CAPE GIRARDEAU — Playing in a rare spring game at Capaha Field, the Raiders picked up their first Region XVI sweep of the season. Ryan Hunter and Riley Hickerson homered and Three Rivers College beat St. Charles College 7-2 in the opener and 13-8 in the nightcap Sunday. The game, originally schedule to be at St. Charles (3-14, 0-6 Region XVI), was moved to the all-turf field in Cape Girardeau because of wet field conditions. "We played on an all-turf field down in Georgia. Playing on it for three games on that southern trip, there wasn't the new newness of playing on a surface like that," said Three Rivers coach Stacey Burkey, highlighting that the Raiders committed one error in each game on the quicker turf.

"The big deal is sliding, and knowing to slide early enough to not slide on past the base," Burkey added. Hunter had a solo home run in the third inning of the opener to give the Raiders a one-run lead. It was his fourth homer of the season, and he is the only Raider with more than one. The Raider offense was putting men on base, but stranded six in the first three innings. After Hunter's homer, four straight Raiders reached base and none scored. Stallings singled and was thrown out at home, then Three Rivers stranded the bases loaded. The offense clicked in the fifth and pushed four runs across to break up the tie game. With one out, the Raiders loaded the bases thanks to two walks and a hit batter. Ty Gordon came through with a two-run single, and Christian Deen singled in another run. With two outs, leadoff hitter Blaze Speas singled in Gordon to put the Raiders ahead 6-2. Hunter, who finished with two runs, one hit and one RBI, walked to leadoff the seventh, stole second and third, and scored on Stallings' single. Tyler McLevain (2-1) got the win. He pitched a complete game and allowed eight hits and three walks with two strikeouts. He gave up a solo home run in the first inning. "Really settled in. He walked three people and that's more than he usually does, but he was able to bounce back," Burkey said. McLevain, who has come out of the bullpen in seven of his 10 appearances this season, has pitched 13 of his 29 2/3 innings in his last two starts. Both were complete games. He currently has a 2.73 ERA with 21 strikeouts. "We're in a situation where we really needed him to throw complete games and he's done it," Burkey said. The Raiders scored early and late to give pitcher Lane Crowley the win in his first start in the 9-inning nightcap. "I guess we've got six healthy pitchers at this point. He was in a position where he was the next guy up and did a nice job," Burkey said.

Three Rivers (7-15, 3-9 Region XVI) scored seven total runs in the first two innings, and six runs over the final three. In between, the Raiders were hitless and drew two walks for its only baserunners. Hickerson's two-run homer capped the early scoring and put Three Rivers ahead 7-2 after two innings. With some breathing room, Crowley pitched 5 2/3 innings and finished with six strikeouts. He gave up eight hits, three walks and a home run. "Certainly a quality start. He threw a few more pitches than I was hoping he would, but he did an awful nice job in his first start of the year," Burkey said. "His changeup was good. At times he tried to be too fine with it, but he threw some good ones." Parker Dent relieved him with runners on first and second and got a strikeout to get out of the sixth inning. Dent pitched into the eighth and allowed four runs off four hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Toby Miller finished the game and allowed one hit with four strikeouts over 1 2/3 innings. Despite Dent's four runs, Three Rivers held the lead three runs in the seventh and ninth innings. Hickerson added an RBI double in the seventh to finish 3 for 5 with three runs and four RBIs. Garyn Stewart, who subbed in for Speas in the second inning, went 3 for 4 with three runs. Stallings, hitting in front of Hickerson, was 1 for 3 with three walks, three runs and an RBI.

Three Rivers went into Sunday's game with 16 active players, 10 hitters and six pitchers, then lost Speas in the first inning of the nightcap with pain in his side. "He felt a little tweak there and we didn't want to push through it. That put us down to about 10 hitters, active. Our depth is really getting challenged now with some injuries," Burkey said. To date, hitters Jordon Stevens, DJ Dowdy and Josh Stevens, and pitchers Gage Atchley, Trey Kirkpatrick and Grant Johnson are lost for the season. Burkey said he is hopeful that Tyler Mathys, Tyler Kuhlmann, Adam Brown and Speas will return at some point this season.