The San Antonio Missions would like to announce that actor David L. Lander will be on hand Tuesday, July 18 at Wolff Stadium to throw out a ceremonial First Pitch and lead the crowd in singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame.
Lander, best know for his role as "Squiggy" on "Laverne and Shirley", is a huge baseball fan and holds the title of Associate Scout with the Seattle Mariners. He has also scouted with for the Anaheim Angels and use to be a part owner in the Minor League club the Portland Beavers.
David is in town to be the guest speaker at the Valero MS 150 "Bike to the Beach" Kick-Off Party, a celebration in preparation for the 150-mile, 2-day Bike Tour fundraiser Oct. 7-8th. The retro 50s-style party entitled, "Leather, Grease and Bobby Socks" starts at 5:30pm at the Cowboys Dancehall on July 19.
David was diagnosed with MS in 1984, but hid his disease from the public for 15 years. In an effort to raise awareness about the importance of early and sustained treatment, David speaks with groups of people with MS as he "plays the role" of Ambassador to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS). In 2005, the NMSS honored David with its first Gift of Laughter Award for inspiring his fellow MS patients through comedy.
David has written a book chronicling his life with MS titled Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn't Tell Nobody.
The San Antonio Missions took the opening game of the three-game series on Friday night, knocking off the Springfield Cardinals by a final score of 5-2 at Hammons Field.
San Antonio starter Travis Chick, making just his second appearance for the Missions, was dominating, allowing just two runs on four hits over seven innings.
Chick allowed a two-out RBI double to Travis Hanson in the third, as the Cards tied the game at 1-1. After the Missions got four in the fifth, Chick (1-0) made only one more mistake, giving up a solo shot to Cody Haerther, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Friday.
San Antonio broke through offensively against Cards' starter Eric Haberer (1-1) in the fifth. With the bases loaded and only one out, Haberer struck out Jesus Guzman, keeping the game tied at 1-1. Yung Chi Chen would come through though, ripping a two-run single to left, giving the Missions a 3-1 lead. After an intentional walk to Wladimir Balentien re-loaded the bases, Marshall Hubbard picked up another two-run single, making it a four-run game at 5-1.
Haerther's homer in the bottom of the inning would be the final tally for the Cards, as his first home run since May 29th and sixth of the year, landed on top of the indoor training facility in right field.
Justin Garza and Chris Russ combined to work four scoreless innings out of the bullpen, giving the Cards' offense a chance to rally.
In the bottom of the ninth, San Antonio brought reliever Ryan Rowland-Smith out of the bullpen to close the game. Rowland-Smith retired the first two hitters, but walked Jarrett Hoffpauir and Dan Moylan, bringing the tying run to the plate. Pinch hitter Amaury Marti was caught looking on strikes to end it, giving Rowland-Smith his second save of the year.
Springfield sees their brief two-game winning streak come to an end, as they fall to 9-11 in the second half. The Cards and Missions will go at it again on Saturday night, as Springfield will send Blake Hawksworth (0-1) to the mound against Robert Rohrbaugh (2-0). On Saturday, 2,500 kids ages 15 and under will receive a free Springfield Cardinals Back Pack Lunch Box, thanks to Hiland Dairy. Game time is 6:10pm. Great tickets are available for Saturday's game by calling (417) 863-2143 or online at www.springfieldcardinals.com. Don't forget that Sunday is another Hiland Dairy Ice Cream Sunday, as kids 12 and under will receive free pre-game ice cream thanks to Hiland Dairy. Game time on Sunday is also 6:10pm.
Ray Winder Field, Little Rock, AR - 3B Matt Brown finished 4-for-4 with 10 total bases and three RBI to lead the Arkansas Travelers (11-11, 35-56) to a 6-5 comeback victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks (14-8, 55-37). With three doubles and a home run (12), Brown had his second four-hit game of the season both against the Hooks. The Travs trailed 5-3 going into the bottom of the seventh, but they manufactured an unearned run and Brown began the eighth with his third double sparking a two-run rally. Travs DH Greg Porter smacked the tying RBI single and finished 2-for-4, while SS Brandon Wood hit a double and scored twice. Arkansas LHP Daniel Davidson (2-7) earned the win with 2.2 shutout innings in relief of RHP Nick Green who allowed five runs on ten hits in 6.1 innings. Corpus Christi got home runs by 3B Mark Saccomanno (7) and 2B Jonny Ash (1), but Saccomanno also committed two errors and the Hooks allowed two unearned runs. The Travs have won 10 of 16 games including three of five on the current home stand.
Each team managed a two-out run in the first inning. The Hooks got an RBI single from C J.R. House to bring home Hunter Pence.
After Hooks starter RHP Ronnie Martinez struck out the first two Travs of the game, Wood and Brown connected on back-to-back doubles to tie the game, at 1-1.
The Travs took the lead in the third inning and again it was Wood and Brown doing the damage after two outs. This time Martinez walked Wood before Brown lined a double off the left-field wall for a 2-1 Travs lead.
Green had set down seven straight hitters until Pence began the fourth with a double to left field. House moved Pence to third with a fly out to deep left, and he scored when 1B Walter Young lined a single to right field for a 2-2 tie.
Corpus Christi regained the lead in the fifth inning when Saccomanno powered a one-out home run to left field for a 3-2 Hooks advantage.
Once again it was Brown who brought the Travs to a tie score when he led off the sixth with a home run to left field for a 3-3 tie.
Green came back for the top of the seventh and fell behind Ash 2-0 and he lined a home run to right field for a 4-3 Hooks lead. After Green struck out Saccomanno, SS Wade Robinson stroked a triple to the center field wall and Arkansas Pitching Coach Ken Patterson visited the mound. Travs Manager Ty Boykin also went to the hill after Patterson, but was prevented from changing pitchers because of rule 8.06 that does not allow two visits to the mound with the same batter at the plate. Green stayed in the game and allowed Josh Anderson's bloop single to left to score Robinson for a 5-3 Hooks lead. Davidson then came on in relief and loaded the bases on a single by Jorge Cortes and a walk to Pence. House then hit a fly ball to left field that was caught by LF Nathan Haynes. Anderson trotted to the plate and Cortes attempted to advance to third. Haynes threw to third base with Brown applying the tag of Cortes for the third out just before Anderson touched the plate nullifying the run.
Martinez was replaced by Rollandini for the seventh and he recorded two quick outs before Haynes drew a walk and swiped second base. Dwaine Bacon then laid down a bunt hit that hugged the third-base line. Saccomanno charged, bare-handed and threw wild past first base bringing home Haynes to cut the Hooks lead to 5-4. Bacon advanced to second on the error, but Wood lined out to center to end the inning.
Davidson pitched around a two-out double by Ash in the eighth setting up the Travs in the bottom of the eighth.
Brown started the winning rally with a fly ball off the right-field wall for a double and moved to third base when Travs RF Terry Evans grounded out to second base. With the Hooks infield playing up, Porter shot a grounder into right field to score Brown with the tying run. Then Porter ran for second as Rollandini deal to Wilson and he chopped the ball through the right side and into the outfield. As Porter hustled to third base, Pence misplayed the ball in right field and Porter scored the winning run.
Time of game was 2:29 and the paid attendance was 3,218.
The Travs and Hooks conclude their season series Saturday night with a doubleheader. In game one the Travs send RHP Jose Arredondo (1-0, 1.93 ERA) against Corpus Christi RHP Josh Miller (7-7, 3.84 ERA). In the nightcap, the Travs have not announced a starting pitcher while the Hooks will go with LHP Josh Muecke (0-4, 11.35 ERA). First pitch will be thrown at 6:30 p.m. and the gates open at 5:30 p.m.
For the second straight game Friday night, the Tulsa Drillers surrendered a double figure run total, resulting in a second straight loss. In Friday's defeat, it was the Midland RockHounds doing the scoring, posting a 12-8 victory in the first game of a 3-game series in west Texas.
The RockHounds never trailed in the game, taking a 9-0 lead after five innings. The Hounds jumped on starting pitcher Marc Kaiser for three runs in the first inning and then added four more in the third and two more in the fifth.
The Drillers got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning as Ian Stewart singled and Joe Koshansky belted his league-leading 23rd home run of the season. An infield single by Troy Tulowitzki with the bases loaded later in the inning cut the lead to 9-3.
In the seventh, Stewart doubled and scored on Joe Gaetti's base hit. Another double, this one by Jordan Czarniecki, scored Gaetti to make it 9-5.
A run-scoring single by Koshansky in the eighth inning pulled the Drillers to within three runs, but it would be as close as they would get. Midland put the game away with three runs in the bottom of the eighth.
A two-run homer by Matt Macri, his eighth of the year, completed the game's scoring in the top of the ninth inning.
Tulsa actually out-hit Midland 15-14 in the slugfest. Tulowitzki led the Drillers attack, finishing 3-5. Stewart, Koshansky, Christian Colonel and Alvin Colina all had two hits each.
Kaiser's record drops to 7-8 with the loss. He allowed nine hits and nine runs in five innings of work. David Bradley picked up the win to improve to 5-8.
Despite the loss, the Drillers remain only three games behind Wichita in the North Division standings.
(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) - Corpus Christi's current northern swing has received a frosty review. In the opener of a short three-game series in Little Rock Friday night, the Hooks failed to hold a two-run lead at the seventh-inning stretch and lost to Arkansas 6-5. The Hooks, losers of three straight one-run games, remain in first place in the Texas League South with a record of 14-8, though that lead has been slashed to one game with San Antonio posting a 5-2 win at Springfield.
Tied at 3-3 entering the seventh, the game turned in Corpus Christi's favor when second baseman Jonny Ash opened the frame with his first homer of the season - a line drive shot that hit low off the "screen monster" in right-center for a 4-3 Hooks' lead. Two batters later, Wade Robinson drilled a line drive off the top of the wall in center, missing a home run by inches. The stand-up triple was his first of the year.
Following consecutive visits to the mound by the Travelers' pitching coach and manager, the umpires prevented Arkansas from making a change on the mound, a decision that forced starter Nick Green to remain in the game. Green, a right-handed pitcher, threw one pitch to Josh Anderson, a left-handed hitter, who floated a single into shallow left to bring Robinson home for a 5-3 advantage.
Corpus Christi's good fortunes ended there. The Travelers rallied for an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh after the first two batters of the inning had been retired. Then, in the eighth, Matt Brown's leadoff double, his fourth extra-base hit of the game, triggered the game-winning rally. Brown moved to third on a ground ball out and scored on Greg Porter's single to tie the game at 5-5.
The next batter, Bobby Wilson, executed a perfect hit-and-run single to right. Porter easily made it to third, but was waved home when right fielder Hunter Pence allowed the ball to get by him. The error was the third of the night for the Hooks.
Daniel Davidson (2-7) picked up the win with 2.2 innings of shutout relief. David Rollandini (2-3) suffered the loss, though was victimized by two errors behind him during his 1.1 innings on the hill. Ronnie Martinez made his Double-A debut for the Hooks and looked good during his six innings of work. He allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out seven.
Anderson, Ash, J.R. House and Walter Young each had two hits and an RBI for the Hooks. Mark Saccomanno added a solo homer, his seventh of the year, while Pence added a double, a walk and two runs.
The Hooks conclude the series and the road trip with a double-header Saturday night beginning at 6:30. Josh Miller (7-7, 3.84) will work game one for the Hooks while lefty Josh Muecke (0-4, 11.35) takes the hill in the nightcap. The Travelers counter with Jose Arredondo (1-0, 1.93) in the opener and a reliever-to-be-named in game two.
Texas League News 7/15
Texas League News 7/15
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