Grand Slam Leads to Fourth Straight Cats' Loss
August 3, 2012 - North American League (NAmL)
Fort Worth Cats News Release
Abilene designated hitter Wilson Batista blasted a grand slam in the seventh inning of the Prairie Dogs' 7-3 win over the Fort Worth Cats on Friday night at LaGrave Field in Fort Worth, TX.
The homerun was Batista's eleventh of the season, tying Joe Weik for the team lead.
The homer came just after the Cats rallied back from a three run defecit in the bottom of the sixth. Catcher Derek Marshall and center fielder RJ Harris led off the inning with back-to-back doubles and second baseman CJ Beatty followed up with a RBI single to cut the lead to one. First baseman Jose Ruiz would tie the game three batters later with a sacrifice fly to bring in Beatty.
However, Fort Worth would muster up only one hit in the final three innings of the ball game against Abilene reliever Derrick Dingeman, who earned his first save of the season after throwing three shutout innings. Dingeman came in relieve starter Matt Larkins (2-0) who pitched six innings and only allowed one hit in his first five innings, a leadoff single to CJ Beatty. Larkins gave up three runs on four hits in his six innings and had four stikeouts.
Larkins' Fort Worth counterpart, Casey Russell (1-1) also pitched six innings giving up five runs on seven hits. Russell was replaced by reliever Mace Thurman who returned to the Cats lineup Friday after a three week stint on the disabled list. Thurman struck out three batters in his two innings of work but his return was marred with Batista's grand slam.
With the win, Abilene improves their record on the season to 26-39 and if they wish for a spot in the playoffs will have to cover a 7.5 game gap between them and the fourth place San Angelo Colts. The loss brings Fort Worth's record to 36-30 and the Cats are still battling Rio Grande Valley for the second place spot, trailing the White Wings by half a game.
The Prairie Dogs and Cats will face off twice more in a Saturday night doubleheader at LaGrave Field with first pitch at 6:05 p.m. with a second game start time anticipated for 9:05 p.m. It is Texas Country Night and tickets are available online at FWCats.com or by phone at (817) 332- CATS.
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North American League Stories from August 3, 2012
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