AirHogs Edge Cats in Singles-Fest

Published on July 4, 2011 under American Association (AA)
Grand Prairie AirHogs News Release


GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas -- After falling to El Paso in front of last Saturday night's big crowd at QuikTrip Park, the Grand Prairie AirHogs did not disappoint the throng of 4,894 on Sunday, beating the Fort Worth Cats 4-2 for their fifth straight win against the Cats overall and the third in a row in their Independence Day weekend series.

The game featured 19 combined hits but just two for extra bases, a pair of solo homers, while the other 17 hits were all singles. And with those hits, unlike the first two games of the series, both teams got on the board in the third inning.

The Cats (20-28) got three straight two out singles by Cory Morales, Aljay Davis and Marcos Rodriguez to take a 1-0 lead against David Nathanson (1-3), but Grand Prairie (34-15) got one-out singles by David Espinosa and Guillermo Martinez to bring David Thomas in from second to tie the game in the bottom half against Mike Bacsik (2-4).

Trent Lockwood crushed the first pitch of the fourth for his 12th home run of the season, his second in as many nights and the first of the year for anyone to splash into the rightfield pool at QuikTrip Park. But Greg Porter matched that feat and erased the Fort Worth lead by driving one high off the centerfield batter's eye on the first pitch of the bottom of the inning to re-tie the game. After the next two hitters were retired, Jake Taylor, Thomas, Danny Figueroa and Espinosa all hit singles to bring in two more runs and get the AirHogs a 4-2 lead.

There it stayed the rest of the way, as Nathanson, Dustin Cameron and Jon Fulton faced the minimum 12 hitters for the final four innings, with Nathanson getting his first win of the season.

Notes: The AirHogs turned three double plays, all started by Martinez at short, and catcher Chris McMurray also threw a runner out stealing...All three Grand Prairie wins in the series have been by exactly two runs...Hunton broke a tie with Shreveport-Bossier's Dan Griffin atop the league leaderboard with his 15th save...The Cats are 5-for-7 with two doubles and a home run on the first pitch of innings in the series...The bottom three in the AirHogs order went 7-for-9 with three runs scored and one RBI.

The AirHogs and Cats conclude their series at LaGrave Field in Fort Worth on Monday, July 4, at 4:35 p.m. The next home game at QuikTrip Park is Monday, July 11, against these same Cats at 7:05 p.m. That night is Military Monday, with all active military, fire and police personnel able to purchase tickets for just $5 with ID. Don't miss the renewed commitment to excellence and affordable family entertainment. All games are available with live, free streaming video on ustream.tv. Individual game tickets are on sale and can be purchased by calling 972-504-9383 or by visiting www.airhogsbaseball.com.

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American Association Stories from July 4, 2011


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