O’FALLON, MO–The River City Rascals evened up their series with the Southern Illinois Miners with a 5-2 victory on Wednesday night at CarShield Field. Trevor Achenbach finished the game with three hits, including two doubles and a two-run homer.
The Miners jumped in front 1-0 on a sacrifice fly from Luke Bonfield in the top of the first, but the Rascals tied it up on an RBI double from Paul Kronenfeld in the bottom of the frame. The Rascals then jumped out to the 3-1 lead on Achenbach’s home run in the third. They made it 4-1 on James Morisano’s first professional home run in the fifth, and scored their fifth run on a Miners error in the bottom of the eighth. Joe Duncan gave the Miners a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth to bring the game to the final score of 5-2.
Dan Ludwig (4-4) earned the win for the Rascals, allowing just one run on three hits in six innings with six strikeouts. Steven Riding (9-7) took the loss, allowing four runs in seven innings while striking out eight without a strikeout.
The Rascals (49-43) and Miners (46-45) play the rubbermatch of their series tomorrow night, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 pm CT. Hector Hernandez will get the start for the Rascals on the mound.