Rascals pitch shutout; sweep series with Road Warriors

For the first time since the walk-off series sweep of Gateway in late June, the Rascals have won three-straight games while recording their first shutout since May 26, with a 5-0 win over the Road Warriors on Thursday night, Aug. 16.

The Rascals – who never trailed in the series – took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Eric Williams drew a walk and Jason Patton drove him in with a two-out single. Doug Shields took over from there.

Despite allowing the leadoff batter aboard in all six innings he worked, Shields (5-0) allowed no runs on five hits with six strikeouts to remain perfect on the season with his fifth win.

River City (39-42) extended its lead to 3-0 in the third when Ben Hewett started the inning with a double and scored on one of three Doug Sanders singles.  Charlie Lisk followed with a double into the left field corner that scored Sanders from first for the 3-0 cushion.

Jason Sullivan pitched a perfect seventh before the Rascals added another run in the bottom of the frame on another two-out single from Patton that scored Williams.  Cory Caruso pitched around a leadoff error in the eight before River City added a run in the bottom of the inning on a groundout from Hewett that scored Curran Redal after his second hit came with one out.

Albert Ayala tossed the ninth, striking out the final batter to preserve the shutout with a runner at second.