Rascals Hold off Freedom in Opener
August 30, 2017 - Coastal Plain League (Coastal Plain)
Forest City Owls News Release
Rascals Hold off Freedom in Opener
(Forest City Owls)
The River City Rascals (48-44) plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning and used a dominant pitching performance from six arms to inch by the Florence Freedom (57-35), 2-1, Tuesday night and move within a .5 game of a wild card spot with four games remaining.
TONIGHT'S GAME:
The River City Rascals look to remain in the wild card race and can move within .5 game with a win and a Windy City ThunderBolts loss. A win would also avoid the Ras- cals longest losing streak of the season which would be four games. Last time out, the Rascals dropped the series finale and were swept by the Normal CornBelters on Sunday, August 27. The Rascals trailed by a run going into the bottom of the eighth but a two-out RBI single from Josh Ludy tied the game up and gave the Rascals a chance salvage the series. After a rain delay, Cody Mincey struck out the side with a runner on third in the bottom of the 8th but couldn't escape the jam in the bottom of the 9th and allowed a walk-off single to Craig Lepre for a 5-4 final.
The Rascals first three runs came via the long ball. Jason Merjano put the Rascals up 2-0 in the second with his tenth homer of the year and Paul Kronenfeld tied the game at three with a solo shot in the top of the seventh. Both starters took a no-decision, including Zeb Sneed who al- lowed three runs, earned in 5.1 innings. River City started the year 3-1, then dropped 10 of their next 16, won 29 of 50 but have now dropped 12 of their past 21 to fall 1.5 games back from a Frontier League wild card spot. Tonight's opponent, Florence, enters the contest having clinched the western division title, 23 games over the .500 mark and are coming off a series win against the Gateway Grizzlies. Following the series against Florence, the Rascals close out the regular season with the Southern Illinois Miners.
RASCALS & FREEDOM:
The Rascals are playing the Western Division leader Florence Freedom for the fourth and final series in 2017 and are currently 4-6 against the opponent. Last year, the Rascals won seven of the 12 games during the regular season, including the first six with a series sweep on the road and home. Over the past five years, the Rascals are 28-21 against Florence.
PLAY FOR SEPTEMBER:
Manager Steve Brook is hunting for his sixth postseason appearance and fourth in a row. Along with Brook, four Rascals have been on those playoff teams are looking for their first ring: Johnny Morales, Nick Kennedy, Josh Ludy and Tim Koons. Not only have these Rascals played in the playoffs, they have been in the Frontier League Championship series all three years and last year dropped the decisive game five against the Evansville Otters by a score of 1-0. Schaumburg won in 2014 and Traverse City won in 2015. In total, Morales leads the team in playoff games with 22.
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Coastal Plain League Stories from August 30, 2017
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