River City Rascals - Independent Professional Baseball

RASCALS TAKE HOME OPENER AS OFFENSE COMES ALIVE

O'Fallon, MO -- The sky cleared, the clouds opened, and the bats finally woke up for the River City Rascals in their home opening win against cross-town Gateway Grizzlies 11-4.

Rascals Manager Toby Rumfield felt a sigh of relief after the win.

“We just didn’t play well at all in Rockford,” Rumfield said. “It was cold up there, our guys couldn’t hit, but we all felt we were still a good hitting team. That team finally showed up tonight and it just feels good to get that first win.”

River City lost its first three at the hands of the Rockford RiverHawks at Road Ranger Stadium.

The two teams went scoreless until the third when Gateway catcher Charlie Lisk hit a solo homerun to right center field putting the Grizzlies up 1-0. The Grizzlies added another run in the sixth after Mike Breyman hit a stand-up double and scored one batter later on a hit by Stephen Holdren.

The Rascals went into the sixth before finally getting on the scoreboard.

Brad Hough proved to be the star for the Rascal’s offense, and started a nine run inning with a three-run homer deep to right center field. Insurance was added later in the inning with RBIs from Chris Rainere, Andrew Sweet, and Greg Stone. Hough would bat for the second time in the inning and punctuated it with a two-run double to left giving the Rascal’s a 9-1 lead.

Luke Barganier would pick up his first hit of the season with a run scoring single in the seventh.

That was more than enough for the Rascals bullpen as Adam Tollefson and Brian Logan finished the game for River City.

David Arnold got the no decision for the Rascals going 5.2 innings of two run ball. Tollefson (1-0) got the win for the Rascals going 1.1 innings in relief. Derek Blacksher (0-1) suffered the loss for the Grizzlies going five innings, allowing three earned runs, four hits and striking out seven.

The Rascals (1-3) and Grizzlies (1-3) play again Sunday night at 6:05 p.m. for game two of the three game series. Gates at T.R. Hughes Ballpark will open at 5:05 p.m. with fans encouraged to bring their dogs to the park on all US Cellular Family Days. Tickets can purchased by calling (636) 240-BATS or www.rivercityrascals.com.

5/24/08
Gateway 4, River City 11

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Gateway	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	4	8	1
River City	0	0	0	0	0	9	2	0	X	11	12	1

Gateway	POS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
R. Malone	3B	5	0	0	0	.211
R. Minor	SS	5	0	1	0	.200
M. Campbell	CF	4	0	2	1	.556
M. Breyman	1B	4	1	1	0	.267
S. Holdren	RF	3	0	1	2	.333
M. Paula	LF	3	0	0	0	.154
J. Vincent	DH	3	0	0	0	.267
B. Wright	PH	1	0	1	0	.250
C. Lisk	CAT	3	2	1	1	.364
A. Barbato	2B	3	1	1	0	.333
D. Blacksher	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Santerre	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
A. Revelette	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Kalb	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
TOTALS		34	4	8	4

River City	POS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
J. Deboer	2B	4	1	0	0	.300
B. Hough	RF	5	1	3	5	.375
P. Laurent	LF	5	0	0	0	.000
B. Mosby	1B	4	1	1	0	.308
A. Bettis	1B	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Miller	DH	3	1	0	0	.000
Reniere	3B	4	2	2	1	.500
A. Sweet	CAT	4	2	3	1	.429
R. Rosa	CAT	0	0	0	0	.000
L. Barganier	CF	3	1	1	1	.111
G. Stone	SS	4	2	2	2	.250
D. Arnold	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
A. Tollefson	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
B. Logan	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
TOTALS		36	11	12	10

E--S.Holdren, Reniere. DP--GATEWAY 0, RIVER CITY 2. LOB--GATEWAY 11, RIVER CITY 4. 2B--M.Breyman (2), B.Hough 2 (2). HR--C.Lisk (2), B.Hough (2). CS--P.Laurent. HBP--M.Campbell.

Gateway	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
D. Blacksher (L, 0-1)	5.0	4	3	3	1	7	1	5.40
J. Santerre	0.1	3	5	5	2	0	0	19.29
A. Revelette	0.2	2	1	1	0	1	0	3.86
J. Kalb	2.0	3	2	1	0	1	0	27.00

River City	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
D. Arnold	5.2	4	2	2	3	4	1	3.18
A. Tollefson (W,1-0)	1.1	2	1	0	1	3	0	0.00
B. Logan	2.0	2	1	1	3	3	0	3.00

WP--D.Blacksher, A.Tollefson. HB--D.Arnold. PB--C.Lisk, A.Sweet. SO--R.Malone, R.Minor 2, M.Campbell, M.Breyman, S.Holdren, M.Paula, J.Vincent, C.Lisk, A.Barbato, J.Deboer 2, B.Hough 2, P.Laurent 2, B.Mosby, J.Miller, G.Stone. BB--M.Breyman, S.Holdren 2, M.Paula 2, C.Lisk, A.Barbato, J.Deboer, J.Miller, L.Barganier.

Time: 3:10, Attendance: 2,601