Cantwell walk-off single gives Frisco 2-1 win

FRISCO, TEXAS (July 26, 2014) - Patrick Cantwell lifted Frisco to a 2-1 walk-off victory over the San Antonio Missions on Saturday night at Dr Pepper Ballpark. Drew Robinson homered in the seventh to get Frisco on the board and the 'Riders rode the back of Alec Asher who pitched a dominant seven innings in a no-decision.

Robinson led off the ninth with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Hanser Alberto. Teodoro Martinez hit an infield single to short to put two on and Chris Grayson moved both men over on a ground ball to first.

That brought up Cantwell, who lofted a single over a leaping Casey McElroy at second to plate Robinson and win the game 2-1. Josh Geer suffered the loss and fell to 5-9 on the season.

Asher tossed seven shutout innings and gave up five hits while walking none and striking out seven batters. The tall righty threw 61 of his 84 pitches for strikes.

Joe Ross made his first Double-A start and did so in impressive fashion by also pitching seven innings. He allowed one run with one walk and eight strikeouts and threw 66 of his 93 pitches for strikes.

Both clubs managed to scatter three hits each over the first four innings of play. The RoughRiders picked up their first hit with a Grayson leadoff single to right, but Cantwell grounded into a double play to wipe the bags clean.

Robinson hit a two-out infield single to second in the second frame but Frisco could not move him over.

San Antonio (18-18, 54-52) picked up a couple of hits in the second with the first in the form of an Alex Dickerson stand up double off the wall in right-center, and Austin Hedges followed suit with a single. The 'Riders, however, got out of the frame unscathed.

The Missions and 'Riders both picked up singles in the fourth but the solid pitching and defense on display left the run column clean through four innings.

Frisco (20-16, 60-45) put a man in scoring position when Martinez ripped a double into left-center, but Ross struck out Grayson swinging to get his defense off of the field.

A similar situation occurred the following inning as Odubel Herrera bunted his way on base with an infield single and advanced to second on a wild throw by third baseman Diego Goris, but Trever Adams grounded out third-to-first and Joey Gallo went down swinging to keep the run column clean once again.

San Antonio mounted a push of their own in the top of the seventh, but Asher and his defense held the Missions at bay once again. Goris popped a one-out single into left field and Cody Overbeck moved him to second on a fielder's choice ground ball, but Asher struck out Brian Bixler to end the threat.

J.T. Wise was called out on strikes to begin the bottom of the seventh and that brought up Robinson. The lefty made a souvenir out of a 3-2 pitch sent to left field to put the RoughRiders up and on the board 1-0.

The good vibes would not last long for the 'Riders, however, as the Missions mounted a rally in the eighth off of reliever and Rangers' rehabber Joseph Ortiz. Cory Spangenberg bunted his way on and Yeison Asencio singled to left to put runners on the corners.

Ortiz let a wild pitch squeeze through the legs of Cantwell at the dish and Spangenberg scored easily to tie the game at 1-1 as the ball rolled to the backstop. Asencio advanced to second on the play and then to third when Dickerson singled to right in the following at-bat, but Ortiz got Hedges to pop up to center to hold the contest tied.

Frisco deposited a serious bid to take the lead when Adys Portillo entered to pitch in the following frame but were unable to scratch across a run. Grayson walked and Cantwell bunted him over to second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Herrera singled to left to put men on the corners and Adams drew a walk to load the bases for Gallo with one out.

The young man leading all of professional baseball in homers was unable to connect on a 0-2 pitch and went down swinging to bring up Wise. The recent call up, fresh off of his game-winning homer the night before, went down swinging to put an end to the threat.

Keone Kela pitched a perfect ninth frame to quickly get his offense to work and that gave Frisco the momentum they needed to earn their 60th overall win of the season.

The RoughRiders look to win the series against the Missions Sunday at 6:05 at Dr Pepper Ballpark. A pair of righties will face off against one another as Jerad Eickhoff (7-7, 4.33 ERA) pitches against the Missions' Bryce Morrow (3-2, 1.59 ERA). For tickets to see the 'Riders in 2014, call 972-731-9200, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.ridersbaseball.com.