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Frisco RoughRiders

Frisco RoughRiders Game Notes

August 26, 2014 - Texas League (TL1)
Frisco RoughRiders News Release


Haviland of Missed Opportunity: The RoughRiders had a chance for a rare sweep of the RockHounds last night, but ran into a buzzsaw in Shawn Haviland, dropping the finale 5-1 at Security Bank Ballapark. Haviland handcuffed Frisco over eight shutout innings, limiting the 'Riders to three hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Midland's offense gave him some support in a four-run fourth inning against Andrew Faulkner, who allowed the first two men of the frame to reach base before Dusty Coleman brought them home with a double. After a walk and a flyout, Coleman scored on a Conner Crumbliss base hit that chased Faulkner from the game. D'Arby Myers made it 4-0 when he singled home another run, while Crumbliss drove in his second run of the game in the sixth. The RoughRiders avoided the shutout in the ninth inning against Ryan Dull thanks to an error, a wild pitch and an Odubel Herrera RBI groundout. Frisco was seeking its first sweep of the 'Hounds since 2011 and its first sweep in Midland since July 31 - August 1, 2007.

Today's Pitching Matchup: Frisco and Corpus Christi meet in a series for the final time in the 2014 season beginning tonight and the 'Riders have Jake Thompson on the mound while the Hooks go with Mark Appel, the first overall pick in the 2013 draft. Thompson is coming off his first loss as a member of the Rangers organization on Thursday against San Antonio when he allowed five runs (four on Alex Dickerson's grand slam) on five hits in 4.2 innings. In his four prior outings he had allowed five total runs in 19.2 innings. A native of Rockwall, Texas (about 35 minutes from Dr Pepper Ballpark, where he has previously attended games as a fan and played as an amateur), Thompson was acquired from the Detroit Tigers last month in the Joakim Soria deal. Appel is making his first start against the RoughRiders and his sixth for the Hooks since a promotion from Lancaster. He is coming off a six-inning complete game loss at Midland in which he allowed four runs (three earned). The right-hander has allowed four runs in three of his starts and gave up just one total run in his other two. Appel began the season with a tumultuous stint in the California League over which he went 2-5 with 9.74 ERA and a .372 batting average against in 12 starts; he did post a good 40-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 44.1 innings. A non-roster invitee to big league spring training, Appel underwent an appendectomy before the season, which disrupted his preparations for the year, and also dealt with tendonitis in one of his thumbs. After four starts for Lancaster in which he posted a 6.23 ERA, he was noted to have struggled to adapt to the Astros' tandem pitching system and was sent to extended spring training. He re-emerged with the JetHawks at the end of May and allowed ten runs in 1.1 innings in his first start back. Baseball America rated Appel the Astros' third-best prospect prior to this season and owner of the system's best slider. In his pro debut, he split 2013 between Tri-City and Quad Cities, going 3-1 with a 3.79 ERA, 33 strikeouts and nine walks in 38 innings (ten starts). A four-year player and graduate of Stanford University (Management Science and Engineering degree), the 23-year-old signed for a $6.35 million bonus, the largest in Houston history. He was drafted by the Pirates with the eighth overall selection in 2012, but declined to sign for $4 million and went back to school. The Tigers drafted him with their 15th round pick in 2009 out of Monte Vista High School in Danville, California. In his final two years at Stanford, Appel went 20-6 with a 2.35 ERA and 260 strikeouts in 229.1 innings. He was a two-time first team All-American, the 2013 Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year and is among the leaders in career Cardinal records for strikeouts (first, 372), innings (fourth, 377.2) and wins (fourth, 28). Born in Houston, he was raised there until the age of 12, when his family moved to San Ramon, California. Appel throws his fastball 93-96 mph, touching 99, a slider and a changeup, both of which have the potential to be "plus" pitches.

Second half race: With seven games remaining in the 2014 regular season, it is now official that Frisco and Midland will meet in the South Division Championship Series. With the RockHounds' win and San Antonio's loss on Monday, the Missions were eliminated from both a second half division title and a wild card berth. What has not been determined is whether or not Midland will win the second half or gain entry to the playoffs as a wild card. The 'Riders have a one-game lead for first place in the second half the season. Frisco will host the first two SDCS games on September 3 & 4; games three and four will in Midland while game five will be hosted by the team that wins the second half.

Phat Alberto: Despite dropping the series finale in Midland, Frisco shortstop Hanser Alberto went 1 for 3 to continue a good run at the plate. Alberto is the owner of a nine-game hit streak, his longest since joining the RoughRiders in early July. During the streak, the Dominican is batting .382 with three doubles, two RBI and four runs scored. This streak has continued a tremendous improvement in the batter's box for Alberto, who was hitting just .164 after game one of a doubleheader on July 22. Since then, he has hit .324 (33 for 102) to raise his average 104 points.

Sunday Funday: The penultimate Sunday of the regular season was a good one for the RoughRiders as the team beat Midland 5-2. After starting the season 3-9 on Sundays, Frisco has ripped off seven straight days on that day to improve to 10-9 on Sundays in 2014. The team has also won seven straight games on Saturdays to improve to 15-6, Frisco's best record on any particular day of the week. On the other side of the coin, the RoughRiders have lost their last seven Thursday games to go from 10-4 on Thursdays to 10-11; it is the only day of the week on which Frisco has a losing record.

#Winning: August 12th's victory marked Frisco's 70th win of the season and, because the team will play a maximum of 139 regular season games, the club is guaranteed to finish the year with a winning overall record, continuing a tradition of victorious play on the diamond. The RoughRiders have finished .500 or better in nine consecutive seasons and own an all-time record of 894-764 (.539). The last time Frisco finished below .500 was the only time in team history, back in 2005 when it finished 58-82. The streak of non-losing seasons is by far the longest in the Texas League; every other team in the circuit has had at least one losing season in the last three years. The streak is the longest in Double-A and the third-longest among all 120 full-season minor league clubs, exceeded only by the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats (12 straight non-losing seasons) and the Advanced-A San Jose Giants (ten). Including teams that play in short-season leagues, Frisco's streak is the sixth longest; the Elizabethton Twins (26), Brooklyn Cyclones (13) and AZL Giants (14) have the longest such streaks in stateside Minor League Baseball.

The Trevolution will not be televised: Trever Adams smashed a two-run home run in his first at bat Tuesday night for his 13th longball of the season, a new career-high. Adams has also set a career-high in doubles this season with 35, which is the second- most in the Texas League. He is batting282, good for sixth in the TL, is fifth in RBI (58), tied for third in hits (129), first in slugging (.448), second in extra-base hits (49), tied for fourth in runs scored (65) and third in total bases (205). The Nebraskan has a hit in 31 of his last 40 games and is hitting .312 over this stretch. In the second half of the season, Adams has not been held hitless in back-to-back games and the last time he went more than two games without a hit was April 28 throught May 4 when he went three straight contests without a knock.

40-40 Club: Slugger Joey Gallo marked another milestone on August 17 with his two-run home run in the ninth inning at Tulsa. It was his 102nd pro dinger and his 40th of the season. He has become the first minor leaguer to have back-to-back 40 home run seasons since Ron Kittle did it in 1981 (40 for Glens Falls White Sox) and 1982 (50 for Edmonton Trappers). He became the first teenager in more than 50 years to hit 40 longballs in a season last year. Since joining the RoughRiders on June 9, Gallo leads the Texas League in homers (19). He is second to Kris Bryant of the Iowa Cubs in all of professional baseball with 40 home runs. Minor League Baseball's reigning home run king is second in the minors in slugging percentage (.621) and fourth in OPS (1.016).

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