FL River City Rascals

Rascals Take Series in Southern Illinois

Published on August 5, 2014 under Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


The Rascals closed out their three-game series with the Miners the right way, downing the Southern Illinois outfit, 5-4. They were led by Tim Koons, who turned in a solid five-inning start, and John Myers, who drove in four runs in his second game of the season for River City.

Koons was opposed on the mound by the newest member of the Miners, Jack McGary. Making his first Frontier League start, McGary struggled at the outset. The Stanford graduate walked Eric Williams to start off the game and then walked Saxon Butler two batters later to put two aboard. Things only got worse for him when Williams stole third. The Rascal leadoff man came in on a hot grounder off the bat of John Myers. The groundball was mishandled by Miners' 3B Steve Marino, insuring that Williams would score the first tally of the contest.

Koons started off a touch wild, walking two men in the first inning. He was able to escape trouble though by striking out Aaron Gates looking to end the frame and keep the 1-0 lead intact.

Both Koons and McGary would settle down, trading scoreless trips to the rubber until the fifth. That's when the trouble began again. In the top of the inning, McGary would once again walk both Williams and Butler in front of Myers, who made him pay an even bigger price this time. The Rascals' new leftfielder, who joined the team shortly before the second game of the series, launched a three-run homerun to left to give the Rascals a 4-0 lead. To that point, all those runs came courtesy of Myers.

The Miners would get two back in the bottom of the fifth, stringing together three consecutive hits to finally break through against Koons. After Jon Eisen and Ryan Cavan each singled, Niko Vasquez doubled deep to center to score both and make it a 4-2 game. Koons would finish with a final line of 5 IP, 2 R, 2ER, 3 K, 3 BB.

Steve Carrillo wasted no time responding in the top of the sixth. The Rascals' third baseman took the first pitch he saw from reliever Race Paramenter and put it over the left field fence. His first homerun of the year for River City made it 5-2.

Thanks to the efforts of Rascal relievers Nick Kennedy and Patrick Crider, it would remain that way until the ninth. They would each throw over an inning of scoreless ball before turning it over to Gabriel Shaw to close it out. Crider was particularly effective, finishing the seventh inning by retiring the dangerous Frank Martinez and then throwing a hitless eighth.

In the ninth, Shaw retired Marino to start his attempt for his twentieth save of 2014, but then allowed a base hit to Phil Butler. He rebounded by getting Jon Eisen to groundout, but had to face the thorn of the Miner order, Ryan Cavan. Cavan, who had three hits on the night before batting in the final frame, took Shaw deep for a two-run homerun to make it 5-4. Cavan's shot was the second two-run Miner jack off Shaw in the series.

Luckily though, he was able to finish the game without further damage. The Rascal closer got Niko Vasquez to pop out to end the game and give River City the series. Koons picked up the win, while McGeary suffered the loss. The victory put the Rascals back to fifteen games over .500. They return to TR Hughes Ballpark on Wednesday night to face Florence. First pitch is 7:05.

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Frontier League Stories from August 5, 2014


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