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FL River City Rascals

Sneed Tosses Complete Game Shutout in Win over Beach Bums

June 1, 2016 - Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


River City Rascals Pitcher Zeb Sneed
River City Rascals Pitcher Zeb Sneed
(River City Rascals)

Zeb Sneed turned in a complete game with a career high eleven strikeouts and the Rascals offense provided just enough as they defeated the Traverse City Beach Bums 2-0 Wednesday night at Wuerfel Park.

Sneed (1-1) allowed just two hits in his third start of the season, a single from Jose Vargas in the opening frame and a double from Jeff DeBlieux in the seventh but that was it as he turned in the best start of his career and got the Rascals (9-7) their third series win of the year.

"It was pretty awesome, Ludy called a great game and I just kept throwing it to where he was at," Sneed said. "I couldn't be happier for a win and I had a lot of fun doing it."

The righty retired the side in order six times, including striking out the side in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Rascals fed off that energy and backed Sneed up with a run for the first time in the contest in their next opportunity.

Kyle Gaedele led off the seventh with a walk and then got into scoring position after a sacrifice bunt from Griff Gordon. It was the third time the Rascals had a runner in scoring position with less than two outs and Gaedele added to that by stealing third during Dominique Taylors at-bat. Taylor ended up walking and then Jason Merjano gave the Rascals a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to left field.

River City strung together a few more good at-bats in the ninth inning and three consecutive Rascals reached, including a RBI single from Josh Silver to score Merjano and Zeb Sneed had a two run lead going into the bottom of the ninth.

Sneed recorded his 11th strikeout to begin the frame and then ended it by retiring the Beach Bums 3rd and 4th place hitters, Jose Vargas and Steven Patterson. The complete game shutout was the first in Sneed's professional career that has spanned over five years, however he has only been a starter in two of them.

"I feel like I can go the distance every game, I felt pretty strong in the sixth and the seventh," Sneed said. "I knew that I had got a lot of early outs and I thought if I continued to keep guys off base then I had a great chance."

"It was a blast catching Sneed. He had four pitches working from the beginning and he kept guys off balance all night," Josh Ludy said. "We haven't given him a whole lot of run support all year and he has been throwing the ball well. Luckily we got him a couple runs and was able to go the whole way without giving any up."

Sneed could have been pitching with a larger lead as his offense had an opportunity in the fifth inning. River City was held hitless through the first four frames and then notched three singles in a row and had the bases loaded with one out against the Beach Bums starter Rob Blanc. The three hits were from Griff Gordon, Dominique Taylor and Jason Merjano, however none of the hits brought in runs and Blanc induced an inning ending double play to keep the game scoreless.

That was the final inning for Blanc as he was replaced by Benjamin Libuda, who allowed the run in the seventh and took the loss. Luke Barker threw the scoreless eighth and then Andrew Brockett allowed the run in the ninth.

Offensively for the Rascals, they tallied eight hits from seven different players. Merjano and Silver both had a pair as Silver extended his hitting streak to seven games and his reached base streak to 16.

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River City Rascals Pitcher Zeb Sneed
River City Rascals Pitcher Zeb Sneed
   



Frontier League Stories from June 1, 2016


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