Hoots Victorious in Offensive Slugfest

Three Hoots record multi-RBI games

SPRINGFIELD, IL. 一 With the end of the O’Fallon Hoots’s (14-11) prolonged road trip on the horizon, the team took a trip to play the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes (11-15) Friday night. In a game featuring a combined 19 runs, the Hoots came out on top by a score of 12-7. 

Inside the Box Score

• Mike O’Conor led all players with three RBIs. 
• Breadon Stoakes and Jack Meyer also had multi-RBI games with two each.
• Kaden Joggerst was excellent in long relief, allowing just one hit and one earned run across his four innings of work. 

How it Happened

• The scoring started in the second inning. With O’Fallon on the attack, Ethan Rossow reached base on a fielder’s choice before making it all the way to third on an error from Springfield’s pitcher. A wild pitch allowed Rossow to score and put the Hoots up 1-0. Four straight drawn walks led to another O’Fallon run, making it 2-0. With the bases loaded, Mike O’Conor singled to drive two runs in. The final run of the inning came on a sacrifice fly from Jack Meyer, with the Hoots on top 5-0.
• More O’Fallon offense came in the third inning. O’Conor struck again with the bases loaded, this time just driving in one run and setting the score at 6-0. Back-to-back walks to Meyer and Nick Harms scored two more runs, increasing the Hoots’s lead to 8-0. 
• Springfield finally found a response in the next half-inning. Dawson Johns knocked a three-run home run over the left field wall to put the score at 8-3. 
• With Rossow on first in the top of the sixth inning, Mike Maloney doubled to score another run and jack his squad’s lead up to six. Two batters later, Maloy Heaghney collected an RBI single, setting the score at 10-3.
• With a runner on second in Harms in the seventh, an error from Horseshoe shortstop Nick Terrell gave Harms enough time to score O’Fallon’s 11th run. 
• Another Springfield run scored in the bottom of the seventh. With the bags full, Johns hit a sacrifice fly out to center to score Hunter Moser and cut the lead down to 11-4.
• O’Fallon got that run back in the next inning. With Maloney on first, Braedon Stoakes tripled to make the game 12-4.
• A trio of Horseshoe runs came in the bottom of the eighth. With two runners on, Payton Matthews singled to drive one run in. Then, with the bases loaded, a groundout from Ty Rhoades and a walk issued to Brayden Smith scored two more Springfield runs. But these would be the final scores from the Horseshoes, who fell short of the comeback, 12-7. 

Up Next

The Hoots finally wrap up their road trip tomorrow, July 1, with a matchup at the Quincy Gems. With first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. CST, coverage can be found at ofallonhoots.com, as well as the team’s Twitter (@ofallonbaseball) and Instagram (ofallonhoots).