Clinton Lumber Kings

PERU, Ill. — The Clinton LumberKings (4-3) edged the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp (3-4) 4-3 on Monday night in a game that was called after five innings due to inclement weather at Schweickert Stadium.

With five full innings completed, the game was ruled official, giving Clinton its second consecutive win and a 3-0 edge in the early-season series against Illinois Valley.

The LumberKings wasted no time setting the tone. Brayden Mulkey walked to lead off the game, later coming around to score on a groundout from Sam Wiese. Brett White followed with an RBI double down the left field line to bring in Colin Coonradt, giving Clinton an early 2-0 advantage.

After 16 scoreless innings against the LumberKings, Illinois Valley answered with a run in the bottom of the first on Thomas Lynch's RBI double, but Clinton responded again in the second inning. James Hackett worked a walk, stole second, and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly, which just missed being a grand slam by a few feet, off the bat of Coonradt to make it 3-1.

After Mulkey drew his second walk of the game in the fourth, Austin Mallee drove him home with a groundout, pushing the lead to 4-1.

The Pistol Shrimp chipped away, with Draven Nushida's RBI double in the bottom of the fourth and James Love's infield single in the fifth pulling them within one. A double by Amir Gray nearly tied the game at four runs a side but was thrawrted by a 8-6-2 relay that cut down Love at home ending the bottom of the fifth inning before the heavy rain ended the night in the top of the sixth inning.

Clinton starter Brody Meyers (1-0) earned the win, allowing four hits and two earned runs over four innings, striking out four. Bruno allowed one run in his single inning of work in the fifth and gave up two hits and a walk.

Kollin Asbury (0-1) was charged with the loss after giving up three runs in the opening inning on two hits and four walks. Danny Cihocki was effective in relief, striking out nine over four innings of one-run ball.

Offensively, Coonradt, Wiese, Mallee, and White each drove in a run, while Clinton swiped four bags on the night, including two by Mulkey.

The game lasted just two hours and drew a crowd of 653 fans before storms moved through the area and the umpires decided to wash the game giving Clinton their third consecutive victory over the reigning 2024 Prospect League Champions.

The LumberKings return to Springfield for a two-game series beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Robin Roberts Stadium. Fans can tune in on prospectleaguenetwork.com, wcciradio.com, or on 100.3 WCCI-FM to listen to the game.