RoughRiders Take Game 1 of SDCS
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FRISCO, TEXAS – The RoughRiders defeated the RockHounds 7-3 in game one of the South Division Championship Series on Wednesday night in Frisco. Alex “Chi Chi” Gonzalez pitched six strong frames and Odubel Herrera set the tone with a leadoff homer in what would be a six-run first.
The win gives the RoughRiders a 1-0 series advantage in the best-of-five series between the two clubs.
Gonzalez (1-0) walked Conner Crumbliss and gave up a hit to Kenny Wilson to begin the ballgame, but the talented right-hander retired his next three to avoid the potential early damage. As a thank you, his offense inflicted some damage off of Midland starter Nate Long (0-1) in the home half of the first.
Herrera hit a leadoff home run to right, his third of the year and first of the post-season, and the ‘Riders took a 1-0 lead. Trever Adams bunted his way on with a perfect infield single down the third-base line and Joey Gallo reached first when Hiro Nakajima was unable to corral a throw from Crumbliss at second base.
J.T. Wise grounded out third-to-first to move the runners over and a wild pitch, which was ball four to Nomar Mazara, allowed Adams to score making it 2-0.
Jorge Alfaro and Nick Williams hit consecutive RBI singles pushing the
lead to 4-0 Frisco, and Hanser Alberto ripped a double into the left-field corner giving the RoughRiders a 6-0 advantage.
Midland took exception to the early bashing and fought back to plate a couple of runs in the second inning. D’Arby Myers drew a one-out walk and Nakajima reached first via a fielding error by Gallo, and Blake Forsythe knocked an RBI single to center to earn the ‘Hounds’ first run of the game. They made it 6-2 soon after when Crumbliss smacked a sacrifice fly to center.
Long gave up six runs (one earned) on eight hits over four innings pitched, walked one and struck out three, gave up one home run and one wild pitch, and threw 53 of his 92 pitches for strikes.
Murphy Smith came on out of the bullpen in the fifth and issued a one-out walk to Williams. The speedy centerfielder motored around the bags to third when Alberto made it to second on a throwing error by third-bagger Max Muncy, and Williams scored when Herrera executed a suicide squeeze.
Gonzalez left the ballgame with a 7-2 lead and gave up two runs on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts over the six innings he pitched.
Will Lamb had a perfect seventh inning but the Frisco southpaw gave up a leadoff triple to Wilson in the eighth. Muncy drew a walk to end his outing and Josh McElwee entered the contest. A wild pitch moved Muncy to second and Matthes scored Wilson from third on an RBI single to left.
A walk to Jeremy Barfield loaded the bags with no outs, but McElwee retired the next three he faced to get out of the late-game jam.
The momentum set the stage for Keone Kela in the ninth, and the late inning specialist earned all three of his outs on strikeouts.
Game two of the South Division Championship Series will be played on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. at Dr Pepper Ballpark. The RoughRiders will attempt to take a 2-0 series lead in another battle of right-handers as Jerad Eickhoff (10-9, 4.08 ERA) takes on Chris Jensen (12-8, 3.14 ERA). For tickets to see the ‘Riders in 2014, call 972-731-9200, e-mail Info@RidersBaseball.com or visit www.ridersbaseball.com.
