The Raiders are back to .500 baseball after sweeping Shawnee (Ill.) on Tuesday. Three Rivers won the opener 5-3 and the nightcap 12-4 at Roger Pattillo Field and has now won 6 of 7 after losing six in a row. "A couple big swings in that second game gave us some breathing room," Three Rivers coach Stacey Burkey said. "It was really nice to see that." Ty'Reik Thomas had a big day for the Raiders (7-7) with a grand slam, three hits and two runs. Three Rivers was up 3-1 going into the bottom of the third inning. Winston Welter drew a leadoff walk and Garyn Stewart was hit by a pitch to open the inning and Hunter Gautreaux singled up the middle to score Welter. After Grant Miller drew another walk to load the bases, Thomas cleared them with a homer over the fence in left-center field. Shawnee (1-10) scored three in the fourth inning, helped by a pair of errors, to cut the lead to four runs. The Raiders then added four more runs in the sixth inning, capped by a three-run home run by Gautreaux, who was 2 for 4 with a double and four RBIs in the game. Reece Reading and Preston Hart both had triples to the corner in right field. Hart scored in the sixth inning while Reeding was stranded at third in the first. Welter, Stewart, Gautreaux and Miller all scored twice. Garrett Payne started and pitched 3 2/3 innings. He struck out five and allowed three hits and two walks. He faced two over the minimum through three innings, including a solo home run. 

"That's the most he has thrown this season. He had a little bit of a hip issue. I was really hoping he would get that last out to get a win out of that, but I didn't want to risk pushing him further than what he needed to be at this point in the year," Burkey said. Ty Lumley (1-1) relieved him and got the win after pitching 2 1/3 with no hits, no strikeouts and a walk. Fernando Burgos pitched the seventh and had two strikeouts and a walk. "I think at this point in the year, we are playing pretty decent. We had an opportunity to jump on them in the fourth or fi fth inning and didn't. It would have been nice to make that a quicker game," Burkey said. The Raiders rallied in the sixth inning for the win in the opener. Down 3-2 after Shawnee took the lead in the top of the frame, Matt Robbins hit into a fielder's choice and Thomas walked to put the go-ahead runner on first. Miller doubled to right field and Dylan Kater hit a sacrifice fly as the Raiders took a 5-3 lead. Bryce Alcorn (1-1) got the win in relief. He pitched the sixth inning and allowed two hits and a run with one strikeout. Elvin Diaz took the mound to start the seventh and got one out, but loaded the bases off two walks and a single. Parker Dent relieved him, and facing the clean-up hitter, got a line drive to first for a game-ending double play. Lane Crowley started and pitched five innings. He had five strikeouts with five hits and no walks. "For the most part I think out pitchers did a pretty good job today as well," Burkey said. Three Rivers has struggled recently with timely hitting and left 19 runners on base in a game a week ago against North Central. Against Shawnee, it stranded seven in the doubleheader, six of whom were in scoring position. "Over the past six games it has been a big improvement. I think it is just a matter of guys seeing more pitches and are more locked in at the plate and not pressing quite as much," Burkey said. Outfi elder Ryan Hunter and second baseman Jared Moses are currently out with injuries. Burkey said Hunter (ankle) should be back in 7-10 days while Moses (groin) is too early to tell.

Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic