River City Rascals - Independent Professional Baseball

ERRORS COSTLY IN RASCALS OPENING DAY DEFEAT

Loves Park, IL -- The Rockford RiverHawks used six unearned runs in the fourth and three more unearned runs in the fifth to take opening day 9-1 over the River City Rascals Wednesday night at Road Ranger Stadium.

Rascals starter Chris Clem breezed through the first three innings with three strikeouts and just one hit surrendered. But the righthander got himself into trouble starting off the fourth after throwing a grounder hit back to him over first baseman Bobby Mosby’s head and into right field.

That error was followed by a past ball, dropped strike three when it appeared batter Corey Stang fouled off a pitch which got away from catcher Andrew Sweet. The ball rolled back towards the backstop and the RiverHawks had the first two aboard. Three singles and a sacrifice fly would follow putting Rockford up 3-0. The inning continued when Clem made his second error trying to gun a baserunner down at home. He instead threw the ball to the backstop.

The six run fourth was followed by a three run fifth, again started by the Rascals fourth error of the game. Scott Fogelson replaced Clem at the start of the inning. Third baseman Brad Hough booted a ball on a short hop which was followed by a Brett Thomas two out, two RBI double four batters later. Thomas would then score on a Ryan Kowalski single to put the RiverHawks up 9-0.

RiverHawks starter Chris Schutt (1-0) fired seven innings of shutout baseball, allowing just two hits while striking out six to pick up the win.

The lone Rascal run came in the ninth when pinch hitter Andy Bettis drove in Hough with a sacrifice fly off Drew Himes.

Clem (0-1) got the loss going four innings, allowing six unearned runs while striking out four and walking none. He is still seeking his first road win as a Rascal since the beginning of 2007 (0-7).

The Rascals (0-1) and RiverHawks (1-0) play the second of three at Road Ranger Stadium Thursday night with the first pitch at 7:05 p.m. Righty Jonathan Miller (5-4 in 2007) gets the nod for River City. Fans can tune into the game on FM 104.5 KSLQ or online at www.rivercityrascals.com.

5/21/08
River City 1, Rockford 9

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
River City	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	4
Rockford	0	0	0	6	3	0	0	0	X	9	11	1

River City	POS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
G. Stone	SS	4	0	1	0	.250
C. Raniere	2B	2	0	0	0	.000
J. Deboer	PH/2B	1	0	1	0	1.000
P. Laurent	RF	4	0	0	0	.000
B. Mosby	1B	3	0	1	0	.333
J. Miller	LF	3	0	0	0	.000
B. Hough	3B	4	1	1	0	.250
A. Sweet	CAT	4	0	2	0	.500
R. Rosa	DH	3	0	0	0	.000
A. Bettis	PH	0	0	0	1	.000
L. Barganier	CF	3	0	0	0	.000
C. Clem	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
Fogelson	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
G. Lee	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
B. Logan	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
TOTALS		31	1	6	1

Rockford	POS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
J. Anthonsen	2B	5	0	1	0	.200
J. Brooks	SS	5	0	2	2	.400
J. James	LF	5	1	1	0	.200
Stang	DH	5	2	0	0	.000
C. Raber	1B	4	1	1	1	.250
Thamann	PH/3B	1	0	0	0	.000
S. Pickerell	CAT	3	0	0	1	.000
M. Mazurek	RF	3	2	1	1	.333
B. Thomas	1B/3B	4	2	3	2	.750
R. Kowalski	CF	4	1	2	1	.500
C. Schutt	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Borman	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Himes	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Himes	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Himes	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
TOTALS		39	9	11	8

E--B.Hough, A.Sweet, C.Clem 2, J.Anthonsen. DP--RIVER CITY 0, ROCKFORD 2. LOB--RIVER CITY 9, ROCKFORD 8. 2B--A.Sweet (1), B.Thomas (1), R.Kowalski (1). HBP--B.Mosby, J.Miller. SF--A.Bettis, S.Pickerell.

River City	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
C. Clem (L, 0-1)	4.0	5	6	0	0	4	0	0.00
Fogelson	1.0	2	3	0	1	1	0	0.00
G. Lee	2.0	4	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
B. Logan	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.00

Rockford	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
C. Schutt (W,1-0)	7.0	2	0	0	3	6	0	0.00
M. Borman	1.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
D. Himes	1.0	2	1	1	0	0	0	9.00

WP--C.Clem. HB--C.Schutt 2. PB--A.Sweet. SO--P.Laurent, B.Hough, A.Sweet, R.Rosa 2, L.Barganier, J.Brooks, J.James, Stang 3, C.Raber, Thamann, S.Pickerell, M.Mazurek. BB--G.Stone, C.Raniere, L.Barganier, M.Mazurek.

Time: 2:53, Attendance: 3,390