For the second night in a row, the Arkansas Travelers came out on the short end of a three-hit, 2-0 loss at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Frisco's Jake Thompson limited the Travelers to two hits Friday night just six days after Arkansas hitters touched the RoughRiders right-hander for five hits over four innings in a 4-0 road victory for the Travelers.
TODAY’S GAME
Frisco at Arkansas
WHEN 7:10 p.m. WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas WEBSITE travs.com PITCHERS Travelers: Alan Busenitz (RHP, 1-0, 1.80 ERA). RoughRiders: Jerad Eickhoff (RHP, 1-0, 3.60) TICKETS $12 box, $8 reserved ($5 children), $6 general admission ($4 children). Gates open 1 hour before game. PROMOTIONS Travs calendar giveaway. Postgame flying disc toss for a chance to win an Acura, courtesy of Acura of Little Rock.
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY Frisco, 7:10 p.m. SUNDAY Midland, 6:10 p.m. MONDAY Midland, 7:10 p.m. TUESDAY Midland, 7:10 p.m. WEDNESDAY off THURSDAY at Springfield, 7:10 p.m. FRIDAY at Springfield, 7:10 p.m.
"I've learned a long time ago not to judge a lot in spring training and not to judge a lot in the first couple of outings," Frisco Manager Joe Mikulik said Friday night. "Obviously tonight his fastball command was good for a lot of strikes and his breaking pitch looked like a strike coming out of his hand. He kept a great hitting team off balance by attacking the [strike] zone."
A night after left-hander Andrew Faulkner and three RoughRiders relievers limited Arkansas to three hits, Thompson (1-1) and three more Frisco relievers repeated the effort in front of a crowd of 5,101.
Nick Williams belted his first home run of the season in the second inning and Luis Mendez lined a run-scoring single in the fourth to account for the RoughRiders' runs. Both RBI hits came with two outs.
Arkansas lead-off batter Sherman Johnson dropped in a double past Williams in left field to start the Travelers' first, but Johnson never got off second base. Thompson did not give up another hit until Drew Maggi's two-out single in the fifth.
"Tonight was more of my style," said Thompson, a 21-year-old who is in his first full season with the Texas Rangers' organization. "The last time I faced them I tried to nibble at the plate and be too fine. Tonight, I just went after people."
Tyler DeLoach suffered his first loss as a Traveler, despite throwing 62 of his 80 pitches for strikes. The left-hander was 4-0 with a 2.29 earned-run average at Arkansas last season. He picked up a victory at Frisco on Saturday.
DeLoach retired the first five batters he faced, but his first offering to Williams landed just below the seats in the right-field bleachers, a liner that traveled 371 feet. DeLoach finished with eight strikeouts and he walked none in his six innings of work. He allowed eight of Frisco's 10 hits, but he never faced more than six batters in any one inning.
Thompson worked around two lead-off fielding errors and one of the Travelers' potential rallies was foiled by a line drive double play off the bat of Cal Towey in the sixth inning.
Arkansas entered its first homestand with a 6-0 record and had been averaging six runs per game. However, the Travelers will enter tonight's game on a 20-inning scoreless streak.
Mikulik said he was impressed by the back-to-back shutouts.
"It's very difficult at any time of the year to do that," he said. "It's a great feeling, but we're facing a great pitching staff too. They are keeping us in check. We're not scoring a lot of runs. I always say pitching and defense will win games, but you've got to do both. We're getting some hits, but they aren't leading to a lot of runs."
NATURALS 6, ROCKHOUNDS 2
Every Northwest Arkansas starter got at least one hit as the Naturals got back on the winning track with a victory over Midland before 4,502 at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale on Friday night.
The Naturals used three hits in the first inning to take a quick lead.
With one out, Jorge Bonifacio walked and Lane Adams singled to left-center. Bonifacio scored when Mike Bianucci singled up the middle. Adams was thrown at the plate when he tried to score on a ground ball to Midland third baseman Ryon Healy.
Balbino Fuenmayor then doubled down the left-field line, driving in Bianucci. After Dusty Coleman walked to load the bases, Anderson De La Rosa was hit with a pitch by Tanner Peters to score Hunter Dozier, who had reached on a fielder’s choice.
The Naturals added two runs more in the second. Bonifacio singled and Adams followed with a walk. With two outs, Dozier doubled to left-center, scoring Bonifacio and Adams.
Midland picked up a run in the third on two hits, then added another in the fifth on Chad Pinder’s third home run of the season.
Northwest Arkansas scored its last run in the eighth on a double to left by De La Rosa and Ethan Campbell’s RBI single to right-center.
Mark Peterson (1-0) picked up with victory with 2 2/3 innings of relief, allowing 1 run on 6 hits with 2 walks and 1 strikeout. Starter Jonathan Dziedzic allowed 1 run on 3 hits with 6 strikeouts and 2 walks over 3 innings. Peters (0-2) got the loss, going only three innings.
Sports on 04/18/2015