'Riders bats blaze in 13-0 shutout over Tulsa

FRISCO, TEXAS (May 23, 2014) - The RoughRiders cruised to a 13-0 shutout of the Drillers behind seven strong innings by Luke Jackson and an offensive outburst Friday night at Dr Pepper Ballpark. Every member of the 'Riders lineup reached base safely and Frisco won the series 2-1.

Jackson got his defense back into the dugout after firing only nine pitches in his first inning of work and his offense repaid him for it in the bottom half of the frame. Guilder Rodriguez singled to center off of Tulsa starter Tyler Anderson to lead things off and Patrick Cantwell grounded into a would-be double play. Second baseman Joey Wong wasn't able to make the out at second and Rodriguez advanced to third on the play.

Anderson (3-2) earned his first out of the inning by getting Jake Smolinski to pop out to right field. That brought up the Frisco designated hitter, Tomas Telis, who could not find a pitch to hit and walked to load the bases for Trever Adams. The righty put the ball in play by smashing a 2-2 pitch to right-center field and Rodriguez scored on the sacrifice fly making it 1-0 RoughRiders.

Adams added to his RBI total and extended his club's lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the third with a single to left scoring Cantwell from second base. The Drillers (25-22) could not hold the damage to one run in the inning as Anderson gave up three consecutive singles to left to score Cantwell, Smolinski and Adams, respectively. Frisco (28-19) scored three runs on four hits and sent eight men to the plate in the third to give Jackson and Co. a 4-0 lead.

Anderson's outing was completed following his three innings of work. The southpaw gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits with a couple of walks and five strikeouts.

He was replaced by Ryan Arrowood who began his evening by getting Edwin Garcia to strike out looking, but then found himself in hot water. Back-to-back singles by Rodriguez and Cantwell and another Smolinski walk loaded the bases for the second time of the ballgame for the 'Riders. Telis hit a ground ball to first baseman Harold Riggins who fired home but it was not in time and Frisco took a 5-0 lead on the fielder's choice RBI.

That brought up Adams, who already had 2 RBI on the evening, and he tripled his RBI total to six with one crack of the bat. Arrowood's 2-2 pitch was sent packing to left and the grand slam put the RoughRiders out in front 9-0. 

Cantwell made it 11-0 on a high chopper just clearing the glove of third baseman Jayson Langfels for his third base hit in four at bats.

Jackson (5-2) allowed no runs on three base hits in his seven innings of work, while walking one and striking out four in his fifth win of the year.

The 'Riders cashed in by going 6-14 with runners in scoring position and the Drillers went 0-5.

The RoughRiders now welcome the Springfield Cardinals to town for a three game series. Game one is tomorrow at 7:05 at Dr Pepper Ballpark and features Frisco righty Kyle Lotzkar (0-2, 4.88 ERA) challenging Seth Blair (3-3, 4.99 ERA). For tickets to see the 'Riders in 2014, call 972-731-9200, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.ridersbaseball.com.