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Long ball and pitching fuel 9-2 Frisco win

August 10, 2014

FRISCO, TEXAS (August 10, 2014) - Frisco defeated the Drillers 9-2 on Sunday night behind Alex Gonzalez and a trifecta of 'Riders home runs. The RoughRiders held Tulsa hitless for 6 2/3 innings and only left three men on the bases in the win.

Neither teams could put a runner on the bases through the first 1 1/2 innings, but Frisco was able to get men on, and more, off of Tulsa starter Eddie Butler in the bottom of the second. J.T. Wise lined a one-out double to left and Teodoro Martinez singled him home for the early 1-0 advantage.

The Drillers (21-28, 59-59) counter-punched two innings later in the fourth and took a 2-1 lead with the help of a few Frisco mistakes. Chris O'Dowd reached first safely when Odubel Herrera made a one-out throwing error and Gonzalez hit Taylor Featherston to put another runner on base. Tulsa plated the two runs without Gonzalez giving up a hit leaving him with two unearned runs.

O'Dowd stole third and later scored when Ryan Casteel grounded out to Hanser Alberto at short. Tulsa then took the lead when Frisco first-bagger Jorge Alfaro committed an error, which allowed Featherston to score and give the visiting club a 2-1 lead.

It would not hold up for much longer as Wise connected on a 2-0 pitch and sent it to the berm in left-center field to tie the contest 2-2 in the bottom half of the frame.

The 'Riders (29-21, 69-50) tacked on more runs in the next inning to retake the lead 4-2, but the inning would experience more drama than that.

Martinez led off the inning with a double down the third-base line and Alberto drew a one-out walk to put two on. Guilder Rodriguez singled to center to score Martinez and Alfaro grounded into a 6-4-3 fielder's choice to give Frisco a 4-2 advantage.

That brought up Herrera who was ejected by home-plate umpire Derek Eaton for arguing balls and strikes on a close pitch, and Jake Skole replaced him at the plate. Skole struck out swinging and moved to centerfield, Martinez shifted over to right field and Drew Robinson replaced Herrera at second base.

Will Lamb relieved Gonzalez (6-3) on the mound in the sixth to put an end to the pitcher's night that went five innings without allowing a hit, despite giving up two unearned runs, with one walk and two strikeouts.

Lamb retired Brian Humphries on a soft ground ball and was replaced by Kyle Lotzkar on the mound. Tulsa, however, secured their first hit in the top of the seventh when Jayson Langfels dropped a single a few feet fair down the first-base line.

Alfaro took exception to the hit and crushed one of his own in the home-half of the seventh off of reliever Nelson Gonzalez. The righty continued with his recent hot streak and popped a solo-shot to left-center field to put Frisco up 6-2.

Frisco would not stop there as they added three more runs in the eighth. Trever Adams and Wise drew walks to lead off the inning against new pitcher Cole White, and Adams later scored when Martinez singled to shallow right.

Robinson followed suit by hitting a two-run homer to right to put the RoughRiders up by a touchdown 9-2.

Martire Garcia pitched the top of the ninth and closed out the 9-2 'Riders win. Martinez finished the contest going 4-for-4 with two runs and three RBI, and the 'Riders pitching staff only issued two base hits.

Butler (5-7) suffered the loss going six innings and gave up five runs on eight hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

The RoughRiders have a scheduled off day on Monday and travel to Springfield to take on the Cardinals for the first game of a three-game set on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. Righty Alec Asher (8-11, 4.19 ERA) pitches for the 'Riders and takes on lefty Jonathan Cornelius (10-8, 4.10 ERA). For tickets to see the 'Riders in 2014, call 972-731-9200, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.ridersbaseball.com.