FL River City Rascals

Rascals Sweep Doubleheader in Florence

Published on May 19, 2016 under Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


The River City Rascals pitching staff shined and the offense tallied 19 hits to sweep the double-header on the road against the Florence Freedom Wednesday night.

GAME ONE

In his second start of the season, RHP Joe Scanio held the western division foe scoreless through the first four innings and was able to pitch with the lead the majority of the contest.

After being retired in order to begin the game, the Rascals offense came alive with two outs in the following frame with three consecutive singles, including a RBI single from catcher Mike Jurgella to give the Rascals a 1-0 lead.

Freedom starter Jeremy Gooding, who won the Frontier League pitcher of the week award to begin the year, ran into trouble in the third inning with two outs and Johnny Morales on first. Clint Freeman reached on a dropped third strike and then Josh Ludy singled to load the bases for Josh Silver. After working the count full, the Rascals returner launched a grand slam over the left field wall putting the Rascals up five runs.

Silver has four homeruns as a member of the Rascals, and three of them are grand slams. The infielder made Frontier League history last year with two grand slams in a single game, coming in the playoffs against Southern Illinois.

"I keep getting fortunate with people on base and am able to hit very well," Silver said. "Both these games are huge for our momentum knowing we got a series win, a chance for a sweep tomorrow and our first home series coming up on Friday."

Continuing his dominance, Silver notched another RBI with a single in the 5th and Freeman scored the Rascals final run scoring on a wild pitch.

Scanio ended his shutout bid allowing single runs in the 5th and 6th innings and Tomas Michelson took over in the seventh. The first year Rascals right-hander loaded the bases with no outs and put the tying run on deck. Manager Steve Brook called upon Will Schierholz to limit the damage and he was successful, recording two strikeouts and a fly out to earn the save and help Scanio get the 7-2 win.

In six innings, Scanio allowed two runs on eight hits and struck out four improving to 1-1 on the year.

"I felt a lot better than my first start, got the sinker back and was able to work down," Scanio said after his start. "When your team gives you a big cushion like that, it kind of takes the load off your back and you just want to go in there and fill up the zone."

GAME TWO

Willi Martin provided a two RBI double in extra innings and Zac Treece picked up his first save of the year to lead the Rascals to their second victory of the night.

A pitcher's duel throughout the game, Rascals southpaw Lucas Laster and Freedom Southpaw Brandan Bargas combined to allow just one run on eight hits in nine 2/3 innings of work as the starting pitchers.

However, Lucas Laster in his 2016 debut accounted for only one of those hits, a fly ball that was lost in the lights at UC Health Stadium. The second year Rascal was flawless, allowing just that one hit and struck out three before being pulled with one out in the 5th with a 1-0 lead, thanks to a Willi Martin RBI single.

"I felt good out there, mixed in all three pitches and tried to keep them off-balance the best that I could," Laster mentioned.

Rascals veteran Nick Kennedy came in to relieve and the Freedom took the lead four batters later off a single from Taylor Oldham. Both the runs were unearned as an error before the runs scored caused the inning to extend.

Picking up where he left off in game one, Silver put the go-ahead run at the plate with a one out single and chased the starter Bargas out of the game in the sixth. Freedom manager Dennis Pelfrey brought in 6'5", 260 pound Pete Levitt and he got a strikeout and a ground out to end the threat. Jared Wilson tossed a scoreless B6 and the Rascals had to face the Freedom closer Ethan Gibbons down one run.

Not an easy task against a guy with a 1.81 ERA in 2015, but Griff Gordon gave the Rascals a leadoff baserunner as he reached on an error. Dominique Taylor followed that with his third single of the game, and then both runners got into scoring position with a Johnny Morales sacrifice bunt. Three pitches later Kyle Gaedele drove Gordon in with a sacrifice fly and Zac Treece held the Freedom scoreless to give the Rascals a chance to win it in extra innings.

Josh Ludy led off with a single, Robby Enslen was hit by a pitch and then Willi Martin drove in the winning runs with the double near the wall in centerfield.

"I just tried to put a good swing on a good pitch and luckily it fell for us," Martin explained. "Everybody was cheering each other on, we never gave up and had a ton of confidence. What a great team win."

The three game series finishes up Thursday night in Florence, Kentucky, before the Rascals travel back home and open up a nine game home stand. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 with Tim Koons on the mound and can be heard at rascals.caster.fm.

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Frontier League Stories from May 19, 2016


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