O’Fallon, MO – River City defeated the Southern Illinois Miners 7-6 in true Rascal fashion with a walk-off homerun in the ninth from A.J. Van Slyke. For River City, it was their fifth walk-off of the season.

Scott Fogelson made his second start of the season for River City after starting the season in the Rascals bullpen. Fogelson pitched 7.1 innings allowing five runs, all of which came from off of homeruns. Rascal closer Mike Benacka blew the chance for Fogelson to pick up his third win of the season when he allowed a game tying hit by Tony Roth. But the new Rascal picked up his teammate in the bottom of the inning.

The Rascals got on the board in the bottom of the first inning thanks to back-to-back doubles which gave them the early 2-0 lead. With two outs and Brad Hough aboard, Bobby Mosby hit a stand-up RBI double to the right field corner. Jeff Miller was up next and hit an RBI double to left to score Mosby.

In the fifth, Southern Illinois put a run up when Joey Metropoulos hit a solo homerun.

Luke Barganier got on for the Rascals in the bottom half of the inning with a base hit to right field. Following a walk and a fielder’s choice, Hough stepped up with two outs and drove in his twenty-sixth RBI with a base hit to center, putting River City up 3-1.

The bats kept swinging through the sixth with both teams putting runs on the board. The Miners scored for the second time off another solo homerun, this time by Roth.

When it was the Rascals turn, Miller led the inning off with a homerun over the right field wall for his fourth. After another pair of back-to-back stand-up doubles by Andrew Sweet and Phil Laurent, Barganier executed a successful suicide bunt scoring Sweet from third. With two outs, newly entered Armando Carrasco threw a wild pitch to Ryan Wehrle, allowing Laurent to score, making it 6-2 River City.

Southern Illinois shortened the Rascals lead to 6-5 in the eighth when Eric Suttle hit a three-run homerun.

The game stayed interesting until the very end. Benacka entered the game in the ninth and after a double play, he allowed three straight hits an allowed his first run of the season to score to knot it at six.

But Van Slyke came through, pushing the Rascals record in one-run games to 11-2 and 15-4 at home.

“I missed the first change up he threw me and the second time he left it up,” said Van Slyke. “I put a good swing on it and that was it.”

Luis Estrella pitched .2 of an inning in his Rascals debut. The right-hander struck out a batter and walked one. This was the first loss of the season for Southern Illinois’ Griffin Bailey (2-1) who gave up the Van Slyke homerun in the bottom of the ninth. Miners starter Chris Little maintained his 2-1 record picking up the no decision after pitching 5.2 innings and giving up six runs off seven hits.

The River City Rascals (17-11) and the Southern Illinois Miners (12-16) will play game two of their series Friday night at T.R. Hughes Ballpark. Friday nights are Progress West Firework nights with fireworks following the game starting at 7:05 p.m. This Friday is a Missouri Lottery Night with prizes being given away throughout the night. The gates open at 6:05 p.m. For tickets to see the division leading Rascals call (636) 240-BATS or visit www.rivercityrascals.com.