Sports

Rascals Extract Revenge, Pound Joliet 17-7

River City holds season-best 10-game lead in West.

Simply put, the River City Rascals were mad. And slightly embarrassed.    

Coming off a season-worst 15-run loss on Saturday night, River City needed just 19 hours to even the score - in a big way.    

The Rascals quickly erased the disastrous memory with a seven-run first inning Sunday afternoon on the way to a bounce-back 17-7 win over the Joliet Slammers in front of 1,132 at .      River City improved to a league-best 53-18 with its 22nd win in the last 26 games.

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The Rascals have won 14 of their last 15 home games. The have a season-high 10-game lead over Southern Illinois in the Western Division of the Frontier League.     

The triumph took on additional importance after Saturday's 16-1 loss to Joliet. It was by far the worst performance of the season for a team that is in the middle of a potential record-setting campaign.     

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"We just got hammered," said All-Star third baseman Chris McClendon. "We felt a little humiliated.  Today, we came out loose, played relaxed, and got after them.    

This was the best way to put that (bad) game behind us."     

Joash Brodin, Jareck West and newcomer Logan Parker each homered to pace a season-high 17-run, 22-hit attack. McClendon and Brodin drove in four runs each. Parker had three RBI. Stephen Holdren and Bobby Burk added three hits apiece.   

"We came back strong right away," said River City manager Steve Brook. "I was really happy with tonight's effort."

The Rascals sent 11 batters to the plate in both the first and third innings adding five runs in the third to go up 14-1.    

"We wanted to make a statement after that embarrassing loss yesterday," said Brodin. "We needed to answer right back."   

River City did just that banging out seven runs on six hits in a 19-minute first-inning outburst. The eruption came against Joliet right-hander Andrew Moss, a former St. Louis Cardinals farmhand who who pitched a no-hitter July 17 against Lake Erie.   

The Rascals, trailing 1-0, sent 11 batters to plate in the initial frame and needed just 13 pitches to take the lead for good.   

McClendon provided the big blow, a bases-loaded double that pushed the lead to 7-1.   

"We were patient, we had good at-bats," said Brodin. "We just went out there and played without any pressure."    

McClendon started the inning by drawing a five-pitch walk before Doug Sanders slammed a double down the left-field line to put runners on second and third. Jason Patton followed with an RBI single to left to tie the game. Holdren, who has 99 career home runs, then gave his team a 2-1 lead with a single up the middle. Parker and Brodin followed with RBI singles to push the lead to 4-1.    

McClendon then brought in three runs with his bases-loaded two-bagger.   

River City muscled the advantage to 9-1 in the second on a two-run homer by Parker, who was acquired in a trade with Gateway earlier in the week. Patton started that rally with his second successive single.     Brodin then ripped a three-run homer in the third to give his team a 14-1 cushion. The Olympic, Washington resident was 4-for-6 in the game with three runs scored in front of his long-time girlfriend, Hillary Shepard, who came in from Washington for the six-game homestand.    

"We just wanted to win the series, that's what we've been talking about all season long, winning each series," Brodin noted. "This was huge. They're first in the other division and we're first in ours.     So we had to win this."    

The Rascals have yet to lose a series at T.R. Hughes this season. They have lost only two series, at Southern Illinois (June 16-18) and at Florence (May 27-29) all year.    

The early explosions helped make life easy for River City starter Zack Sterner, who improved to 9-1 with an impressive seven-inning stint. Sterner, who is now tied for the league lead in wins, allowed seven hits and three earned runs. He struck out six and walked one. Sterner gave up a home run to Josh Flores on his second pitch of the game, but settled down to retire nine in a row in the early innings.    

McClendon, who reached base in each of the first three innings, re-injured his hamstring while hustling into second on a third-inning run-scoring double that made it 10-1. He was immediately taken out of the contest and placed on the seven-day disabled list. He will be re-evaluated later in the week.    

The Rascals begin a six-game road trip on Tuesday at Windy City.    

NOTES FROM DAWG POUND      

  • River City is five wins shy of breaking the franchise record for most wins in a regular season. The Rascals, who have 24 games left, won 57 contests last season and 56 in 2009.      
  • The magic number for the Rascals to clinch a playoff spot sits at five. The number to win the West Division is 15.      
  • Eight of the nine River City starters in the lineup on Sunday have played in a Frontier League All-Star game in their careers. 
  • Patton had his 16-game hitting streak stopped on Saturday. It was the longest streak by a River City player this season. 
  • Holdren has reached in 25 successive games at T.R. Hughes Ballpark, the longest current home streak in the league.   
  • Parker, picked up in a trade with Gateway on Aug. 4, was a one-time member of the Cincinnati Reds organization. He played in the minors with current Reds outfielder Chris Heisey.   
  • Despite being in the middle of a potentially record-setting season, the Rascals remain last in the 12-team league in attendance at 1,532 per game.   
  • Left-hander pitcher Zach Robertson, who missed Saturday's start due to a stomach flu, returned to the team Sunday. He will be back in the rotation during the upcoming road swing.


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