Frisco Loses In 16 Innings
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CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS (JULY 11, 2013) – In a 16-inning affair, the Frisco RoughRiders rallied from down seven runs to ultimately fall by an 8-7 score against the Corpus Christi Hooks at Whataburger Field on Wednesday night and into early Thursday morning. Catcher Zach Zaneski threw three scoreless innings, but a walk-off wild pitch with Chih-Hsien Chiang on the mound ended the ballgame.
The RoughRiders (7-12, 46-43) fell behind in a 7-0 hole early in the ballgame. Frisco starter Kevin Pucetas nearly matched Ross Seaton in the first three innings. Only Erik Castro collected a hit for either side in the first three frames; it was a first-inning solo home run to make it 1-0 Corpus Christi (9-9, 52-37).
Pucetas faced eight men in the fourth, retiring only two of them. The big hit came with the score already 2-0 Hooks and the bases loaded. Jiovanni Mier cleared the bags with a double to make it 5-0 Corpus Christi and end Pucetas’ night. Phil Klein then faced four batters, walking them all, before Alex Claudio could finally get Frisco out of the inning. When the 12-batter bottom of the fourth was over, the ‘Riders trailed 7-0.
Seaton took a no-hitter into the fifth before Hanser Alberto doubled with two outs, breaking it up. In his
final inning in the sixth, Seaton allowed an RBI double off the bat of Brett Nicholas, which put Frisco on the board at 7-1. Off the Hooks bullpen, the RoughRiders scored a run in the seventh, two in the eighth and trailed by three runs to begin the ninth.
Off of Chia-Jen Lo, making his Hooks’ debut, Frisco quickly tied the ballgame. Alberto singled to lead off the inning. Odubel Herrera then doubled him home, and Ryan Strausborger launched his eighth home run of the season, a two-run blast to tie the game at 7-7. The comeback tied the longest by the team this season.
Then both teams couldn’t score for nearly another full ballgame. Pat Urkfitz, Carlos Quevedo, and Matt Heidenreich combined to limit the ‘Riders to no runs on five hits and one walk over the final eight innings. After the disastrous fourth inning, Claudio, Randy Henry, Lisalverto Bonilla, Jimmy Reyes, and then catcher Zach Zaneski put together 11 scoreless innings before Chiang entered for the 16th. Zaneski, making his first professional pitching appearance, even struck out two batters in his three scoreless innings.
In the bottom of the 16th, however, the Hooks finally scored. With the bases loaded, Chiang uncorked a breaking ball that got by catcher Tomas Telis, who caught the entire game, scoring the winning win on a wild pitch. Castro, who scored the first run of the game on the home run, lead off the inning with a walk and touched home to score the game-winning run as well.
Chiang (0-1) suffered the defeat in his pitching debut, and Heidenreich (4-3) earned the win for the Hooks.
The RoughRiders play game two of their brief four-game road trip against the Hooks Thursday at 7:05 p.m. Arlett Mavare (1-2, 6.91 ERA) is making the spot-start for the RoughRiders in place of Neil Ramirez. Ruben Alaniz (4-7, 4.73 ERA) will get the ball for the Hooks. Fans can tune in to the play-by-play broadcast on www.RidersBaseball.com beginning at 6:40.
