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FL River City Rascals

Rascals Split Doubleheader against Southern Illinois

June 12, 2016 - Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


River City was held to just one hit in game one of the double header Sunday afternoon at CarShield Field, but a strong pitching performance of their own saved the Rascals from being swept by the Southern Illinois Minors and avoided a four game losing streak.

Game One

Minors starter Dyllon Nuernberg was given the ball in game one and he picked up right where he left off in his previous start. The righty took a no hit bid into the sixth inning but lost it with two outs as Alexi Colon singled. Besides the hit, two other Rascals reached. Kyle Gaedele walked to begin the third and Robby Enslen reached on an error.

Colon also drew a leadoff walk in the fourth however Nuernberg would tag Colon in a rundown as he was trying to steal second.

Zeb Sneed was Nuernbergs opponent and they dueled keeping their opponents off the scoreboard the first six innings. For Sneed, he set the Miners down in order in the first inning and struck out two in the next frame to set the tone for his fifth consecutive quality start.

"I wanted to go right after them today and try to get deep in the game to give my team a chance to win," Sneed said.

The Miners were unable to get anything going against him until the fifth where they recorded two hits. The Rascals defense helped him out getting an outfield assist from Alexi Colon and then a double play ended it.

Sneed kept the opponent off the scoreboard in the sixth and then was pulled after a leadoff single from Nolan Early.

Manager Steve Brook went to Reese Gregory and he walked Steve Marino as he was trying to lay down a sacrifice bunt. One batter later on a sacrifice bunt attempt from Shane Kennedy, the righty threw it away and it caused a run to score, giving Sneed the loss. Gregory was pulled and Jared Wilson came in to record the three outs. The Miners would go on to score four more runs in the inning as Gregory was charged with two and Wilson with two (1 earned).

In the loss, Sneed allowed just the one run on six hits in six innings. He struck out four along the way and he remains as the lone starter to throw six or more innings in each start this year.

"A lot of credit goes to Ludy on pitch selection and location. I very rarely shake him off and I also have a great defense behind me which really contributes to the success," Sneed said.

Game Two

Both teams had a starter make their first starts of the year and it was Rascals starter Joe Pavlovich who won the battle over Brooks Trujillo.

Coming into the game, Pavlovich had not allowed an earned run in four innings of work and he was very successful and didn't allow a runner to get into scoring position until the fifth inning.

His offense came out firing and after recording just one hit in game one, Jason Merjano got the Rascals in the hit column right away with a single up the middle. Merjano would be left stranded and then in his next at-bat, he doubled and was not able to come around to score in third inning as a pop out in foul territory ended it.

Following a double play to end the top of fourth inning which included a strikeout and a caught stealing, the Rascals gave Pavlovich a 2-0 lead as Josh Ludy came around to score on an error from Steve Marino and then the Rascals got their first RBI from Clint Freeman with a single.

Francisco Rosario cut the lead in half in the top of the fifth with a RBI double and then Pavlovich was pulled with two outs for Nick Kennedy. With two runners on, Kennedy got a ground out on his first pitch to keep the game at 2-1.

In his first start of the year, Pavlovich finished going four and 2/3 innings allowing an unearned run on three hits and struck out a pair.

"I knew today was my day and I had my preparation set," Pavlovich said. "I just went out there and threw the ball, it wasn't exactly easy but the guys behind me picked me up when they needed to."

Miners manager Mike Pinto went to his bullpen as well in the fifth and brought in Evan Mott. Mott picked up the save on Friday night but was not as good Sunday as he allowed a two run home run to Alexi Colon and then a solo shot from Kyle Gaedele, his third in as many days and the Rascals led 5-1.

Zac Treece threw a scoreless sixth and then the Rascals final run came home to score in the bottom half as Josh Ludy walked with the bases loaded. The closer struck out the side in the seventh and the Rascals snapped the Miners eight game winning streak.

"Coming into the locker room after the third loss with them woke us up and I think as a team all of us were ready to go knowing we needed to get a win," Merjano said. "Now hopefully we can rest up and hydrate well to get a streak going."

River City has a day off on Monday and then embark on a six game road trip against the Normal Cornbelters and the Evansville Otters. First pitch in Normal Tuesday night is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with southpaw Jason Ziegler on the mound.

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