Pistol Shrimp fall behind early in loss to Alton River Dragons

The Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp gave up three runs in the top of the first inning and trailed the rest of the way in a 10-6 loss to the Alton River Dragons on Tuesday at Schweickert Stadium in Peru.

Alton cleanup hitter Erik Broekmeier blasted a three-run home run with one out in the first inning to give the River Dragons the early lead.

The Dragons scored a run each in the second and third innings to build a 5-0 lead before the Shrimp got on the board with a sacrifice fly from Jake Ferguson in the bottom of the fourth.

Alton extended its lead to 7-1 through five innings before Illinois Valley put together a rally in the sixth and seventh.

In the sixth, Ryan Bakes scored on an error and Logan Delgado hit an RBI single to right field to pull the Shrimp within 7-3.

The Shrimp struck for three runs in the seventh to close the gap to 7-6.

Zach Lane led off the inning with a solo homer to left field.

With one out, Louis Perona hit a sacrifice fly and Ferguson followed with an RBI single before a groundout ended the inning.

The Dragons tacked on three insurance runs in the eighth.

Bakes finished 2 for 2 with three walks and three runs, Nico Azpicueta doubled twice and scored a run and Ferguson drove in two runs.

Bret Baldus was the losing pitcher for the Shrimp as he gave up three runs on one hit with no strikeouts and three walks in 1/3 inning.

The Shrimp (13-16,1-1 second half) return to action Thursday as they host the Chillicothe Paints (22-9) at 7:05 p.m. at Schweickert Stadium.