Today's Game Notes

LEADING OFF--The Travs continue a two week homestand with the fourth of six against Amarillo.

LAST TIME OUT--Spencer Packard went 3-for-3 with a home run and two walks and Arkansas pitching struck out a season high 16 batters in an 8-3 win over Amarillo on Thursday night...after scoring only one run in each of the first two games of the series, the Travs offense broke out for eight runs on 13 hits...the decisive frame was a five-run fourth inning that featured three homers...Jimmy Joyce set the tone with three scoreless innings on the mound while striking out six...four relievers carried it the rest of the way with Kyle Hill getting credit for the win.

MAKING THE DONUTS--The Travelers pitching staff had a run of 20 consecutive scoreless innings snapped in the fifth last night...Wednesday was the third shutout of the season for Arkansas pitchers...they have allowed only two earned runs over the first three games of this series... Amarillo has only 14 hits in the series.

PACK MAN--Spencer Packard was perfect at the plate last night going 3-3 with a homer and two walks...is 10-16 (.625) on a four game hitting streak that includes three three-hit games...also in that streak is a double, two homers and nine runs batted in.

HOMER CENTRAL--The Travelers have 14 homers over their past nine games...have connected for three blasts in a game four times the past 12 contests including a three homer fourth inning last night...Arkansas ranks fourth in the league with 43 long balls...16 of the 43 have come in home games.

RUNNING FREE--Arkansas stole another base last night and swiped a season high five bags last Thursday...they have taken 22 bags over the last nine games...the team’s 69 steals rank third in the Texas League...Jared Oliva and Harry Ford are tied for the club lead with 13 tied for fifth in the league.

TALE OF TWO HALVES--Arkansas has fared well early in games this season but struggled in the late innings...they have outscored the opposition in every inning from the 1st to the 5th, for a cumulative run differential of plus-51...from the 6th inning on though, they have been outscored by 27 runs.

TRANSACTION TRACKER--The Mariners made moves Tuesday affecting the Arkansas roster...INF Tyler Locklear was promoted to Triple-A Tacoma while RHP Logan Gragg was reinstated from the Development List...the Travs have had just 31 different players take the field for them so far this season.

PROSPECTING--The Travelers active roster is populated with eight of the Mariners top 30 prospects based on the mlb.com rankings...topping the list are INF Cole Young, top ranked in the system and #27 overall in baseball and C Harry Ford, second in the system and #28 overall... also among Seattle’s top 30 are INF Ben Williamson (15), RHP Logan Evans (19), RHP Jimmy Joyce (21), OF Alberto Rodriguez (22), RHP Troy Taylor (26) and LHP Reid VanScoter (29).

THE DIRT ON THE SOD POODLES--The Amarillo Sod Poodles (Arizona Diamondbacks) are in fourth place in the South Division... won their first series of the season last week taking five of six games at NW Arkansas...managed by former (2013) Travs skipper Tim Bogar... their pitching staff ranks last in the league in ERA with an offense that is seventh in runs...Arizona had the 16th ranked farm system in baseball in the preseason rankings from mlb.com...Amarillo’s roster has five of the Diamondbacks prospects from the same ratings service...among those ranked in Arizona’s top 30 list are INF Ivan Melendez (8), OF A.J. Vukovich (15), RHP Yilber Diaz (16), OF Kristian Robinson (17) and C/OF Caleb Roberts (27).

