Rawhide Come Out on Top in Pitcher's Duel

MODESTO, CA - Darren McCaughan and Riley Smith dueled through seven scoreless innings and, for the second time this week, the Rawhide took a scoreless tie into the ninth inning.

McCaughan came out for the top of the ninth and Camden Duzenack started the frame by singling to left. With Daulton Varsho at the plate, Duzenack stole second base to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Varsho moved Duzenack to third with a groundout and, with the tying run at third, McCaughan was lifted from the game.
Seth Elledge replaced him and, with the infield in, faced Rawhide RBI leader Drew Ellis. Ellidge struck Ellis out on three straight fastballs to bring up Pavin Smith and on the first pitch, Smith rolled a grounder to first that looked like it would spell the end of the threat.
Nuts first baseman Evan White made a nice play on a trick hop to his backhand side and tossed to Elledge covering the bag. But as Elledge got to the bag, the ball clanked in and out of his glove, allowing Smith to reach and Duzenack to score the first run of the game.
Tommy Eveld came on for the bottom of the ninth inning and, with one out, gave up a stand-up triple to second-ranked Mariners prospect Evan White to put the tying run at third. Eveld struck out Kyle Lewis, Seattle's top prospect, and then worked a full count against Luis Liberato.
On the 3-2 pitch, Eveld (SV, 2) dropped in a slider on the outside corner for a called third strike to send Visalia (27-23) to a 1-0 win and a series victory at John Thurman field.
Riley Smith received a no-decision but dealt his best start of the year. He tied his career-high by going seven innings while tossing his first shutout outing of the season. Smith struck out seven Nuts hitters and retired the final 11 that he faced in order.
Smith had to weave in and out of traffic in his first four innings and stranded runners on the corners in the fourth. Wei-Chieh Huang (W, 3-1) set the side down in order with a pair of strikeouts in the eighth.
McCaughan (3-4) set a career-high by retiring one man in the ninth inning while striking out three. Modesto (22-28) dropped their second straight series against the Rawhide.
The Rawhide will continue their road trip in San Jose, beginning a four-game series at Municipal Stadium tomorrow night. First pitch will be at 5 PM and will feature RHP Connor Grey (4-2, 4.57) against hard-throwing Giants RHP Melvin Adon (1-3, 4.56). The live radio broadcast will be available on rawhidebaseball.com.