Zeb Sneed teamed up with Reese Gregory and Nick Kennedy to record the River City Rascals
(50-46) seventh shutout of the season, 6-0, over the Southern Illinois Miners Saturday night at
CarShield Field in the second to last game of the regular season.
Sneed was dominant from the moment he toed the rubber and struck out leadoff hitter Romeo
Cortina en route to a quick three up, three down inning in the top of the first.
The third year Rascal went on to earn the win, his fifth of the year, and tossed seven scoreless
frames allowing six hits and tied his season high in strikeouts with seven.
Gregory tossed the eighth and Rascals veteran Nick Kennedy faced the minimum in the top of
the ninth to help secure the Rascals series win.
Offensively, the Rascals tallied seven hits and got the majority of their runs early on against the
opponents starter Robby Rowland.
Jason Merjano tallied the first Rascals hit with an infield single and then reached scoring
position on a fielding error. With two outs, eighth year manager Steve Brook put Merjano in
motion and he would scamper home on a RBI single from Paul Kronenfeld to put the Rascals up
1-0.
The Rascals extended their lead to 4-0 in their next opportunity and got a RBI each from three
separate Rascals. With the bases loaded and one out, Mike Jurgella drew a walk to drive in the
first run of the frame and then Jason Merjano and Josh Silver responded with a RBI single and
a sacrifice fly.
Paul Kronenfeld drove in a run in the bottom of the fifth against Rowland to put the Rascals up
5-0 and then the Rascals capped off their six run, seven hit night in the bottom of the eighth
against the Miners lone reliever, Jesse Remington.
After getting down in the count 1-2, slugger Braxton Martinez fouled off a trio of pitches and then
launched his team leading 15th home run over the left center field wall to give the Rascals the
6-0 victory.
The win gives the Rascals one more win than the 2016 campaign but due to a Washington
WildThings win earlier Saturday night, the Rascals will miss out on the Frontier League
postseason for the first time since 2013.
Despite being eliminated from the playoffs, the Rascals look to finish out their season strong
and go for their second straight series sweep over the Southern Illinois Miners on Sunday
evening.
First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. at CarShield Field.
