O’FALLON, MO–The River City Rascals took the rubbermatch over the Evansville Otters on Sunday night in the series finale, beating the Otters 12-4 at CarShield Field. The Rascals hit four home runs on the night, including two from Clint Freeman. Gage West finished with four hits and three RBIs.
The Rascals got back-to-back homers from Freeman and Mike Jurgella in the first inning. The Otters made it 2-1 with a leadoff homer from Hunter Cullen in the third. In the bottom of the fourth, Braxton Martinez got a one-out hit, which was followed by a double from Gage West. Trevor Achenbach then brought in Martinez on an RBI groundout to make it 3-1 Rascals. Freeman hit his second home run in the fifth, which was followed by an RBI single from West, putting the Rascals up 5-1.
The Otters got a pinch-hit, two-run homer from Zach Welz in the top of the seventh, but the Rascals responded with a two-run single from West in the bottom of the frame, and a five-run eighth inning, highlighted by a Ransom LaLonde grand slam to put the game out of reach.
Rascals starter Justin Garcia (1-0) earned the win in his team debut, going five innings, allowing one run and striking out one. Otters starter Spencer Medick (3-1) allowed five runs in six innings, while striking out nine in a losing effort.
The Rascals (34-32) are off Monday, and host the Windy City ThunderBolts for a four-game set beginning with a doubleheader on Tuesday night, with the first pitch of Game 1 scheduled for 5:05 pm CT.
