Near Record Crowd Turns Out For Express' Return
Published on April 21, 2007 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Round Rock Express News Release
ROUND ROCK - A near record crowd turned out to The Dell Diamond on Saturday to welcome the Express back from a two-city, eight-game road swing, but it wasn't enough to help rally Round Rock's bullpen.
Jared Gothreaux worked five scoreless innings in his first start of the season, exiting with a 5-0 lead against Oklahoma before Miguel Asencio gave up four runs in the seventh. Mark McLemore combined with Paul Estrada to allow two runs over the final two frames of a 6-5 loss in front 12,558 fans.
The crowd was the ninth 12,000-plus turnout in Round Rock's eight seasons and the fourth largest in franchise history. A franchise-record 13,475 turned out to watch Roger Clemens face New Orleans on June 16, 2006.
The Express shelled out 10 hits, including a Hunter Pence home run, and loaded the bases against Frankie Francisco with no outs in the ninth, but failed to score. Brooks Conrad lifted an infield fly and Eric Munson and Danny Klassen struck out swinging to give Round Rock its third straight loss.
The two teams face-off again Sunday at 2:05 p.m. at The Dell Diamond. Fans can tune into the game on 1560 AM or by logging on to www.rrexpress.com.
RedHawks starting right-hander Francisco Cruceta had allowed just one earned run over his previous two starts, but gave up a pair in the bottom of the third on a Cody Ransom double, a Danny Ardoin walk and consecutive singles from Pence and Brooks Conrad.
Cruceta struck out his sixth and seventh batters to get two outs in the fifth before Pence launched his third home run of the season onto the berm in deep left field. Pence's blast pushed Josh Anderson home from second and gave Round Rock a 4-0 lead.
Round Rock put up one more run in the bottom of the sixth on Eric Munson's lead-off double and consecutive, one-out singles from Mike Rodriguez and Ransom before Cruceta made his exit.
But the 5-0 pad wasn't good enough to help Gothreaux to his first win in his first start of the season.
The RedHawks put up four runs in the seventh inning against Asencio, including a Jason Botts homer, and McLemore loaded the bases with one out in the eighth before Victor Diaz's sacrifice fly to center off Estrada scored Tug Hulett and evened the score and gave Gothreaux the no decision.
Pacific Coast League Stories from April 21, 2007
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