River Dragons Top Catfish 5-2

From the Alton River Dragons:

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Matthew Romero went a season best seven effective innings on the mound and his fellow Pima Community College teammate Gage Mestas drove in three runs on three hits to lift the Alton River Dragons to the 5-2 win at the Cape Catfish Tuesday.

Allowing only one run and scattering six hits, Romero frustrated Cape all game by consistently getting big outs on lazy ground balls with runners on base.

At the plate, Mestas started the scoring with a two-run second-inning double.  He later added an insurance RBI single in the seventh.

Kurtis Reid also had two hits, including a lead off triple in the ninth.

After Romero, Adam Stilts picked up the final four outs to earn the rare save from the starter.

The victory is the first of the season for Alton in which they didn't score at least six runs.  It also snaps a six-game road game losing streak.

Alton is back at Cape Wednesday before a Thursday off-day.  The River Dragons are next home Saturday vs. Normal with post-game fireworks.

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From the Cape Catfish:

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Alton River Dragons plated three runs in the second inning Tuesday night at Capaha Field and held on to win 5-2 over the Cape Catfish.

The loss extended Cape's losing streak to three and dropped their record to 2-3 in the second half of the Prospect League's 2022 season (14-22 overall). Meanwhile, the River Dragons improved their second-half record to 2-5 (20-18 overall).

Alton second baseman Gage Mestas (Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona) put the River Dragons on the scoreboard with a one-out bases-loaded double that scored two runs. The next batter, shortstop Robby Taul from Winthrop University, hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring in a third run.

Cape answered with a run in the third when Chris Hall (Florida State College at Jacksonville) reached on an infield single, advanced to third on a single by SIU-Carbondale's J.D. Ortiz, and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Blake Barton (Belmont University) to make the score 3-1.

The River Dragons regained their three-run lead in the seventh when Noah Bush from Iowa Western Community College reached on an error and eventually scored on an RBI single by Mestas, giving him three runs batted in on the night.

The Catfish added a run in the eighth inning when catcher Ty Stauss (Southeast Missouri State) drew a walk off Alton reliever Carson Richardson (Spoon River College in Canton, Illinois) and subsequently scored on a two-out single by first baseman Cam Careswell (University of Missouri).

Alton answered Cape's run with one of their own in the 9th when designated hitter Kurtis Reid hit a lead-off triple and scored when the next batter, catcher Ben Gallaher (Eastern Illinois University) singled to right to make the score 5-2 which was the final.

Arkansas Tech's Marshall Brown, starting his second game for the Catfish, took the loss and is now 2-3 in his 10 mound appearances this season. HKe went 6 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and four runs, three of them earned, while striking out two and walking one.

Alton starter Matthew Romero (Pima Community College) got the win to improve his record to 3-2. He went seven innings, allowing six hits and one run while walking four batters and striking out one. Adams Stilts (Lewis & Clark Community College) pitched the final 1 1/3 innings to earn his first save of the season.

Cape outhit Alton 9-8 and committed one error while Alton had three fielding miscues.

The Catfish and River Dragons will face each other again Wednesday night at Capaha Field. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m.