Starting Pitcher - LHP Reid VanScoter (2-2, 3.61 ERA)

Reid VanScoter makes his tenth start of the season...earned his second win of the season with a quality start last Saturday in Corpus Christi (6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, BB, 4 K)...marked his third start of at least six innings this season...took a hard luck loss on 5/19 at home against NW Arkansas giving up only two runs while scat- tering six hits over five frames (0 BB, 4 K)...has worked at least five innings in each of his last six starts...walked only one hitter over his past three outings (15.1 IP)...saddled with his first loss of the season on 5/7 at Wichita after allowing four runs on six hits in five innings with five strikeouts...earned first Double-A win on 4/18 holding Frisco to one run on one hit (a homer) over six IP...shutout the Drillers for 4.2 innings on 4/12 in Tulsa despite allowing four hits and four walks
VanScoter pitched last season at the High-A level with the Everett AquaSox...selected as the Northwest League Pitcher of the Year and an NWL postseason All-Star...started all 25 of his appearances tossing 143.1 innings, tied for seventh most in minor league baseball...went 10-6 record with a 3.27 ERA, 157 Ks, 35 BB, a .255 OBA and 6 HR allowed...won an NWL Pitcher of the Week Award in April following six shutout frames on one hit with 7 Ks
Reid was drafted out of Coastal Carolina where he graduated in 2022 with a degree in communications...closed college career by going 9-4 with a 3.65 ERA to earn the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year Award and 1st team All-Sun Belt honors...the first Chanticleer to ever win Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year...spent five seasons in college, the last three at Coastal...played first two college seasons at Binghamton University...missed most of 2019 and all of 2020 with an injury and surgery
25-year old is a native of Livonia, New York, a town of about 1,500 located 30 miles south of Rochester...went 31-1 with a 0.40 ERA in his HS career

Starting Pitcher - RHP Bryan Woo (2-2, 2.08 ERA)

Bryan Woo makes his 9th start of the season and at the Double-A level...started on Tuesday and took the loss despite allowing just two runs over five innings... did have a season high in walks (3) and a season low in strikeouts (4)...picked up his second straight win on 5/17 in Wichita dealing a strong six innings (7 H, R, BB, 10 K, HR)...threw a career-best seven innings (on only 74 pitches) in a shutout effort on 5/11 vs. NW Arkansas giving up just two hits while striking out seven and earning his first win of the season...retired the first 18 hitters of that game before an surrendering an infield hit to start the 7th inning...pitched on 5/5 at Springfield and was saddled with the loss (4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K, HR)...dominated Tulsa on 4/29 authoring five shutout innings with eight strikeouts while giving up just one hit...made Double-A debut in home opener on 4/11 throwing four shutout innings (H, BB, 7 K)
Woo also faced Frisco on 4/22 and took no decision after a solid four innings of work...gave up just one run on three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts
Bryan was named Texas League Pitcher of the Week for May 8-14...threw career best 7 IP in win vs. NWA (2 H, 7 K)...retired first 18 hitters of the game
Split last season between High-A Everett, Class-A Modesto and the Arizona Complex League...was held out of game action until June...pitched three times for the ACL Mariners (5.2 innings)...made six starts for Modesto going 0-1 with a 3.98 ERA over 20.1 innings with 29 strikeouts and six walks...made seven starts with Everett to close out regular season posting a 1-3 record with a 4.78 ERA...struck out 46 and walked 16 in 32 innings...earned first pro win on 8/2/22 with Everett vs. Hillsboro giving up just an unearned run on four hits over five innings with a walk and five strikeouts...struck out a career best 11 on 8/19/22 in a six inning start vs. Vancouver and earned Northwest League Pitcher of the Week honors for that performance
Closed his 2022 campaign by pitching in the Arizona Fall League making five starts for the Peoria Javelinas making up for lost innings during the season... allowed just one run over his 10.2 innings of work in the Fall League...took home an AFL Pitcher of the Week Award as well
Did not pitch in 2021 after being drafted...sat out while recovering from UCL replacement (Tommy John) surgery on his right elbow at the end of April
Started just six of 31 games in college over three years at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo with an cumulative ERA of 6.36
23-year old is a native of Alameda, California...went to Alameda High School and was named the West Alameda County Conference MVP

Travs Digital Scorecard

Arkansas Travelers vs. Amarillo Sod Poodles (ARI)

Record: 27-20

Record: 22-26

Today's Game Notes