The River City Rascals wrap up a weeklong road trip with three games in two days against the Evansville Otters. The series kicks off on Friday night at historic Bosse Field and concludes with a doubleheader Saturday evening. In a matchup that will feature the two best offenses in the Frontier League, the Rascals (18-12) will be looking to avenge their series loss to the Otters (19-12) at CarShield Field in May.
River City has established itself as the best offense in the Frontier league, but Evansville is not far behind. The Rascals lead the league in batting average (.309), on-base percentage (.377), slugging percentage (.462), OPS (.839), and runs per game (5.8). The Otters are a close second in all of those categories (.290/.373/.448/.821/5.64). Both teams have a player in the top 5 in the chase for the batting title. River City’s Josh Ludy is second at .374 and Nik Balog is fifth at .356.
When it comes to pitching both are significantly closer to the bottom of the league. River City is eighth in team ERA (4.36) and Evansville is ninth (4.42). The Otters’ do have Max Duvall, who will get the ball in Game 1 and is tied for fourth in strikeouts with 37.
While the Rascals took two-of-three from the Normal CornBelters this week, the Otters come in on a bit of a skid. Evansville was swept at home by the Gateway Grizzlies, a team that had lost 12 of their last 13 games before that series.
When Evansville and River City met in O’Fallon, the Rascals took the first game before the Otters swept the final two games of the series by outscoring the home team 16-6.
As of June 16
Game 1: Joe Scanio (2-2, 6.48 ERA) vs. Max Duvall (4-0, 3.55) Friday, 6:35 p.m.
Game 2: TBA, Saturday, 5:35 p.m.
Game 3: TBA, Saturday, 8:35 p.m.
via Weather.com
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