'Riders travel well, beat Arkansas
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS (JULY 2, 2014) - A fast start offensively coupled with solid pitching lifted the Frisco RoughRiders to a 5-1 win over the Arkansas Travelers on Wednesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park.
The RoughRiders sent seven men to the plate in each of the first two innings against Travelers' starter Orangel Arenas. With the bases loaded and one man down in the opening frame, Trever Adams bounced run-scoring groundball to second that scored Ryan Strausborger.
Arenas grappled with his command and chucked a wild pitch to Odubel Herrera with a runner on third. Patrick Cantwell, who reached as a hit batsman, scored on two feet to give Frisco a 2-0 lead.
After the Travelers cut the deficit in half with an RBI sacrifice fly by Zach Borenstein, who rejoined the team recently from Triple-A Salt Lake City, the 'Riders put a triple on the board in the second inning.
A line-drive double down the left-field chalk scored Jake Skole and Strausborger, who touched home for the second time on the night. Strausborger reached on an error by Arkansas third baseman Kaleb Cowart and counted as an unearned run.
Cantwell crossed for another unearned run when Tomás Telis hit into the second RBI groundout of the game for the 'Riders and pushed the lead to 5-1. Telis now has 32 RBI on the season.
The 'Riders did not score the rest of the night, but placed a runner on base in every inning save the eighth. Arenas (5-5) lasted four innings and took the loss as he allowed five runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
Alex Gonzalez shut down the Travelers after the first-inning run, but an elevated pitch count limited his outing to four innings. He allowed one run on one hit with two walks and two strikeouts and did not factor into the decision.
Kyle Lotzkar (1-2) entered in relief and turned in his finest performance of the season. The righty allowed one baserunner over three innings and struck out three to win his first game as a member of the Rangers organization.
The Travelers missed their best chance to reenter the contest when they loaded the bases against Will Lamb with two outs. Jett Bandy, the Travelers' leader in home runs this season, smashed a ball to the deepest part of the park where Strausborger hauled it in at the track to neutralize the threat.
With the win, Frisco (46-35; 6-6) remains undefeated in the state of Arkansas in 2014 (7-0) and wins consecutive games for the first time since June 9-10.
Arkansas (42-41; 8-5) sees its five-game winning streak snapped and falls to 4-6 against the RoughRiders this season.
Frisco's three-game series with Arkansas continues on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. CDT with the Frisco RoughRiders Pregame Show on www.ridersbaseball.com.
The 'Riders next return to Dr Pepper Ballpark on Wednesday, July 9 to begin a four-game series with the Corpus Christi Hooks. For tickets to see the 'Riders in 2014, call 972-731-9200, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.ridersbaseball.com.