Ramblers split pair of home games

The Ramblers split a pair of EIHL home games in Peosta this week, falling to Cascade 7-4 on Tuesday before rebounding with a 4-1 win over Dyersville on Wednesday. Key West (28-8) got stellar pitching performances from its starters on both nights.

Curt Dixon, making his last start of the season for the Ramblers, went six strong against Cascade and departed with a 2-1 lead. He gave up just five hits and one walk before turning it over to Dan Spain, who threw the last three innings in relief.

Spain would allow six runs but was let down by his defense. Two Key West errors in the seventh helped Cascade put up two unearned runs to take a 3-2 lead. The Ramblers would regain the lead in the bottom of the eighth after a Ben Cottrell RBI single and a passed ball that scored Chris Briggs made it 4-3.

But the Ramblers again struggled defensively in the ninth inning. Regan Tekas led off with a walk and was followed by a Tom Andrews double. Andrews should have been retired earlier in the at-bat, but his foul pop up was dropped and gave him a second life. After back-to-back walks issued by Spain, Nate McQuillen's sacrifice fly gave Cascade a 5-4 lead before the Reds tacked on two more. Pat Weber earned the win in relief for Cascade.

Cottrell continued his hot-hitting, going 3-for-4, making him the only Rambler with two or more hits. Tuesday's loss was the first of the season versus Cascade. Key West is now 3-1 against Cascade.

The Ramblers got back to action Wednesday and defeated Dyersville 4-1 on the strength of a seven-inning, complete game performance by Cottrell on the mound. The right-hander struck out five and gave up six hits and one walk. He improved his mark to 4-1 on the season.

Dyersville led 1-0 after the second inning and held that lead until the bottom of the sixth when the Ramblers got all four of their runs. Tyler Sincock led off with a walk, Spain reached on an error and both moved up after a wild pitch. Jared Munson then came through with a two-run single and was followed by an RBI double by Briggs and a run-scoring single by Matt Knabel.

Briggs and Spain each went 2-for-3 to lead Key West.

The Ramblers now look forward to Friday's 7 p.m. EIHL match up at Rickardsville. Key West lost the only meeting between the two teams this season back on June 21.