Only mother nature could stop the River City Rascals on Tuesday night, as they cruised to an 11-0 victory over the Joliet Slammers in the series opener at DuPage Medical Group Field. The game was called in the bottom of the eighth inning, and as the inning was not completed, the contest will go in the books as a seven-inning affair. Brendan Feldmann (2-0) was marvelous, going seven shutout innings while yielding only two hits on the night in a complete game effort. He did not issue a walk, and struck out seven.
The Rascals scored seven runs in the second inning, sending eleven men to the plate in the frame. Tanner Murphy and Kameron Esthay each hit two-run singles, while Andrew Penner added a run-scoring single of his own, and finished with two RBIs on the night. The Rascals added two in the third, on a pair of RBI groundouts, and scored another in both the sixth and seventh innings. Rookie Nick Anderson drove in two runs and recorded his first professional hit in his debut.
Slammers starter Scot Hoffman (3-3) did not make it out of the second inning, recording ony four outs and allowing seven runs, five of which were earned.
The Rascals (25-20) and Slammers (16-30) play the second game of their series tomorrow night, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. CDT. Alex Winkelman is expected to take the mound for River City.
