River City Rascals - Independent Professional Baseball

RASCALS WIN 11-9 TO TAKE SERIES

O’Fallon, MO—The River City Rascals blasted off three home runs and held on to an 11-9 lead thanks to their closer Mike Benacka to defeat the Kalamazoo Kings and take the series win.

This is the first series the Rascals have won since they took down the Evansville Otters in the middle of June.

“They are the best team in the league and we just showed we can get two from them,” said Manager Toby Rumfeld. “I think the break will help everyone out and we are going to come back strong.”

River City got off to a strong start offensively when they put up two runs in the first inning. Luke Barganier scored on a Brad Hough double down the left field line for the first run. The second run came in when Hough scored on a single by Phil Laurent.

In the second, the Kings put up two runs to tie the game, but the Rascals pushed ahead scoring three runs in the bottom of the inning to lead 5-2. Andrew Sweet scored on a Will Basom singled to left that was booted by Randy Moley for an error. Greg Stone hit another runner in when he tripled to center, and the final run came off a ground ball by Luke Barganier.

Jeff Miller hit his eleventh home run of the season in the third, brining the Rascals lead to 7-2.

Kalamazoo put up three more in the fourth with a three run shot, and the Rascals added a run each in the fourth an sixth innings before the Kings tied the game in the top of the eighth 9-9.

But the Rascals did not let up. Hough stepped to the plate and hit his first home run in the month of July which turned out to be the game winning hit scoring two to take back the lead 11-9.

The game saw a total of eleven pitchers, six of which came from the River City bench. The winning pitcher was Brian Logan (1-1) who entered the game in the seventh. Benacka notched his twelfth save of the season sitting down five batters, four of which were strikeouts. Joe Catanese (0-3) got the loss for Kalamazoo, as the starters for both teams took the no decision.

“Benacka is just nails,” Rumfeld said. “We are seeing something right now that is very special. He strikes out almost everyone he faces and everyone out here is very proud of him.”

The River City Rascals (24-27) return to action Friday, July 18 against the Rockford RiverHawks (24-26) at Road Ranger Stadium following the All-Sar break. The Rascals will be sending two players to the All-Star game, pitchers Scott Fogelson and Benacka. The Rascals will return home to T.R. Hughes Ballpark to Monday July 21. Tickets are available by calling (636) 240-BATS or www.rivercityrascals.com.

7/13/08
Kalamazoo 9, River City 11

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Kalamazoo	0	2	0	3	0	0	4	0	0	9	7	2
River City	2	3	2	1	0	1	2	0	X	11	16	2

Kalamazoo	POS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
B. Anderson	RF	6	0	0	0	.303
J. Grose	CF	5	0	0	0	.244
J. Ramos	2B	4	0	1	0	.259
M. Hudgins	CAT	5	1	1	1	.245
K. Kmiecik	SS	1	2	0	0	.273
B. Murphy	DH	3	1	2	2	.321
J. Frazee	PR/DH	1	1	0	0	.108
J. Araiza	3B	3	2	0	0	.271
D. Makonnen	1B	3	1	1	3	.333
N. Achberger	PH	0	1	0	0	.256
M. Russell	1B	1	0	0	0	.285
R. Moley	LF	3	0	2	3	.357
J. Long	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Mongiardini	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
R. Babb	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Catanese	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Baerlocher	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
TOTALS		35	9	7	9

River City	POS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
L. Barganier	CF	5	3	4	2	.320
A. Van Slyke	LF	5	0	0	0	.274
B. Hough	3B	4	2	2	3	.283
P. Laurent	RF	4	2	2	1	.235
J. Miller	1B	4	1	2	2	.310
A. Sweet	CAT	4	1	2	0	.288
W. Basom	DH	4	1	1	0	.296
J. DeBoer	2B	5	0	1	1	.231
G. Stone	SS	5	1	2	1	.214
J. Laber	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
G. Lee	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
A. Tollefson	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
L. Estrella	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
B. Logan	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Benacka	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Benacka	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Benacka	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
TOTALS		40	11	16	10

E--J.Ramos, R.Moley, B.Hough, G.Stone. DP--KALAMAZOO 1, RIVER CITY 0. LOB--KALAMAZOO 10, RIVER CITY 10. 2B--R.Moley 2 (3), B.Hough (16), P.Laurent (6). 3B--G.Stone (1). HR--M.Hudgins (10), B.Murphy (6), D.Makonnen (2), L.Barganier (3), B.Hough (6), J.Miller (11). SB-- J.Ramos 4 (26), K.Kmiecik 2 (9), L.Barganier (6), B.Hough (8).

Kalamazoo	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
J. Long	2.1	8	7	7	0	0	1	5.29
M. Mongiardini	1.1	1	1	1	4	2	1	7.27
R. Babb	1.2	3	1	1	1	2	0	1.54
J. Catanese (L, 0-3)	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	0	3.03
D. Baerlocher	1.2	2	1	1	0	3	1	1.66

River City	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
J. Laber	3.1	3	5	5	4	1	2	7.45
G. Lee	1.1	1	0	0	2	1	0	4.23
A. Tollefson	2.0	2	3	3	1	2	1	5.02
L. Estrella	0.0	1	1	1	1	0	0	7.15
B. Logan (W,1-1)	0.2	0	0	0	1	0	0	4.05
M. Benacka (S,12)	1.2	0	0	0	2	4	0	0.36

WP--J.Laber. PB--M.Hudgins. SO--B.Anderson 2, J.Ramos, M.Hudgins 2, J.Frazee, J. Araiza, D.Makonnen, A.Van Slyke, B.Hough, P.Laurent, J.Miller, A.Sweet, W.Basom 2, G.Stone. BB--J.Ramos, K.Kmiecik 4, B.Murphy, J. Araiza 2, N.Achberger, R.Moley 2, B.Hough, P.Laurent, J.Miller, A.Sweet, W.Basom.

Time: 3:44, Attendance: 2,542