ALTON - After seeing their previous game against the Danville Dans rained out on Saturday, the Alton River Dragons, after allowing a first inning run, scored eight times in the bottom of the third inning in going on to a 12-1 win over the O'Fallon Hoots in a Prospect League baseball game played Sunday evening at Lloyd Hopkins Field in Gordon Moore Park.
The River Dragons won their fourth game in their last six, including two cancelled games this past week, and are now 10-16 in the second half of the league's split season, remaining in fourth place in the Western Conference's Prairie Land Division, improving their overall record to 19-33.
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The Hoots scored their only run in the top of the first when Tucker Platt stroked a single to right, scoring Jake Vitale to give O'Fallon a 1-0 lead. It would be all the scoring for the Hoots, as Alton delivered 12 unanswered run to take the game. It started in the bottom of the first with an RBI single from Erik Broekemeier of Metro-East Lutheran to tie the game, and in the second, Eli Hoerner hit a RBI single to left that scored Diego Murillo to put Alton ahead for good at 2-1.
The big home half of the third started with a two-run homer over the right field fence by Evan Evola to give Alton a 4-1 lead, which became 5-1 on a RBI double by Aidan Joaquin that scored Alton High's Robby Taul to extend the lead. A two-run single by Chase Bloomer and a RBI single by Drake Westcott of Edwardsville make it 8-1 for the River Dragons, then Evola's infield single brought in Westcott and Taul reached on an error by the third baseman, allowing Broekemeier to score and make it 10-1.
In the fourth, Westcott singled home Kaden Byrne to make it 11-1 and Broekemeier grounded to third, bringing in Joaquin to make it 12-1. There would be no further scoring as Alton took a 10-run rule win in the seventh with the 12-1 final.
Broekemeier led the way for the River Dragons with three hits and two RBIs, while Evola had two hits and drove in three runs, both Bloomer and Westcott had two hits and two RBIs each, Hoerner and Joaquin had two hits and a RBI apiece and Murillo had a pair of hits. Charlie Hodges was the starting pitcher and went five innings to pick up the win, allowing an unearned run on two hits while walking two and striking out nine and Dimitri Ivetic pitched the final two innings, allowing a hit while fanning two.
The River Dragons have four games remaining in their season, and the final week starts Monday night at the Quincy Gems, then after an off-day on Tuesday, play at O'Fallon on Wednesday night and after another off-day on Thursday, play the Cape Catfish of Cape Girardeau, Mo. in a home-and-home to finish the season, playing the home finale on Friday and at Cape's Capaha Field on Saturday in the season finale, all games starting at 6:35 p.m.
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