Schlact completes Frisco sweep
The 22-year-old right-hander pitched six strong innings Friday night as the RoughRiders completed a three-game sweep of the defending Texas League champion San Antonio Missions with a 9-3 victory at Nelson W. Wolff Stadium.
Schlact (1-0) had a couple of tough acts to follow after Holland pitched the RoughRiders to a 5-1 win in Wednesday's series opener with 7 1/3 innings of two-hit ball and Feliz fanned 11 over seven frames in Thursday's 6-1 triumph.
The 6-foot-7, 205-pound Georgia native responded to the challenge by yielding a run on six hits while striking out four as the RoughRiders avenged last year's first-round sweep at the hands of the Missions. More importantly, he did not walk a batter after issuing 66 free passes -- third-most in the league -- during the regular season.
"Michael was outstanding," Frisco manager Scott Little said. "He threw strikes and didn't walk any hitters. He's probably third or fourth in the league in walks allowed, but he was outstanding tonight.
"He could have gone deeper in the game, but we had a little bit of cushion and had three guys that hadn't pitched at all in the playoffs."
Schlact had to be at his best early as San Antonio starter Will Inman (0-1) yielded just one hit over the first three innings. But Frisco's offense finally came to life in the fourth as Tracy's two-run single highlighted a five-run outburst.
Tracy also connected for a two-run homer, his first of the postseason, in the eighth to cap the scoring as Frisco returned to the Texas League Championship Series for the first time since winning the title in 2004.
"[Inman] was pitching well and our guy was pitching well," Little said. "He was a pitch away from getting out of that [fourth inning], but Tracy, [Steven] Murphy and [John] Whittleman all got big hits with two outs. The next thing you know, we're up 5-0."
Brennan Garr followed Schlact by yielding two runs on three hits in the seventh before Clayton Hamilton and Brandon Puffer combined for two scoreless frames to send San Antonio home.
Dustin Majewski belted a two-run shot and Whittleman drove in a pair of runs for the RoughRiders, who will face the winner of the Arkansas-Northwest Arkansas series in the Finals.
"These kids have battled and we've won most of the year and everybody's got a good taste of winning," Little added. "I'm very confident that we're more than capable [of winning the championship]."
Inman gave up five runs on two hits and four walks with five strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings en route to the third loss in his last four starts.
Seth Johnston went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored and Craig Cooper hit his second homer of the series, a two-run shot, for the Missions. Box score
In other Texas League action:
Arkansas Travelers 6, Northwest Arkansas Naturals 4
Dan Denham allowed a run on three hits over seven innings and Mark Trumbo belted a three-run homer as the Travelers took a commanding 2-0 series lead. Box score
John Torenli is a contributor to MLB.com.