FL River City Rascals

Rascals Fall to Miners to Setup Rubber

Published on August 4, 2014 under Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


The Southern Illinois Miners managed to hold down the Rascals Sunday night at Rent One Park, limiting the River City squad to just one run on six hits. They would prevail by a final of 6-1.

The early part of the game featured a lack of control from both starting pitchers. Michael Carden took to the mound for Southern Illinois and walked four through his first three innings. Kyle Brady, on the bump for the Rascals, issued the same number of free passes in his first three frames.

The difference between the two starters would come in that third inning. The Rascals were able to load the bases against Carden, but could not come through. Eric Williams walked to start, and after he was sacrificed over, Saxon Butler boarded with his second base on balls of the evening. Jon Myers reached on an error by 3B Niko Vasquez to fill the base paths, but that was as close as the Rascals would get. Brian McConkey would foul out and Joe Staley would fly out to deep left center to end the inning with the score still 0-0.

In the bottom of the third, the Miners were able to capitalize against Brady. Like the Rascals, they were able to load the bases early in the inning, and unlike the Rascals, they were able to break through, with Ryan Cavin driving in Phil Butler on a 4-6 fielder's choice and Frank Martinez bringing in Tyler Booth with a sacrifice fly. The fielder's choice initially appeared to be a tailor-made double play ball, but the throw from second to first was broken up by Eisen, who had the ball hit off his helmet. Manager Steve Brook protested vehemently, arguing for runner interference on Eisen, but his argument was ultimately in vain. At the end of the inning, the Miners led 2-0.

The Rascals' bats would fall silent for the next two innings, but would get back in the game in the sixth. McConkey boarded with a leadoff single. Staley would drive him in with a long double to left center. Staley's two-bagger would also boot Carden from the game. The Miners' hurler finished with 5 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, and 2 K.

Brady would return for the sixth but only for one batter, as the leadoff man Chris Burke immediately singled off him to send him from the game. He was replaced by Paul Hvozdovic, who got the first two men he faced to fly out before walking Tyler Booth and giving up an RBI single to Jon Eisen. That rebuilt the Miner lead to two runs. Hvozdovic would pitch to and hit Cavin before exiting the game.

His replacement, Trey Lambert, got the final out of the sixth, but struggled in the seventh. He gave up three hits, a walk, and two runs in the inning to make it 5-1. The first of those runs came on a base hit by Burke. Initially it appeared the knock to left wouldn't score Frank Martinez from second. A superb throw by LF Jon Myers held held him at third. But Burke got aggressive and tried for second, forcing a throw to the keystone bag by Rascal catcher Joe Staley. With the throw down, Martinez broke for home and jarred the ball loose from Staley's glove when it came back to the plate. It was a mixed night for Staley, who was the only Rascal with multiple hits but also committed two errors in the contest.

The Miners added another in the eighth on an RBI single by Niko Vasquez. Despite getting two men in scoring position with no one out in the top of the ninth, the Rascals could not cut into the 6-1 deficit. They stranded twelve baserunners in the contest to bring their LOB total to twenty in the series.

Brady finished with a line of 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K. He got the loss, while Carden got the win. The loss was the twenty-seventh of the year for the Rascals, who sit a game up on the Boomers and Grizzlies in the West. They meet the Miners again Monday night at Rent One Park in Marion, IL for the rubber match of the three-game set. First pitch will be at 7:05.

Check out the River City Rascals Statistics

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



Frontier League Stories from August 4, 2014


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