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EDWARDSVILLE – The Clinton, Iowa, LumberKings broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the seventh to win the first game of a doubleheader 1-0, then scored the winning run in the top of the seventh in taking a 4-3 win in sweeping a doubleheader from the Alton River Dragons in the Prospect League Thursday evening at Roy E. Lee Field in the Simmons Baseball Complex at SIU-Edwardsville.
The River Dragons are now on a three-game losing streak and are 6-10 in the second half of the league’s split season, falling to fourth place in the South Division of the Western Conference, two games ahead of the fifth place Thrillville Thrillbillies of Marion, the division’s first half winner. Alton is now four games behind the first place O’Fallon, Mo., Hoots, a game-and-a-half behind the second place Jackson, Tenn., Rockabillys and a half-game behind the third place Cape Catfish of Cape Girardeau, Mo.
In the curtain raiser, Cougar Giusti drove in Rayth Petersen with the only run of the game with a RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to give Clinton the first game win. The River Dragons were held to only two hits, both by Dane Stevenson, while Gavin Kinworthy started on the mound, going six innings and holding the LumberKings to three hits, walking two and striking out three. Scott Detweiler pitched 0.1 innings in the seventh, allowing a run on a hit, walking one.
In the nightcap, Clinton got on the board first when Noah Gordon scored on a wild pitch in the top of the third inning, Gage Franck advancing to third, to put the LumberKings up 1-0. The River Dragons tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, when Metro-East Lutheran’s Erik Broekemeier hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Stevenson to bring Alton level at 1-1. In the top of the fifth, a RBI single by Chase Womack scored Franck to give the LumberKings back the lead at 2-1, but the River Dragons tied things up again in the home half, courtesy of a Javi Alvarez RBI single that scored R.J. LaRocco, Jr. to tie the game 2-2.
The two teams traded runs in the sixth, as Clinton took a 3-2 lead on a Jaden Hackbarth RBI single that scored R.J. Sherwood, with Alton tying things up again when Matt Brown scored on a passed ball to level the game again at 3-3. A seventh inning sacrifice fly to left by Womack scored Gordon with what proved to be the winning run, as the LumberKings held on to take the 4-3 win, sweeping the doubleheader.
Alvarez led the way for Alton in the second game with two hits and a RBI, while Stevenson, Preston Wright, and LaRocco also had hits, and Broekemeier had a RBI. Anthony Ribes started on the mound for the River Dragons, and pitched five innings, allowing two runs on four hits, walking three and striking out two. Carter Hunt pitched one inning, giving up a run on a hit, walking one, and Harrison Dubois was charged with the loss, conceding a run on a hit, while walking one.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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