies of their own in the eighth. Andrew Davis collected a double and Wayne Bond knocked in Davis with a two base hit of his own. Arden McWilliams plated the final two runs for Lake Erie on a single back up the middle to again put the Crushers out in front by five at 13-8.

The big blow of the night came in the fifth when the Crushers scored seven in the fifth, sending 11 to the plate. Todd Balduf and Jodem Rivera each walked to knock out starter, Josh Lowey. After a Drew Saylor sacrifice, Tony Marsala (0-1) intentionally walked Davis to load the bases with one out for Gordon Gronkowski. The Crusher designated hitter worked the count full and drew ball four to cut the Rascals lead to 3-2. Tim Binkoski tied the game at three with a single and Tyler Johnson cleared the bases with a three run double to give Lake Erie their first lead at 6-3. Eddie Tisdale and McWilliams kicked started a two out rally after Johnson was cut down at third trying to advance on the play and both scored on a base hit by Todd Balduf for an 8-3 advantage.

Lowey went four plus innings for River City, surrendering three runs on four hits with five walks and one strikeout. The Rascals staked Lowey to a 3-1 lead before the Crushers exploded with the big fifth inning.

Maddox began the scoring with a two out solo home run in the first, one of five River City home runs on the night. Banks continued the rally with a walk, Ryan Wehrle singled and Colton drew a free pass to load the bases against Cardoza Tucker. The Lake Erie starter then crossed up Balduf behind the plate as Banks scored on the passed ball for a 2-0 lead.

After a McWilliams double in the second cut the lead to 2-1, Banks provided his third home run of the postseason with a long blast over the right field wall to again put the Rascals up two at 3-1 at the end of three.

Tucker was lifted in favor of game three winner, Paul Fagan (2-1), after four frames. Tucker allowed three runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks while Fagan earned the victory despite surrendering two runs on five hits in two innings out of the bullpen.

Marsala was tagged with the loss, his first in the playoffs, after the Crushers scored five runs on five hits with two walks against Marsala in one inning out of the bullpen. The Rascals staff combined for nine walks and two hit batters in the defeat.

J.J. Pacella worked the ninth for Lake Erie and allowed a two run homer to Colton, his second shot of the night, for the 13-10 final score.

Colton finished with a game high four runs batted in and went 3-4 with the two home runs and three runs scored. Banks also collected a three hit game in four at-bats and scored four times, including on his round tripper in the third. Batten ended the season on a 15 game hitting streak and went 1-5 while Wehrle and Scott Houin each finished with two hits.

McWilliams and Tisdale led the charge for the Crushers with three base hits, while McWilliams knocked in three runs. Balduf and Johnson each also knocked in three while Rivera and Tim Binkoski each collected two hits. Davis, named the series Most Valuable Player, was 1-3 with a double, three walks and two runs scored.

The Rascals ended the 2009 season on a three game losing streak after winning their first five playoff games and had an 11 game home winning streak snapped as well. River City is now 5-5 all-time in the playoffs with all five victories coming this postseason. The Rascals wrapped up the season a combined 61-41 including the playoffs and captured their second Frontier League West Division title.

Check out the River City Rascals Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Frontier League Stories from September 24, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central