Frisco comes back late, takes series finale over Corpus

FRISCO, Texas (May 22, 2022) – Two eighth-inning runs pushed the Frisco RoughRiders to victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks 7-6 on Sunday evening from Riders Field.

Box score

Trailing 6-5 into the bottom of the eighth inning, Frisco (22-17) received more late-game heroics from Jonathan Ornelas, who tripled in the game-tying run before coming into score the go-ahead tally on a wild pitch. That gave the Riders a 7-6 lead, enough for Lucas Jacobsen to enter and earn his third save of the season with a pair of strikeouts in the ninth.

Chase Lee (1-0) earned the win for the Riders with a scoreless eighth and Jaime Melendez (0-3) took the loss for Corpus Christi (15-24), ceding three runs over his three innings.

The Hooks began the scoring in the first inning when Enmanuel Valdez cracked a two-run home run in the first inning as part of a monster day. The Riders answered back in the bottom half of the first with a Blaine Crim RBI single to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Valdez knocked in his third run with an RBI base hit to center in the top of the fifth, increasing the lead to 3-1, but Frisco volleyed back in the home half of the inning. Ezequiel Duran tied the game with a two-run double, his MiLB-leading 18th of the season, and Josh Stowers gave Frisco a 4-3 advantage with an RBI single of his own.

Ornelas added on to the RoughRiders lead in the sixth with an RBI double to make it 5-3. Ornelas finished with his second four-hit game of the season to increase his batting average to .362.

Corpus Christi came back against Frisco arm Kevin Gowdy in the seventh, blasting a pair of homers. Justin Dirden made it a one-run game with a solo shot before Valdez hammered his second of the game, a two-run home run to vault the Hooks in front 6-5 before Ornelas' big eighth inning.

Justin Slaten shined out of the bullpen for Frisco, allowing just one run over 3.2 innings while striking out a season-best seven batters. Offensively, Crim poured in three hits while Duran and Stowers both collected two hits apiece.

After a day off on Monday, the Riders welcome the San Antonio Missions (San Diego Padres) into Riders Field for a six-game series, beginning at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday, May 24th.

Tuesday will be Silver Sluggers Tuesday where fans who are 65 and older can receive a $10 ticket when they show their ID at the Riders Box Office. For tickets and more information about the Frisco RoughRiders, visit RidersBaseball.com or call 972.731.9200.

About the RoughRiders

The Frisco RoughRiders are the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. The team was founded in 2003 and has finished first among all Double-A franchises in attendance for 15 consecutive seasons (2005-2019). In August 2014, the RoughRiders were purchased by an ownership group led by Chuck Greenberg. Since then, the new ownership group, together with the City of Frisco, has spearheaded numerous major franchise enhancements, investing over $8 million in a wide array of facility upgrades and improvements, including a state-of-the-art HD video board, sound system, Bull Moose Saloon, InTouch Grille, Riders Outpost Team Store and the world's largest water feature in a sports facility, the massive Lazy River. These enhancements earned the Riders and the City of Frisco Ballpark Digest's prestigious "Best Ballpark Renovation" award for two consecutive years (2015 and 2016). More than 170 former RoughRiders players have gone on to play Major League Baseball. For more information on the Frisco RoughRiders, please visit RidersBaseball.com or contact [email protected].