Outlaws edge Sliders, 5-4; return home Thursday

By TY



Box Score



SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Ryan McCauley (Niagara) and Sam Dove (Georgia Tech) combined for five of Nashville’s seven hits and Navery Moore (Vanderbilt) struck out 10 in seven strong innings to lead Nashville to a 5-4 win over Springfield at Robin Roberts Stadium on Wednesday.

With the win, the Outlaws improve to 11-12 overall, while the loss drops the Sliders to 14-8. Springfield came into the game with 2.5 game lead in the Prospect League’s Western Division.

Nashville scored the first two runs of the game in the top of the first when they took advantage of two Springfield errors and a pass ball.

The Sliders (14-8) quickly tied the game at two in the bottom of the first when they scored two runs on three hits off Nashville starter Navery Moore.

The Outlaws regained the lead in the top of the fifth when Drew Fann (Vanderbilt) scored on a Bryan Johns infield groundout, giving Nashville a 3-2 lead. Fann led off the inning with a sharp double to left before advancing to third on a Jared Fancher (TCU) groundout.

Nashville tacked on two more runs in the top of the sixth to go up 5-2 as McCauley and Ryan Emery (Arkansas State) scored in the inning. The Outlaws got key hits by Johnny Amann (Judson), McCauley and Dove to take a three-run lead.

With the Outlaws holding a 5-2 lead, things got interesting when Springfield scored two runs on four hits in the bottom of the sixth, making the score 5-4.


Moore allowed four runs on nine hits in seven innings to go along with 10 strikeouts and just one walk to earn the win. Moore pounded the strike zone all night as 76 of his 109 pitches were strikes.

Kevin Crumb (Buffalo) threw a scoreless eighth before handing the ball to closer Jon Ivie (Belmont), who struck out two while retiring the side in order in the ninth to earn his fifth save.

Offensive notes:
McCauley is hitting .733 (11-for-15) in his last five games (all on the road), including a season-best 4-for-4 effort against Quincy on Monday. In his last five games, McCauley’s batting average has risen an astonishing 124 points (from .204 to .328). The Urbandale, Iowa native currently leads the team with a .328 batting average while Greg Bachman (Austin Peay) is in second with a .308 average.

The Outlaws will return home to the Music City on Thursday, July 1st for a start of what will be a seven-game homestand at Hawkins Field.



Thursday’s game against the Dubois County Bombers will be a doubleheader. The first game will start at 6 p.m., with the second game to follow.



The doubleheader serves as a makeup for the June 17th game against Dubois that was rained out.