Ramblers fall for first time in Prairie League

The Ramblers entered Thursday's Prairie League battle with Peosta sporting a perfect 9-0 league mark, but a cold night at the plate ended Key West's unbeaten run. Peosta's Zack Brautigam held the Ramblers to just three hits as he picked up the win on the mound in a 3-1 decision.

Missing its top power hitter in first baseman Chris Briggs, the Key West (28-6) lineup went scoreless through the first five frames of the seven-inning affair. Not until Justin Kuhle raced home on a wild pitch in the top of the sixth did the Ramblers tally their first run of the game to pull within 2-1.

Trailing 3-1 in the final inning, Key West went down quietly after Kenny Capesius walked to lead off the inning. Brautigam struck out Tim Carty with a man on first to end the game and snap the Ramblers' nine-game Prairie League winning streak, which dated back to Aug. 17 of last year when Key West lost 6-5 to Bellevue.

Peosta got on top of Rambler starting pitcher Spencer Kuehn early, getting two runs in the bottom of the first with the benefit of three-straight singles with one out. Peosta added one more run in the fifth to provide the final margin.

The loss was the first of the season for Kuehn, who dropped to 5-1. He went all six innings, allowing four hits, four walks and three earned runs in a six-strikeout performance.

Carty, Kuehn and Kuhle each collected a single for the only three Key West hits.

The Ramblers get back to tournament play Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the first round of the Cascade Tournament where they face Dubuque once again. Key West is 2-4 this season against Dubuqe. Andrew Redman (7-0, 1.31 ERA) will get the start on the mound for the Ramblers.