With hopes of the top seed in their substate all but vanished, Bulldogs right fielder Keigan Scott had no interest in hearing another tongue-lashing from Bettendorf coach Jay Fitzgerald.

So he and his teammates summoned their pride and turned the tables on Clinton.

After going 0-for-3 in Bettendorf's 14-2, Game 1 loss, Scott exploded with a homer, double and five runs batted in to power the Bulldogs to a 10-3 victory under the lights to split the doubleheader with the RiverKings.

"I told them after that first game, 'We've just hit rock bottom,'" Fitzgerald said. "We just got it handed to us. We had some leaders arguing in the dugout. We found out what we're made out of."

Added Scott: "He just told us we can't play like that in our backyard. We're a better team than that."

Leadoff batter Nathan Schmitt added four hits for Bettendorf (20-7, 9-5 MAC), which needed both games to have a chance at the No. 1 seed in the Class 4A Substate 5 pairings. Idle Davenport Central locked that up thanks to Clinton's opening win.

While the Bulldogs needed five pitchers to finish up Game 1, starting pitcher Ryker Fox provided real relief after the break, weaving his way through six innings, allowing three runs while striking out six.

"He said his arm was bothering him a little bit," Scott said. "But he came in, threw strikes, and got the outs when he needed them."

The RiverKings (22-4, 11-3) may have had other things on their mind in Game 2. Facing Fox in the first inning, center fielder Darryl Sexton was hit on the right, non-throwing wrist by a curveball and was rolling on the ground in pain.

He left after the second inning to get X-rays in Dewitt, and Clinton coach Trent Snowden didn't know what his longterm status was.

Sexton was huge in Clinton's Game 1 trouncing of the Bulldogs. He went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and threw out a runner at home.

Clinton's Justin Clark led off the fourth with a home run and scored three runs.

"There was a lot of concern for (Darryl)," Clark said. "Hopefully he'll be OK."

Blake Pennock earned the complete game victory, yielding five hits and a couple of unearned runs.

"They've got a great hitting lineup, I've been looking forward to this game all season," Pennock said. "This was probably the biggest game of the year."