Sports
Rascals Report: Regular Season Nears Completion for River City
Only one game remains before Frontier League playoffs start on Wednesday.
The Frontier League regular season ends today, Sunday, Sept. 4, but the Rascals season is far from over.
River City, the 2010 Frontier League champs, returns to the playoffs for a shot at defending the title. The 2011 version of the Rascals has easily been the best team in the League. River City (67-27) will be the only team to reach 60 wins and the only team to not reach the 30 loss mark.
The Rascals have a 9.5 game lead over the Southern Illinois Miners in the West Division and a 22.5 game lead over the third place Normal CornBelters.
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Looking Back
Once again the Rascals put up a winning week. River City went 4-2 in the last six games, clinching a playoff spot in the process.
- Sunday, Aug. 28: The Florence Freedom took out the Rascals 8-7.
- Monday, Aug. 29: Off.
- Tuesday, Aug. 30: River City beat the Southern Illinois Miners 6-3.
- Wednesday, Aug. 31: The Rascals once again beat the Miners, winning 8-3.
- Thursday, Sept. 1: Southern Illinois beat the Rascals 5-3.
- Friday, Sept. 2: River City took out Gateway 9-1.
- Saturday, Sept. 3: The Rascals beat the Grizzlies 1-0.
Looking Ahead
The Rascals will take on the Gateway Grizzlies today before beginning the best-of-five first round playoff series against the Southern Illinois Miners.
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Regular Season
- Sunday, Sept. 4: River City Rascals at Gateway Grizzlies (6:05 p.m. at GSC Ballpark)
Playoffs (Best-of-Five series)
- Wednesday, Sept. 7: Southern Illinois Miners at River City Rascals (7:05 p.m. at T.R. Hughes Ballpark)
- Thursday, Sept. 8: Southern Illinois Miners at River City Rascals (7:05 p.m. at T.R. Hughes Ballpark)
- Saturday, Sept. 10: River City Rascals at Southern Illinois Miners (7 p.m. at Rent One Park)
- Sunday, Sept. 11: River City Rascals at Southern Illinois Miners (7 p.m. at Rent One Park)*
- Monday, Sept. 12: Southern Illinois Miners at River City Rascals (7:05 p.m. at T.R. Hughes Ballpark)*
* If necessary
Top Dogs
All season long the Rascals have gotten key contributions on offense and from the mound.
- With one game left, the Rascals lead the Frontier League with 558 runs, 892 hits, 104 home runs, and 1,400 total bases.
- On the mound, River City has given up the fewest runs (401), third-fewest earned runs (356) and most strikeouts (752).
- Logan Parker and Stephen Holdren (.333) are third in fourth in the Frontier League in batting average. Holdren, the Morgan Burkhart MVP winner, is also fourth in homers (21) and RBIs (83). Parker is third in RBIs with 84.
- Brian Tollberg Award (Pitcher of the Year) winner Josh Lowey is fourth in the Frontier League in wins (11), strikeouts (114) and ERA (2.44). .
Standings
As of Sunday, Sept. 4, at 12 p.m.
West DivisionWLPCTGBSTREAKLAST 10 River City Rascals 67 27 0.713 - 2W 6-4 Southern Illinois Miners 58 37 0.611 9.5 2L 5-5 Normal CornBelters 45 50 0.474 22.5 3W 5-5 Gateway Grizzlies 39 55 0.415 28 2L 4-6 Florence Freedom 39 56 0.411 28.5 5L 3-7 Evansville Otters 38 57 0.400 29.5 2W 7-3 East DivisionWLPCTGBSTREAKLAST 10 Joliet Slammers 55 39 0.585 - 1W 5-5 Traverse City Beach Bums 51 44 0.537 4.5 1L 8-2 Lake Erie Crushers 50 44 0.532 5 1W 7-3 Windy City ThunderBolts 47 47 0.500 8 1L 5-5 Washington Wild Things 41 52 0.441 13.5 2W 3-7 Rockford RiverHawks 36 58 0.383 19 3L 2-8Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.