League Leaders (Regular Season Stats Only):

Blake Burris finished as the league’s new single-season stolen base record holder with 47.  He also led the league in average (.361), was tops in triples (7), was second in hits (78) and fifth in runs (50)

Eddie King Jr. won the home run title with 15 and had the best slugging percentage (.632).  He was third in RBI (49) and fifth in steals (31)

Marcus Heusohn ended up fourth in total hits with 60.

Milestones:

50th Franchise Win – On July 21st, the River Dragons reached the 50 win milestone in the team’s history  

Burris 100 Hits – On July 22nd, with a ninth inning single to centerfield, Blake Burris became the first player in team history to record 100 hits in a career

Stilts 100 Strikeouts – On August 1st at Illinois Valley, Stilts reached the 100 strikeout level in his two-year career with the River Dragons.

Darrell Handelsman notched managerial win #750 with the team’s 3-1 victory over Quincy at Lloyd Hopkins Field on August 2nd.

Season Highlights:

• 3 different pitchers had 9 strikeouts in a game, tying the team record established last season.  Justin Needles (June 3rd), Colton Huntt (June 8th and June 20th) and Shane Kearbey (July 27th)
• 3 different players had four steals in a game establishing a team record. Blake Burris (June 15th), Troy Johnson (July 24th) and Eddie King Jr. (July 27th)
• It was a season of massive hitting streaks.  Eddie King Jr.  (17 games), Blake Burris (17 and 10 games) and Marcus Heusohn (12 games)
• The River Dragons didn’t muster winning streaks in season one, but had a few big ones this season.  They opened the season on a six-game winning streak and also had four game winning streaks in late June and again in early August.
• On July 27th, pitcher Shane Kearbey fired a complete game, 9 strikeout 10-0 victory over Burlington.  The feat made even more intriguing when its factored in that he and his teammates didn’t know what each looked like until two hours before the game when he arrived for the first time!          
• June 16th had a little bit of everything, including a 5-0 first inning deficit before an out was recorded…shortstop Robby Taul pitching four relief innings…and rightfielder Eddie King Jr. crashing into the fence to save the game.  It ended with a Marcus Heusohn bases loaded single in the 11th to cap the first-ever walk-off win in team history.
• Blake Burris hit the second grand slam in team history in the 8th inning of a win at Quincy July 28th
• Eddie King Jr. hit two home runs at Lloyd Hopkins Field vs. Normal July 17th
• Eddie King Jr. drove in six runs, in just the eighth and ninth innings, at Clinton August 3rd
• The River Dragons exploded for 11 runs over the last two innings to earn a 13-4 win at Clinton August 3rd.
• Mike Hampton wowed the crowd with a number of great catches including a full extension diving catch at Clinton August 3rd.
• Adam Stilts threw a franchise-best eight innings, to lead the River Dragons to the Prairie Land Division Championship Game victory 4-1 over Springfield 8/7.
• Erik Broekemeier hit the team’s third grand slam in it’s existence, a walk off blast, to lift the team to an 8-7 win in the Western Conference Finals over Quincy on 8/9
• 1,234 fans turned out for the first-ever playoff game on 8/7.  Another 1,199 came out two nights later for the Western Conference Finals.  Both are franchise bests.

                Come Backs

• The River Dragons rallied for wins 15 times during the regular season. This includes a 0-5 deficit to Cape on June 16 and a 2-6 deficit to Quincy on June 25.  However, none was bigger than the 1-7 deficit after 6 1/2 innings vs. Quincy in the Western Conference Finals on August 9th.  Alton rallied back on a walk off grand slam by Erik Broekemeier to win 8-7.

Other Nuggets

Playing at “The Hop” Alton went 19-11 (.633%) through 30 regular season home games this season. The league’s average home winning percentage was .550%

Roster Turnover Starting July 1st, the River Dragons added 14 players (Broekemeir, Crain, Doyle, Hailstone, Hanslow, High, Kearney, Kleinhaider, Laskowski, Nelson, Redman, Salzman, Weaver, Zbrozek) while losing 19 (Andrews, Callahan, Contreras, Crain, Bush, Gallaher, Guerin, High, Johnson, Mestas, Needles, Ramsey, Reid, Romero, Salter, Stenger, Taul, Weaver, Zbrozek).