RoughRiders Shut Out San Antonio
FRISCO, TEXAS – The RoughRiders shut out the Missions 2-1 on Thursday night to earn a 3-1 series win and improve to 14-6 overall. Jake Smolinski homered for the second consecutive evening to propel his club to their 13th win out of their last 15 games. Edwar Cabrera impressed in his five innings of work to earn his first win of the season.
Cabrera looked fantastic in his first three innings of work by retiring eight consecutive hitters. James Needy, who took the hill for San Antonio, copied Cabrera for the first few innings by retiring his first seven batters.
The two clubs were not able to get a man on base until the third inning, and neither team scored until Frisco’s half of the fourth. Smolinski continued his hot streak and sent a pitch swimming to the Kroger Pool Zone in right field to make it 1-0 ‘Riders.
The Missions collected themselves and got to Cabrera in the fifth frame when he appeared to tire on the mound. Yeison Asencio singled and used his speed to steal second base and advanced to third by tagging up on a B.J. Guinn fly ball to center. Casey McElroy walked on four consecutive balls, but Cabrera rebounded nicely getting Bridger Hunt to pop out to short and end the threat.
The ‘Riders extended their lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth when Drew Robinson scored from
second on a Guilder Rodriguez single to left.
Hits were few and far between from the third inning on with both clubs only registering five hits, and Frisco held the Missions out of the run column despite a rally in the eighth. San Antonio placed the tying runs in scoring position and Wilmer Font retired Asencio to extinguish the fire.
Cabrera (1-0) exited pitching five innings of shutout baseball and allowed three hits. His counterpart, Needy (0-2), pitched five innings while giving up two runs on three hits and struck out five.
Font returned to close out the game in the ninth by walking his first hitter, getting a fly ball out to center and striking out his final two to put a cap on the 2-0 win.
Frisco departs for their second road trip of the season and will play the first of a four game set against the Corpus Christi Hooks on Friday at Whataburger Field at 7:10 p.m. Jerad Eickhoff (1-1, 5.54 ERA) opposes right-hander Brady Rodgers (1-1, 1.61 ERA). For tickets to see the ‘Riders in 2014, call 972-731-9200, e-mail Info@RidersBaseball.com or visit www.ridersbaseball.com.
