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TL1 Arkansas Travelers

Morales Hits Three Home Runs But Travs Lose 7-6 In 11

June 29, 2005 - Texas League (TL1)
Arkansas Travelers News Release


Ray Winder Field, Little Rock, AR - Two fine performances by an Arkansas Travelers (2-4, 36-40) player were overshadowed by a tough 7-6 defeat in 11 innings at the hands of the San Antonio Missions (5-1, 43-33). 1B Kendry Morales hit two home runs from the right side of the plate and another home run from the left side (3) as the first Texas League batter with three home runs in the 2005 season. Finishing with five RBI and four base hits including a single Morales broke a streak of 12 at bats with no hits but was unable to keep the Travs from losing for the fourth straight game and ninth time in 12 games. The Missions rallied from three runs down with a five-run eighth inning to take a 6-4 lead wasting a fine night from LHP Daniel Davidson. Morales tied the game with his third home run, a two-run blast in the eighth inning forcing extra innings. San Antonio used a walk, hit batter, wild pitch and an infield single for the winning run in the eighth inning. The Travs have allowed 14 runs in the eighth inning of the last four games.

With the big night by Morales, a Travs batter has hit three homers in a game three times since becoming the Angels Class AA affiliate in 2001. Dallas McPherson was the last to do it on August 11, 2003 in Little Rock. Jason Huisman hit three home runs in Wichita on July 30, 2001. Morales is also the third Traveler switch hitter of the season to hit a home run from each side of the plate.

The Travs carried a 4-1 lead into the eighth inning with Davidson cruising since the second. After allowing a run on four hits against his first nine batters, Davidson set down 12 straight and 19 of 20 batters until the wheels fell off in the eighth inning. With one out in the eighth inning, six straight Missions hitters reached base in a five-run inning featuring four singles, a walk and an error.

LHP Cesar Jiminez (2-3) pitched a shutout inning for the Missions as the winning pitcher. RHP Von Stertzbach (3-4) tossed a perfect tenth inning, but struggled through the 11th with a walk, hit batter and wild pitch along with an infield single to five up a run. RHP Renee Cortez went through the 11th inning without a base runner for the save (5).

Missions SS Adam Jones scored the game's first run in the second inning after leading off with a single. A single by Gary Harris, sacrifice bunt by Luis Oliveros and sacrifice fly by Ismael Castro brought in Jones.

Missions RHP Jon Huber allowed just one base runner in three innings, but Erick Aybar led off the fourth with a double. After an out Morales pulled a two-run homer to right field to give the Travs a 2-1 lead. Tommy Murphy and Greg Porter followed with consecutive doubles for a 3-1 lead.

Huber left the game after five innings and was replaced by LHP Tim Rall> for the sixth. Morales led off the sixth inning with a home run to right field for a 4-1 lead.

After Davidson set down Castro to start the seventh inning, Missions LF Jaime Bubela dragged a bunt and beat Morales to first base for a single. Jesus Guzman then singled to center and T.J. Bohn yanked a single past Porter at third base driving in Bubela to cut the Travs lead to 4-2. RHP David Austen relieved and walked Nate Espy on four pitches followed by a game-tying single to right field by Jesse Hoorelbeke bringing home two runs. The final run scoring play of the rally was a misplayed grounder by Porter at third base for an error that scored two runs to give San Antonio a 6-4 lead.

Arkansas answered against Rally in the eighth quickly when Mike Napoli led off with a single followed by Morales' last home run, an opposite field game-tying two-run shot.

The Travs had a chance to win with two outs in the 10th inning when Morales and Murphy singled to put two runners on base. However Jiminez got Porter to bounce out to second base stranding two runners.

Stertzbach started the 11th inning with a walk and then hit Harris with a pitch as he attempted to bunt. Oliveros however bunted too hard and Porter turned that into a double play with a throw to third and a fire to first by Aybar. Harris moved to second base on the play and then advanced to third base on a Stertzbach wild pitch. Castro then hit a slow grounder that sent Morales to his right. He stopped the ball with a dive, but couldn't get to the ball after it bounced away as Castro ran to first base with an RBI infield single.

Time of game was 3:31 and the paid attendance was 3,373.

The last game of the series with the Travs and Missions is set for Wednesday night. The Travs have RHP Steven Shell (4-5, 5.38 ERA) going up against San Antonio LHP Bobby Livingston (7-3, 2.80 ERA). First pitch will be thrown at 7:10 p.m. Gates open at 6:10 and there will be post-game fireworks.

Please call (501) 664-1555 or visit www.travs.com for game information.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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