Frisco Loses At Corpus Christi
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CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – The Frisco RoughRiders fell for the first time on the road this season as they dropped a 6-4 decision to the Corpus Christi Hooks on Friday night at Whataburger Field.
The ‘Riders entered the night as the only team in Minor League Baseball with an undefeated road record. Corpus Christi ended the streak with their fourth win in five games.
With the loss, Frisco (14-7) drops to 6-1 on the road and 3-2 against the Hooks this season. Corpus Christi (13-8) moves one game behind the RoughRiders for first place in the Texas League South Division.
Trailing 6-3 at the start of the ninth inning, the ‘Riders flashed their trademark resilience until the game’s final out. With one away, Patrick Cantwell singled for the second time in the game and advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch by Jorge De Leon.
Trever Adams advanced his teammate to third on a groundout to set up Rougned Odor at the plate. Odor’s pop fly to Corpus Christi third baseman Matt Duffy appeared to end the game, but Duffy failed to complete the routine play and Cantwell scored to pull Frisco within two runs of tying the game.
The rally fell short when the next batter, Jake Smolinski, hit a sharp grounder
to Duffy at third, who redeemed himself with a strong throw to first and the Hooks preserved the 6-4 win.
Frisco fell behind early in their first test outside Dr Pepper Ballpark since April 15. Playing in left field for the third time this season, Adams could not handle a fly ball from Corpus Christi’s Preston Tucker. Tucker’s teammate, Andrew Aplin, scored from second base on the Adams error and the Hooks took a 1-0 lead.
The ‘Riders answered in the top of the second. Jordan Brown notched his third double of the season and advanced to third when Ryan Rua flew out to center. Chris Grayson drove in Brown for his third RBI of the season and the ‘Riders squared the game at one run apiece.
In the bottom of the frame, Frisco fell behind for the second time when Tyler Heineman knocked a run scoring single off starting pitcher Jerad Eickhoff with one out.
Three batters later, Nolan Fontana scored a pair when he belted a double to right field and extended the Hooks’ lead to 4-1. Fontana notched his ninth double of the season, which leads the Texas League.
Corpus Christi brought eight men to the plate in the second inning and roughed up Eickhoff for three runs and four hits. It was Eickhoff’s second consecutive mound appearance against the Hooks.
On April 20, Eickhoff surrendered three Corpus Christi home runs over five innings in a 7-5 loss for the RoughRiders.
Eickhoff steadied himself after the second inning and allowed one additional hit before he bowed out with one away in the sixth. The 6-foot-4 220-pound right-hander finished with 5 1/3 innings pitched and gave up six hits, six runs, five earned runs and three walks with four strikeouts.
The two final runs charged to Eickhoff crossed the plate after he exited the contest. The RoughRiders’ starter walked two batters in the sixth before reliever Ryan Rodebaugh entered the game. The Hooks’ Jio Mier lined a ball into center field off Rodebaugh that scored both baserunners and made the score 6-1.
Frisco’s offense awakened in the eighth inning. Rua ripped his sixth double of the season and scored Rougned Odor for the team’s first run since the second. Grayson then drove in his second RBI of the night on a fielder’s choice to narrow the deficit to three runs.
With Rua on third base, Zach Zaneski’s deep fly ball to right field met enough wind resistance to find the glove of Corpus Christi’s Preston Tucker near the wall the inning ended.
Nonetheless, the ‘Riders trailed by three heading into the final inning.
The ‘Riders continue their four-game series with the Hooks on Saturday at 7:10 p.m. Coverage begins live on www.ridersbaseball.com at 6:45 p.m. with the Frisco RoughRiders Pregame Show. The team returns to Dr Pepper Ballpark on Saturday, May 3 and will welcome the Midland RockHounds to the Metroplex for the first time in 2014.
For tickets to see the ‘Riders in 2014, call 972-731-9200, e-mail Info@RidersBaseball.com or visit www.ridersbaseball.com.
