[rink23]

Record: 63-48, 1st, 5.5 GA Des Moines
Louisville jumped out to a 5-0 lead behind a three-run homer from Jose Gonzalez in the top of the second inning and a two-run shot from Lance Brown in the third, both off St. Louis starting pitcher Ming Xiang, and that propelled the Sluggers to a 7-5 win at Busch Stadium (2006).
The second-inning homer by Gonzalez was his first of the season.
For Brown, a former top prospect for St. Louis, his homer in the third was his 24th.
The River Walkers did make a game of it.
They scored three times in the bottom of the fourth off Louisville starter Danny Wright.
Mark Waterson (double), Marcos Francis (double) and Jackson Miller (single) all had run-scoring two-out hits.
But it would be 7-3 by the time the Walkers would score again.
Dan Boyle led off the seventh with a homer off Nick Ruffalo.
Chris Ring connected on an RBI double off Maximiliano Minelli in the eighth.
St. Louis got late solo homers from Francis (off Matt Whitmore) and Mark Herman (off Tom Floria) to cap the scoring.
Wright didn't last long enough to earn the win.
He pitched 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits. He struck out two and walked one.
Hugh Fisher finished off the fifth for the Sluggers.
The win went to Cole Duensing (2-2), who pitched a scoreless sixth.
After that, it was an inning each for Antonio Gonzalez, Whitmore and Floria.
Floria did get awarded his 18th save.