ALTON, Illinois - The Clinton LumberKings (4-3) defeated the Alton River Dragons (4-3) 12-1 at Lloyd Hopkins Field on Wednesday night.

Clinton's starter Jimmy Burke earned the win in his second start of the 2023 season since Opening Night back on May 31st. Burke allowed five hits, one run, the was not earned, walked two batters and struck out four in his four innings of work. Burke earned the win due to the mercy rule ending the game in 7 innings.

For the fifth time in 7 games, the LumberKings were able to score in the first inning as Gavin Brzozowski hit a solo home run with two outs on a 1-2 count against him to give Clinton a 1-0 lead. Casen Neumann would hit a single, followed by Max Holy who would hit the second home run of the inning to give Clinton an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

Alton would answer with a run of their own on a RBI single that would go unearned after an error was made by Alex Diaz earlier in the inning. However, that would be all the runs Alton would manage to get across the plate.

Clinton would then score again in the third on an error that would score a run followed by an RBI sac fly to to center field by Parker Shupe.

Holy would add another RBI to his day in the fourth inning with an RBI double, followed by another two RBI double by Shupe and a two RBI double by Diaz to give Clinton a 10-1 lead at the end of the fourth inning.

Brzozowski would score in the fifth inning on a misfire from behind the plate while Neumann successfully stole second base to make it 11-1 which would put the game into a "mercy rule" category. Diaz in the top of the sixth inning would be hit by a pitch to drive in the final run for Clinton making it 12-1.

Alton's starter Luke Gasser wouldn't pitch more than one inning after giving up the home runs to Brzozowski and Holy.

Both Brzozowski and Holy were a triple away from the cycle in the game as they both would go 3-4 at the plate. Brzozowski would score twice with one RBI and Holy would score four times with three RBI.

The LumberKings continue their road trip on Friday as they travel to O'Fallon, MO for a 2-game series against the Hoots. This will be the first of two series between the LumberKings and O'Fallon. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. CT.