The River City Rascals season came to a close Monday night as they were defeated 1-0 by the Evansville Otters in game five of the Frontier League Championship Series at Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana.
The championship for the Otters was their second in franchise history (2006) and the star of the night was the Otters starting pitcher Hunter Ackerman, who threw seven 2/3 innings and allowed just one hit.
His stellar start was backed up by a run in the third inning against Rascals starter Zeb Sneed and it came after he retired the first seven hitters. In the home half of the third, shortstop Chris Riopedre drew a walk and got into scoring position on a single by Julio Rodriguez.
With two on and one away, leadoff hitter Rolando Gomez laced a single into centerfield and drove in Riopedre to take a 1-0 lead which would hold the rest of the night.
Offensively for the Rascals, their lone hit was from left fielder Kyle Gaedele and it broke up a no-hitter with one out in the seventh inning. Gaedele tripled to the right field wall but was left stranded when Ackerman tallied a strikeout and a solid defensive play by the shortstop to save a run and end the frame.
Ackerman got the win, allowing the one hit and struck out five in 7 2/3 innings. Randy McCurry got the save tossing a scoreless ninth.
For the Rascals, Sneed took the loss allowing one run in 3 2/3 innings. Nick Kennedy recorded the final out of the fourth and the Tim Koons was stellar the rest of the night allowing no runs on a hit through the final four frames.
The Rascals loss in the championship series marks the third year in a row they have came up just short and for a complete season recap stay tuned to rivercityrascals.com
