FL River City Rascals

Rascals win 5-4

Published on August 2, 2014 under Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


The Rascals and Southern Illinois Miners carried identical records of 40-26 into their Saturday night matchup in Marion, IL. Despite being out hit 9-5, the Rascals would end the night with the better mark, staving off a Miners' comeback and prevailing 5-4.

Tommy Mendoza started for River City. He surrendered a leadoff double to Marquis Riley in the bottom of the first, but settled down nicely after that, facing only ten men in his first three innings of work. and advances to third.

The Rascals got their scoring started in teh top of the second. Facing Miners' starter Matt Bywater, Brian McConkey led off with a double down the right field line. Crespo sacrificed him over. With two outs, Steve Carrillo drove him in with an RBI single to center.

They continued in the third, getting their first two men on, with Johnny Morales reaching via walk and Saxon Butler singling him to second. Joe Staley reached on a sacrifice bunt on which Butler was forced out. Brian McConkey came to bat with men on the corners and knocked in Morales with a single to make it 2-0 Rascals.

The Miners finally broke through against Mendoza in the fourth, halving the Rascal lead by putting up a single tally. Ryan Cavin reached with a leadoff single and was eventually driven in on a two-out double by Aaron Gates to make it 2-1.

The Rascals took advantage of some poor defense by the Miners in the top of the fifth. With one out, Saxon Butler struck out swinging but was able to reach first when the final strike got away from Phil Butler, the Southern Illinois catcher. He would move to second when the Miners' third baseman, Steve Marino, botched a bouncing groundball off the bat of Joe Staley. Both would move into scoring position on another ball that got away from the Miners' catcher Phil Butler, and both would score on an RBI single by Hector Crespo. Crespo himself would come in on a passed ball to make it 5-1.

Mendoza did not allow a run in his last three innings of work, working around leadoff hits in the sixth and seventh to keep it a 5-1 game. He would finish with a solid line of 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 0 BB.

Things got interesting in the bottom of the eighth, when Tyler Booth started off the Miners' swinging by lacing a triple into the left field corner. He would score on a ball that got by Rascals' catcher, Saxon Butler to make it 5-2.

Gabriel Shaw came in to try to close it out for River City. The West division leader in saves got off to a poor start, giving up a single to the first batter he faced, Aaron Gates. Chris Burke then really made him pay by belting a two-run homerun to left to bring the Miners within one. But Shaw would not allow them anything more, inducing two groundouts and getting Booth swinging to get the save and secure the win.

The victory was the forty-first of the year for the Rascals. Mendoza got the W, while Matt Bywater took the loss. Bywater allowed only two earned runs and actually gave up fewer hits (5) than Mendoza, but also passed out five walks.

The two teams meet again tomorrow at 5:05 at Rent One Park in Marion, IL.

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Frontier League Stories from August 2, 2014


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