The Cape Girardeau Riverdogs began their baseball season Thursday night with a 9-4 loss to the visiting Evansville (Ind.) Outlaws in a game played at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.

The Riverdogs actually had one more hit than the Outlaws -- 12 to 11 -- but Evansville took advantage of eight walks, one hit batter and two errors.

Cape used five pitchers -- by design -- with starter Steve Fowler taking the loss. In three innings, he allowed three hits and two runs, with two strikeouts and two walks.

Shane Gibson went 3-for-4 and Tyler Schlosser was 3-for-5 to lead the Riverdogs' offense. Schlosser had the only extra-base hit in the wood-bat game, a double.

"It was a typical first game," Riverdogs co-coach Ray Craft said. "We kind of used it like a preseason game, getting a lot of pitchers some work."

The Riverdogs play their next contest Friday at Waterloo, Ill.