FL River City Rascals

Sneed's Quality Start Lifts River City to a Series Win

Published on July 17, 2016 under Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


The Schaumburg Boomers rallied for six runs in the final two frames but fell one run short as the Rascals (25-27) were able to hold on to a narrow 7-6 victory and get their first series win at home since June 9th, Sunday afternoon at CarShield Field. Looking to win the second series of the year against Schaumburg, Zeb Sneed got the start and was stellar in his eleventh start of the year.

He began the game exchanging zeros with Boomers starter Kagen Hopkins and each team's ace held the opponent scoreless through the first three innings.

Prior to Sunday's game, the Rascals offense averaged 3.6 runs a game for Sneed and just seven in his last six starts. However, that changed in the series final as the Rascals offense began to find success off the Boomers Eastern Division All-Star Hopkins.

Kyle Gaedele and Willi Martin notched back-to-back singles and then Hopkins walked Clint Freeman to load the bases. After Hopkins's sixth strikeout of the game, he was tagged for his first run via a RBI single from Danny Rosenbaum and the Rascals were the first team to score unlike the previous two games.

Hopkins would add one more strikeout and then despite falling behind in the count 0-2, Merjano delivered his second RBI of the series and gave River City a multi-run lead. Josh Ludy followed that with a two RBI single and the hometown team took a 4-0 score into the fifth inning.

Sneed retired the side in order the next two frames and despite two hits, the second year Rascal kept the opponent off the scoreboard in the seventh in what would be his final inning.

Sneed's stellar performance was good for his eighth quality start of the year and as he earned the win, he became the first Rascals pitcher with four wins on the year. In seven innings, he allowed no runs on four hits and struck out a pair.

"My fastball and changeups were working the best for me tonight," Sneed said. "Besides that, catcher Josh Ludy mixed in my other pitches and it all seemed to come together at the right time. Also, I watched them the first two days and charted so I became familiar with their hitters and knew their strengths and weaknesses."

His offense gave him more run support after the stretch and he had a 7-0 lead to his name when the bullpen took over.

Against the Boomers first bullpen arm of the day, Kurt Lipscomb, Kyle Gaedele notched a one out single and got into scoring position on a ground out from Willi Martin. One batter later, Clint Freeman continued his monster series with a RBI single to make it 5-0 and then after a single from Robby Enslen, pinch-hitter Braxton Martinez capped off the Rascals scoring with a two RBI double to make it 7-0.

That would be the final hit of the night for the Rascals and all the offense shifted to the Boomers.

In the top of the eighth, they got two runs off Nick Kennedy (both unearned) and then put a scare into the Rascals crowd in the final frame against Rascals closer Zac Treece.

The 2013 and 2014 Frontier League Champion tallied three consecutive hits to load the bases and then the Boomers trailed 7-3 after a sacrifice fly from Zach Weigal. With two outs and two on, their RBI leader Paul Kronenfeld was due up and he launched a three run home run over the right-center wall to bring the tying run up to the plate in a 7-6 game.

Zac Treece bounced back and retired Dusty Robinson on a fly out to end the ball game and capture the Rascals first series victory in the second half of the season.

River City will have a pair of off days and then continue their 2016 campaign Wednesday night with a double-header against the Washington Wild Things in Pennsylvania.

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Frontier League Stories from July 17, 2016


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