Timely hitting puts 'Riders ahead 4-3

FRISCO, TEXAS (July 9, 2014) - Frisco returned to the friendly confines of Dr Pepper Ballpark in victorious manner with a gutsy 4-3 win over the Hooks on Wednesday night. Edwar Cabrera pitched six innings in the win and Frisco earned their 50th win of the year.

The Hooks (10-9, 44-45) came out swinging against Cabrera and a few early singles gave Corpus Christi a 1-0 lead in the first. Ruben Sosa singled to left and was sacrificed to second by Delino DeShields Jr. Sosa later scored on Jonathan Meyer's RBI ground ball single to left.

Frisco (10-8, 50-37) answered in the second by getting to Hooks' starter Mike Hauschild and sending seven men to the dish. It all began with Joey Gallo's lead off walk. Tomas Telis singled to right but would soon find himself on second. Hanser Alberto bunted the runners over and a bad throw to first by catcher Rene Garcia rolled into the outfield allowing Gallo to score and Telis to trot to third. That tied the contest at 1-1 but it would not stay that way for long.

Teodoro Martinez hit his 30th RBI single on a line drive to left and Telis scored to give the RoughRiders a 2-1 lead. Lead off hitter Drew Robinson then dropped a sacrifice fly into right to plate Alberto and put Frisco out in front 3-1.

Hauschild was replaced by David Rollins (2-3) after his six innings of work in which he gave up four hits and three runs (one earned). The righty walked two and struck out one. 

Cabrera's outing would wrap up in the sixth following one-out base hits by Garcia and Brandon Meredith and Will Lamb (2-1) came on to replace his comrade. Lamb earned the second out of the frame by getting Tony Kemp to pop up to short, but Sosa left his mark on the game with a two-run double to deep right-center.

Cabrera pitched 6.1 frames and gave up three runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out three.

Frisco counter punched with a lead off double by Martinez and Patrick Cantwell singled to put runners on the corners. Odubel Herrera followed suit by smacking a sacrifice fly to deep center and Martinez scored easily to retake the lead 4-3.

The Hooks came inches shy of tying the contest in the eighth but Alberto made a web gem play to throw out DeShields Jr. at home. The flashy infielder made a nice pick on a hot ground ball and turned to throw out the sliding DeShields Jr. at the plate. That gave Lamb two outs in the inning and the momentum he needed to get out of the frame unscathed.

The RoughRiders look to take game two Thursday night at Dr Pepper Ballpark at 7:05. Southpaw Alex Claudio (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will pitch for the 'Riders and will face off against righty Jordan Jankowski (2-3, 3.86 ERA). For tickets to see the 'Riders in 2014, call 972-731-9200, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.ridersbaseball.com.