O'Fallon beats River Dragons 7-4 after messy eighth

O'FALLON, Mo. - Just after the Alton River Dragons scratched their way back to tie the game, the O'Fallon Hoots proceeded to score three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning en route to a 7-4 win in Prospect League action Thursday night at CarShield field.

The way the Hoots did it wasn't pretty from an Alton perspective. The Hoots took advantage of a pair of Alton wild pitches, a passed ball and an error in the eighth to plate the three game-clinching runs.

Matthew Rauser, who led off with a walk and went to second on a passed ball, scored on an error following a hit by Samuel Paule, who later scored on a wild pitch. Brady Vessels, who walked, later scored on another wild pitch.

Alton had rallied with a run in the top of the eighth when Brandon Gour's hit to centerfield drove in Jack Schoentag, a pinch runner for Florent Riep who had walked. That tied it 4-4, setting up O'Fallon's game-winning rally.

The Dragons took an early 1-0 led in the first inning. Charlile Renco struck out, but reached base on a dropped third strike. He later scored on a single by Ryan Hartz.

O'Fallon scored three runs in the second to take a 3-1 lead, but the Dragons plated two in the third to tie, on a leadoff home run by Nick Bonczkowski and a double by Ethan Cantareira that drove in Griffin Brown.

Ethan Wielt and Hartz each had two hits for the River Dragons. Riep had a pair of RBIs.

The loss dropped Alton to 2-23 on the season. O'Fallon is 14-11. Alton will host the Dubois County Bombers at 6:35 p.m. Friday at Lloyd Hopkins Field.

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