Cats Held to Only Three Hits in Loss to Abilene

July 8, 2012 - North American League (NAmL)
Fort Worth Cats News Release


Abilene scored three runs on five hits and 33 pitches off Fort Worth starter Kane Holbrooks in the first inning, which that turned out to be all the Prairie Dogs needed in their 5-1 victory over the Cats on Sunday evening at LaGrave Field in Fort Worth, TX.

Holbrooks (1-3) settled in after the long first inning and allowed no runs on three hits in the next five innings. Holbrooks struck out six batters and only walked one.

Abilene starter Woods Fines was lights out from pitch one to pitch 109 in his eight inning outing. Fines held the Cats to one run on two hits and struck out and walked four batters. Former Cat Scott Vander Weg would pitch a quick ninth inning to seal the win for the Prairie Dogs.

Center fielder Jason Martin was once again a trouble for Fort Worth hitting 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Martin led off the first and last innings of the ballgame with singles and would score both times thanks to third baseman Wilson Batista. Batista was 1-for-5 in the game with two runs scored and a run batted in.

Left fielder RJ Harris seemed to be the only Cat to get the bats going on Sunday hitting 2-for-3 with a RBI. Third baseman Brandon Jones was the only Fort Worth batter to reach on a base hit. The Cats only had runners in scoring position on three occasions in the game.

Two new faces made appearances for Fort Worth on Sunday with starting right fielder Kenny Gilbert and relief pitcher Cameron Dulling. Gilbert was a former ninth-round draft pick by the Chicago White Sox in 2007 and after two years of affiliated baseball and two years of independent baseball, made his way to Cowtown. Gilbert replaced Luis Blanco, who was released Sunday afternoon.

Dulling was a third-team All-American for Texas A&M-Kingsville and will be a good call out of the pen while starter Tim Haines is on the 7-day inactive list with a forearm injury.

Casey Russell, son of bullpen coach Jeff Russell, is also a new name to the roster, replacing TJ Bozeman. Bozeman was suspended for seven games by United League President Byron Pierce for punching Abilene first baseman Joe Weik in a bench-clearing brawl on Saturday night.

With the win, Abilene improves their record to 18-25. The Prairie Dogs are six games back of Fort Worth and eight games back of first-place Edinburg. Fort Worth's record falls to 24-19 and the Cats remain in second place, one and a half games back from first.

The Cats and Prairie Dogs will face off once again at LaGrave for a two game set that starts Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at FWCats.com or by phone at (817) 332-CATS.



North American League Stories from July 8, 2012


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