O’Fallon, MO– The Hoots had one of their best all-around games Tuesday night as they won 8-2 over the Alton River Dragons. An especially great performance by Alex Jung, along with some strong defense and timely hitting, led to the win.
Top Performers:
Alex Jung- 6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 Rs, 6 Ks, 1 BB
Griffin Brown- 2-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 Rs
Noah Jones- 2.0 IP, 1 K, 1 SV
How It Happened:
THe Hoots got on the board in the second when Griffin Brown reached on a hit by pitch, stole second, and then aggressively moved up on a fly ball out to center field, allowing him to score on a sacrifice fly by Carson Shear. The Hoots added on another run in the second. Nick Steurer hit a ground rule double, before two time reigning Offensive Player of the Week Nick Bonczkowski drove him in on a single.
Alex Jung, meanwhile, was masterful. He pitched 6 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts. Though he allowed six hits as well, he was able to work out of trouble constantly, with his defense holding up their end with some timely plays.
Griffin Brown homered in the sixth to bring the score to three to two before the River Dragons made things interesting. They scored two runs off of Adam Kilburn, with Ryan Hartz and Jake Ottensmeier contributing two straight RBI hits.
After responding with another run on an error in the seventh, the Hoots broke the game open with four runs in the eighth, with Carson Shear and Matt Rauser each driving in a run. Noah Jones pitched the final two innings for the save, helped out by a beautiful 4-6-3 double play to end the game.
The Hoots will be on the road for the next three games; one against the Quincy Doggy Paddlers and then two against the Clinton LumberKings. Their next home game is on Saturday against the River Dragons once again.
