| LATE RALLY NOT ENOUGH TO GIVE RASCALS THE WIN
O’Fallon, MO – Despite a promising late rally, the River City Rascals were unable to close the deal, falling to the Midwest Sliders 7-5 in the series opener. Midwest plated their first two runs of the game off solo homeruns. The Sliders got on the scoreboard in the second inning when Miguel Magrass hit a leadoff shot to left field off left-hander Mike Castrignano. Midwest added to the lead in the fourth when Bryan Vickers hit a solo homerun to left field making it 2-0, Sliders. More damage came the Rascals way in the sixth and seventh when Lester Contreras hit a single to right field to get on. Batting next, Magrass swung big for the second time, driving a ball to left field for an RBI triple for the third run of the game. Sam Deluca doubled to center to score Zach Pace who reached on a walk. With two outs, Contreras hit a 2-run homer to into left, padding their lead 6-0. Mark Suchowiecki started an lasted six shutout innings for the Sliders despite walking seven. The Rascals fought off the shutout in the bottom of the seventh off James Albury. Greg Stone got lucky on a ground ball hit to Contreras that resulted in a base hit and an error. DeBoer stepped up next and drove a line drive to left field, putting Stone in scoring position. With one away, Brad Hough doubled to right field, scoring Stone to put the Rascals on the score board for the first time. Randy Rosa came through in the next spot when he hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring DeBoer and making it 6-2 Sliders. River City rallied again in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jeff Miller singled in the leadoff spot, and advanced to third when Andrew Sweet doubled down the right field line. The bases loaded up when Chris Raniere was hit-by-a-pitch. Albury was taken out in favor of left-hander Drew Bigda to face the tying run at the plate, pinch hitter Andy Bettis. Bettis, on a full-count pitch, took ball four to drive in a run. Bigda came back to strikeout the next two hitters before allowing a Hough single to right field scoring two to make it 6-5. That is all the Rascals would get in the inning as closer Earl Oakes got Randy Rosa to fly out to center field. In the ninth inning, Jonnie Knoble was hit-by–a-pitch, and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Pace. With one out, Deluca doubled again, allowing Knoble to score. The Rascals were unable to comeback in the ninth, dropping their second straight at home. “We had guys on base all night,” said Hough. “To their pitcher’s credit, he barred down and battled with us and really made it hard to get hits when we needed them.” “We still have a great home record,” Hough said, “We’re just getting impatient with our offense. We need to help them out.” River City had eight hits, but stranded 12 men on base. Suchowiecki (1-1) picked up his first Frontier League win while Castrignano (1-1) lost for the first time as a professional. Oakes picked up his fourth save going 1.1 innings. The Rascals (11-8) will play the second game of the series against the Sliders (5-14) on Wednesday night at T.R. Hughes Ballpark. Gates open at 6:05 p.m. and the game starts at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday night is Military Appreciation night and fans can get two dollars off game day tickets by showing a Military I.D. Tickets can be purchased by calling (636) 240-BATS or at www.rivercityrascals.com.
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