RoughRiders Beat Down By Corpus Christi
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CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – The Frisco RoughRiders were beat around early and often by the Corpus Christi Hooks, falling 9-1 on Saturday night at Whataburger Field. The ‘Riders trailed 6-0 after three innings and didn’t score until the seventh.
The Hooks (15-13, 57-41) got the offense clicking early against Frisco starter Nick McBride. The right-hander walked the leadoff man, Drew Muren, in the bottom of the first. He retired the next two men, but Jonathan Meyer singled to keep the inning going. Next up, Erik Castro doubled both of them home to put the Hooks ahead 2-0. Castro had a game-high three hits before the night was done and drove in three.
Frisco (12-17, 51-48) went hitless in the first three innings against the Hooks’ starting pitcher Nick Tropeano and fell behind further in the bottom of the third. The first four batters collected hits off McBride in the bottom half of the third, including RBI knocks for Jonathan Meyer and Erik Castro. He finished the inning, but four runs scored in the frame, and he left the ballgame handing a 6-0 deficit over to the bullpen.
Corpus added three more runs off Phil Klein in the fifth. Two touched home on a long ball from
Max Stassi, his ninth and second of the series, and Muren tripled home the ninth run of the contest to make it a 9-0 Hooks advantage.
The offense got their first hit in the fourth, a one-out double by Brett Nicholas but didn’t score until the seventh. Still against Tropeano, Chih-Hsien Chiang singled and so did Tomas Telis with one out in the seventh inning. Hanser Alberto lined a single to center field to bring Chiang home for the first and only run the ‘Riders would score.
Joe Van Meter pitched well in his second Texas League outing of the season. He fired three scoreless innings with two strikeouts. The offense, though, never mustered much of a rally, and the Hooks bullpen finished off the ‘Riders for a 9-1 final score.
Earning the win, Tropeano (4-7) worked seven innings of one-run ball with four hits allowed, one walk and five strikeouts. McBride (1-6) allowed six runs, all earned, on six hits with three walks and no strikeouts and took the loss.
The RoughRiders and Hooks conclude their series on Sunday at 6:05 p.m. at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi. Kevin Pucetas (9-7, 4.51 ERA) takes the bump for the ‘Riders. He will be opposed by Bobby Dorarn (8-2, 3.17 ERA). Fans can tune in to the play-by-play broadcast on www.RidersBaseball.com beginning at 5:40.
The ‘Riders return home on Monday, July 22 at 7:05 p.m. to host the Midland RockHounds for three games in the shortest home stand of the season at Dr Pepper Ballpark. For information on tickets to see the RoughRiders in 2013, please call (972) 731-9200, email info@ridersbaseball.com or visit www.ridersbaseball.com.
