The Redlegs fell to a franchise worst 3-7 after losing a pair of games against a tough Miami Valley Cardinals squad on Sunday.
Kevin Schaeffer was on tap to make his second start of the season in game 1, but was a last minute scratch after feeling some discomfort in his throwing shoulder while warming up. With inning eating Kevin Campbell unavailable due to illness and starters Jack Millard and Brad Clark nursing elbow injuries, the Redlegs turned to newcomer TJ Ray to toe the rubber and make his first MVABL start.
Ray kept the Cardinals hitters off balance allowing only 3 hits through the first 2 innings, but the Cardinals were also able to coax 4 walks and scored 4 runs over the first two frames thanks to some timely hits. The Redlegs got 3 of their own in the bottom of the first, which at the time was good enough to give them a 3-1 lead. Jack Millard led the inning off with a single followed by a single from Steve Benthal. They then both scored on a double by Jacob Robinson, the first of 3 doubles Jake would hit in the game. Robinson was then driven in when Brandon Howard singled to left field.
After the Cardinals scored 3 in the top of the 2nd, they opened up the 3rd inning with a single and home run to push the lead to 6-3. After 3 consecutive walks, Robinson turned to Brandon Howard to get the Redlegs out of the bases loaded no out jam. Howard allowed only 1 of the inherited baserunners to score on a sac fly, and recorded a popup and groundout consecutively to limit the damage and get out of the frame with a four run deficit at 7-3.
The Redlegs got a run back bottom half of the 3rd when Robinson doubled with 1 out and was driven in on a 2 out single off the bat of Brad Clark.
But the Cardinals put things out of reach when they scored 4 more in the 4th inning pushing the advantage to 11-4. The Redlegs could only manage 3 more runs over the remainder of the game. One came in the 5th when Steve Benthal led the inning off with a single and was driven in on a double by Robinson. In the 6th Clark led the inning off with a walk and was later driven in by Brandon Longacre. Longacre had broken the pinkie finger on his throwing hand the half inning before when making a great stretching scoop at first to end the inning. The Redlegs final run came in the 7th when TJ Ray led off with a bloop single to right field that he was able to stretch into a double. On a bad throw, Ray opted to try for 3rd which induced another bad throw and allowed him to score. The Cardinals scored 3 insurance runs in the 6th and the final score ended at 14-7.
Boxscore
| J Millard | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| S Benthal | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| J Robinson | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| B Howard | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| B Clark | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| T Patterson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| B Longacre | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| G Lebouef | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B Dempsey | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J Bradley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T Ray | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
2B: Robinson 3; Ray
| T Ray (L) | 2 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 7 |
| B Howard | 4 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| B Clark | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |