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Travs Shutout on Independence Day

July 4, 2012 - Texas League (TL) Arkansas Travelers

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - For the second consecutive night, the Arkansas Travelers ran up against a dominant pitching performance by a Frisco RoughRider starter as Wednesday night's starter, Cody Buckel, threw six innings of one-hit baseball to guide the RoughRiders to a shutout win over the Travelers, 8-0, on Independence Day at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Buckel, who was making just his third double-A start after spending the earlier part of the season at the single-A level, was sharp early on against the Travelers' lineup. Through the first four innings, Buckel walked a pair, but did not allow a hit, and struck out four. The strong start on the mound by Frisco's Buckel was not shared by his counterpart, Johnny Hellweg. Out of the eight hits Hellweg would surrender in his time on the mound, four of them came in the first inning.

All four of the hits Hellweg was tagged for in the first inning were only singles, and thanks to an outfield assist by Roberto Lopez, only one run would score in the inning. The "˜Riders would score a pair of runs in the fourth and fifth innings, however off of Hellweg to take a 5-0 lead.

The Travs did not collect their first hit of the game until the fifth inning when Brian Hernandez led off with a single into left field. Buckel quickly erased Hernandez from the base paths by getting Carlos Ramirez to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. Buckel would walk the next batter in Jimmy Swift, but retired the following four batters in a row to get through his six innings with just one hit allowed.

With Buckel out of the game, the Travs fared better; twice picking up two base hits in the seventh and eighth innings, but failed to score in either inning. Two more runs in the eighth and another in the ninth swelled the RoughRiders lead to 8-0. The Travs would go quietly in the bottom of the ninth to lose by an 8-0 score.

Buckel's strong outing nets him his first win at the double-A level as he is now 1-2. Hellweg takes the loss and falls to 3-8 on the season.

6,450 Travelers fans were on hand for the 2:49 game at Dickey-Stephens Park.

The Travs will now hit the road for six-game stretch starting with a three-game series against the Midland RockHounds. The first game of that series is set for a 7:00 pm start time on Thursday, July 5th.

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Texas League Stories from July 4, 2012


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