Hannibal Cavemen Open Season with 1-0 Loss at Springfield

Opening night for the Hannibal Cavemen featured an old-fashioned pitcher's duel, as they lost to the Sliders in Springfield Wednesday night 1-0.

For eight-and-a-half innings, the Cavemen's Brendan Kleekamp and the Sliders' James Kannenberg battled to a scoreless deadlock.

The Sliders pushed across a run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by center fielder Nick Vitale. Kleekamp had put third baseman Cale Hennemann on to start the ninth, and reliever Dalton Smith came on to give up the walk-off sac fly.

Kannenberg gave up only two hits in the complete game win, both by Cavemen shortstop Brett Marr.

Hannibal's season-opening road trip continues Thursday night at Danville, with Peter Minella the scheduled starting pitcher. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Danville Stadium.