Slammers Lose Round 1

Jake Renshaw did not have a start all year that lasted fewer than five innings.

The first game of the Frontier League Championship Series changed all that as he only lasted one frame in an 8-5 loss to the River City Rascals Thursday night.

Renshaw retired the first batter he faced but proceeded to walk the next two hitters. A ground-out from Frontier League MVP Stephen Holdren made it so Renshaw was one out away from getting out of the jam, but he fell behind Jason Patton 3-0 and elected to put him on to load the bases.

That brought Joash Brodin to the plate. Renshaw got two strikes on Brodin and threw a pitch low and out of the zone. Brodin was able to loop it to shallow right-center for a two-RBI single and the flood gates opened.

Jareck West was hit by a pitch and Bobby Burk cleared the bases with a devastating full-count double to left-center as River City went up 5-0. A Mat Serna RBI single completed the scoring for the inning.

The first inning was it for Renshaw as the Slammers brought in Brian Fowler in the second.

The Slammers tried to rally against River City starter Zack Sterner in the fourth.

Brad Netzel singled and Hector Pellot doubled to start the frame. One out later Kyle Maunus smacked a sacrifice fly to make the score 6-1.

But River City responded right away in the bottom of the fourth against Fowler.

Serna hit a grounder back to the mound that Fowler was able to knock down. But his underhand flip to first was high and Serna was safe on the error. He would steal second and come around to score on a Danny Sawyer RBI single.

With two outs in the fifth the Slammers climbed back to within four as Ben Hewett was hit by a pitch and Josh Flores drove one over the right-center field fence to make the score 7-3.

The Rascals scored another run off Fowler in the bottom half of the frame but the Slammers nearly came back in dramatic fashion in the ninth.

Pellot led off with a single. One out later Maunus was hit a by a pitch. Then Kris Kasarjian hit a line shot to left that Brodin dropped. That was the last pitch for Sterner, who threw 118 on the night.

Brandon Cunniff entered the game and struck out Sean Estand but the ball got away and another run scored to bring the score to 8-5. Cunniff then struck out Brandon Peters and pinch hitter Trey Manz to end the game.

The Slammers look to even the series Friday night as Tommy Mendoza takes the mound. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.