Kings continue to baffle Roosters

June 20, 2004 - Frontier League (FL)
Richmond Roosters News Release


Kalamazoo, Michigan - Fran Riordan's Kalamazoo Kings have to love playing the Richmond Roosters. Riordan, the former Richmond player/manager, has seen his team win five straight game against the Roosters with the latest victory coming by a 9-3 score on Saturday night. Riordan led the Roosters to back-to-back Frontier League Championships in 2001 and 2002 and currently has the Kings just two games out of first place in the Eastern Division.

The Kings are returning the favor from 2003, where Richmond beat Kalamazoo on the first four occasions of the year. The Kings first win against the Roosters came on July 3rd of last season.

The Roosters took an early advantage for the second night in a row, but saw the lead get away again. In the third inning, Mike Reese hit a two RBI single to score Mike Silva and Drew Miller. Silva had walked and Miller doubled earlier in the inning. The Reese hit gave Richmond a 2-0 lead, but it didn't last very long. The next nine runs would be scored by Kalamazoo. The Kings got three runs in the fourth, two in the sixth, and four more in the seventh. The Kings were cruising with a 9-2 score when the smoke cleared. The final run of the night came on a Trevor Hall solo homer in the ninth. It was Hall's third home run since rejoining the Roosters in 2004 and his fourth homer of the season all together.

Justin Quempts (0-1) pitched three strong innings for Richmond in his professional debut, but the former Oklahoma State and New Mexico State standout ran into a wall in the fourth. Quempts allowed three runs in the inning and got the loss. He was removed for Dave Campos after facing five batters in the fourth. Campos gave up two runs in two innings and Ryan West also submitted two runs in relief. John Pettibone and Darren Heinrich made their Richmond debuts in the final two innings.

The Kings pitching was again solid as Lee Naplin (3-1) went six innings deep and allowed two runs. Jason Keeling followed for two innings and Mike Leishman pitched the ninth inning to finish the game. The Roosters came into Saturday's game batting just .131 against Kalamazoo and Kings pitchers combined for eleven strikeouts for the second consecutive night.

The Roosters (9-19) hope to snap the two game losing streak as they play at Kalamazoo to finish the weekend series. Curt Moenter (0-2, 6.86 ERA) will start for Richmond against the Kings' David McWatters (1-3, 2.15 ERA). Game time is set for 4:35pm (Indiana Time) at Homer Stryker Field in Kalamazoo.



Frontier League Stories from June 20, 2004


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