Hooks Rally for Series Win

CORPUS CHRISTI - Forrest Whitley, Colin McKee, and Willy Collado teamed to blank the Travelers over the final eight innings Thursday night en route to a 4-2 victory over Arkansas in the series finale at Dickey-Stephens Park.
Corpus Christi has won eight of its last 11 games.

After the Travs plated a pair in the first, Whitley permitted just two hits and two walks the rest of the way. The 21-year-old out of San Antonio matched his season-bests for strikeouts and innings pitched, fanning nine over five frames. The effort marked Whitley's first Double-A triumph.
Trailing 2-0, the Hooks scratched out a run in the third opposite California League Pitcher of the Year Ian McKinney. Corey Julks, making his Double-A debut, stroked a lead-off single as part of a three-hit day. Two outs later, Osvaldo Duarte ripped a triple down the right-field line to put CC on the board.
The Hooks grabbed the lead in the sixth after sending seven men to the plate. Julks, Stephen Wrenn, Colton Shaver, and Duarte notched consecutive singles against Matt Tenuta, rendering a pair of runs.
Julks, an eighth-round pick of the Astros in 2017 out of the University of Houston, reached base all four times after being called up from the Carolina League.
Duarte manufactured insurance in the eighth. He reached via a bunt base hit and advanced to second on a Kyle Wilcox wild pitch. Duarte then stole third and promptly scored on a errant throw to the bag by catcher Cal Raleigh, making it 4-2 Hooks.
McKee seized the advantage retiring six of the seven men he faced.
Collado earned his fourth save after working the final two innings.
Corpus Christi continues its final road trip of the regular year with a three-game set at Tulsa's ONEOK Field. Friday's series opener starts at 7:05.