Fans that come to CarShield Field this weekend will be treated to the hottest two teams in the Frontier League. The River City Rascals (15-8) continue their weeklong homestand with four games in three days against the Southern Illinois Miners (14-9). The Rascals are coming off a sweep of the Florence Freedom and have won eight of their least 10 games to take possession of first place of the West Division. The Miners have the longest active winning streak in the league at five games after sweeping the Gateway Grizzlies. The pair will play under the lights on Friday and Saturday before a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon.
River City’s monster series against Florence raised their league-leading team batting average to .318 and on base percentage to .389. Southern Illinois is fourth in batting average at .271. DH and catcher Josh Ludy has not only taken over the team’s three-hole from the now former Rascals Josh Silver, but the team’s top batting average. Ludy is hitting .390, good enough for second in the league. The Rascals are first in the league in runs scored with 6.17. Southern Illinois is scoring more than a run less (4.96).
The Rascals will get a little lucky as they will not have to face the Miners’ two best pitchers. Josh Kimborowicz is 4-0 in five starts with a 2.09 ERA (seventh in the league). Jarrett Miller has a hard-luck 1-2 record but leads the team in ERA (1.94, sixth in the league) and is tied for third in the league in strikeouts with teammate Rick Teasley (32). River City has given up twice as many home runs as the Miners’ pitching staff (18 to 9), but is only .03 behind in ERA (4.02 to 3.99).
As of June 9
Game 1: Tim Koons (1-1, 1.45 ERA) vs. Dan Ludwig (2-0, 2.17) Friday, 6:35 p.m.
Game 2: TBA vs. Rick Teasley (2-1, 2.38) Saturday, 6:35 p.m.
Game 3: TBA vs. TBA, Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
Game 4: TBA vs. Dyllon Nuernberg (1-0, 3.80), Sunday, 4:05 p.m.
Courtesy of Weather.com
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