FL River City Rascals

Rascals Score 18 in the Win over Florence

Published on June 8, 2016 under Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


Josh Ludy of the River City Rascals
Josh Ludy of the River City Rascals
(River City Rascals)

The River City Rascals opened up their seven game home stand with their largest victory of the season, 18-5 over the visiting Florence Freedom Tuesday night at CarShield Field.

It was Brandon Bargas who got the start for Florence and in his fourth appearance of the year, he struggled with his command and walked the first three hitters he faced. After a mound visit, he recorded a strikeout and then got the second out of the inning on a ground out. However, a run came home to score and Robby Enslen was credited with a RBI. A few pitches later, the Rascals jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a RBI single from Jason Merjano.

After Rascals starter Zeb Sneed retired the side in order in the next half inning, the Rascals added four runs to the lead and had already scored more than their past two games combined. In the inning, the Rascals sent eight batters to the plate and got RBI's from Johnny Morales, Josh Ludy and Robby Enslen.

"Discipline is a big factor in these type of games and it is hard to stay in long games like that sometimes. However, we did a great job tonight of staying focused and when we got the pitches in the zone we were able to drive them."

The Freedom got one of those runs back in the third inning with a solo home run from third baseman Taylor Oldham over the right center wall. Sneed answered that with three scoreless innings and watched his offense continue to produce.

River City had their best inning in the third and batted around for the second time on the year. Manager Dennis Pelfrey went to his bullpen to begin the inning and T.J. Bozeman failed to record an out after facing eight batters. Kyle Gaedele and Willi Martin led off with a walk and then Dominique Taylor brought in the first run with a single. Willi Martin came home to score a few pitches later on a wild pitch and then the Rascals got one more after a passed ball.

Following the passed ball, manager Steve Brooks 2016 squad led 8-1 and then added to the lead after Griff Gordon's two RBI single. Robby Enslen chased Bozeman out of the game with a single of his own and then off the new pitcher, Brandon Maddern, the Rascals scored three after a hit by pitch and an error to take a 13-1 lead.

The Rascals were shut down the next two innings but bounced back and scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth off of Maddern. Each of the five RBI's came from different players: Johnny Morales, Josh Ludy, Griff Gordon, Jason Merjano and Kyle Gaedele. Following that inning, the Rascals led 18-1 and that would be all their scoring the rest of the night.

In total, the Rascals picked up 14 hits and five different players had a multiple hit night. Josh Ludy and Jason Merjano each had three, while Griff Gordon, Dominique Taylor and Johnny Morales had a pair. Leading the team in runs was newcomer Alexi Colon and Morales with four. Colon drew four walks and scored every time he reached base in his Rascals debut.

"This is a great group of guys and it's easy to play baseball when you are having fun," Colon said. "It was great to get back on the field and get some live at-bats in. I saw a lot of pitches, tracked down a couple balls in center and got to score some runs. "

The Freedom added two off Sneed in the seventh and two off reliever Will Schierholz in the eighth to give them their five runs. Joe Pavlovich threw a scoreless ninth in his third appearance of the year.

Sneed picked up the win, his second of the year and got solid run support for the first time. In his previous three starts, Sneed had just six runs of support through 23.1 innings and today he got 18 runs in 6 2/3 innings.

"I was very happy, glad to see those two in the first inning and then those four in the second," Sneed said. "I was rooting for my offense to keep scoring runs. It was a lot of fun tonight and a great team win."

The second year Rascal finished allowing three runs on seven hits, two walks and struck out six.

The series continues Wednesday night with southpaw Jason Ziegler on the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 as the Rascals look to pass up the first place Evansville Otters.

Check out the River City Rascals Statistics

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Josh Ludy of the River City Rascals
Josh Ludy of the River City Rascals
   



Frontier League Stories from June 8, 2016


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