Powerful hit sends Springfield Horseshoes to first win since rebrand from Sliders
O'FALLON, Mo. — Cooper Combs hit a three-run home run to put Springfield in front as the Lucky Horseshoes won their first Prospect League game of the season 8-3 over the O'Fallon Hoots on Thursday at CarShield Field.
Jake Curtis, a 2020 Chatham Glenwood High School graduate, singled home Nathaniel Martinez to pull Springfield within 2-1 in the top of the fifth inning. Following 2020 Rochester graduate Jayden Myren's walk, Combs smashed a three-run homer to left field as the Lucky Horseshoes jumped out to a 4-2 lead. Curtis and Myren just completed their sophomore seasons at Lincoln Land Community College.
Alex Wade made it 5-2 in the sixth with a solo home run.
More: The rebranded Springfield Lucky Horseshoes baseball team opens 2022 season
Combs, of Springdale, Arkansas, scored in the eighth on a Jack Gorman double. In the ninth, Combs hit into a bases-loaded fielder's choice but O'Fallon's fourth error of the game led to a pair of runs scoring on the play.
The Hoots (1-1) scored just the one run over the final eight innings.
Springfield High graduate Richie Snider, who helped the Senators win the Class 3A state baseball championship in 2021, fanned three and allowed just one walk and a hit in the final three innings for the save. Corbin Bassham allowed one run on two hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings pitched for the win.
It was the first win for the Springfield franchise since it was rebranded from the Sliders following the 2021 season. The Lucky Horseshoes (1-1) play the Cape Catfish (0-2) in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on Friday at 6:35 p.m. before hosting its home opener on Saturday at Robin Roberts Stadium against the Alton River Dragons (2-0). That game will begin at 6:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Prospect League baseball: First win in Horseshoes' era
