O’Fallon, MO – The Rascals continued to thrive at home as they swept their third opponent of the season, downing the Evansville Otters 9-4 Wednesday night.

“We were really looking forward to this series, especially getting back in our division,” said Andrew Sweet. “We were excited to see them and to see what they had. This was a big series for us and we’re playing the best baseball of our season right now.”

Jonathan Miller (2-2) got the start for River City and was aided by his offense. The starter allowed four runs in five innings with four strikeouts. For Miller it was his first win at home in three chances.

The game began with Evansville putting up two runs in the top of the second inning. Isaac Omara hit his fifth homerun of the season to give the Otters their first run. After Christian Reyes reached on a walk, and advanced on a single through the infield, Ryan Bethel got a base hit to the right side and reached second when the ball went through A.J. Van Slyke’s legs, scoring Reyes and giving the Otters a 2-0 lead.

Evansville increased their lead scoring two more runs when Reyes singled to center field in the top of the third.

The Rascals fought back in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, Brad Hough hit his tenth double of the season scoring Van Slyke who reached base on a single. After Bobby Mosby got on with a walk, Jeff Miller advanced him with a single to right field. Sweet followed up Miller’s single with one of his own, scoring Mosby and making it only 4-2 Otters. Up next was last night’s hero, Phil Laurent. With a full count and two runners on, Laurent hammered a line drive into center field scoring Miller and Sweet and tying the game 4-4.

River City took the lead in the fourth inning when the newly added Ryan Wehrle hit his second homerun in as many games to give the Rascals a 5-4 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth the Rascals increased their lead to 7-4 when Sweet hit his first homerun of the season, a two-run shot over the right field wall.

“I finally got the monkey off my back,” Sweet said. “I’ve been looking for that first homerun for a while now.”

The Rascals continued their scoring in the seventh inning with a leadoff single up the middle from Miller. After Sweet grounded to the left side and Miller was out on a fielder’s choice play to second, Laurent stepped up to the plate once again. Laurent swung and hit his second homerun of the series, a two-run shot over the right field wall increasing the lead 9-4.

Ricky Bauer (3-2) took the loss for Evansville allowing five runs in four innings. Mike Benacka (7) entered the game in the ninth inning and picked up the save, getting a bases loaded double play ball to end it.

The Rascals now have a two-game lead for first place in the Frontier League Western Division.

River City (16-11) will play the Southern Illinois Miners (12-14) for the first time this season Thursday at 7:05 p.m. Country star Andy Griggs will be performing a mini-concert before the game at T.R. Hughes, and will be awarding a lucky fan an autographed Rascals guitar. Thursday nights are ‘Budweiser Thirsty Thursdays,’ and draft beers are just $1 in Rascals Island for fans 21 and older. Gates will open at 6:05 p.m. and tickets are available by calling (636) 240-BATS or www.rivercityrascals.com.