Spring Training Report – Day Two

Published on May 7, 2008 under United League Baseball (ULB)
Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings News Release


Harlingen, TX - The Harlingen WhiteWings continued their preparation for the season with more drills on the second day of spring training today.

The WhiteWings got another chance to evaluate a new top-line starting pitcher as lefty Jorge Lugo was the first to throw batting practice. Lugo, who lives in Harlingen, came over from Amarillo during the off-season after an all-star campaign.

Lugo's 5-5 record is deceptive since he went 1-3 against the WhiteWings. Still, in 14 starts, Lugo kept his ERA below 4.00 while compiling a strikeout to walk ratio of better than two to one.

Lugo became the third pitcher to saw off one of Sam McLain's bats. Lugo also ended up breaking one of Argelis Nunez's bats as well. Nunez got revenge with a home run over the left-center field wall two pitches later.

Side-winding right-hander James Beever, who played for manager Al Gallagher with St. Joe (American Association) last season, followed Lugo and produced a lot of swings and misses with his deceptive delivery.

Closer Derek Bennett came next and his stuff looked as good as last year, when the righty allowed earned runs in only one game all season.

Reigning home run champion Ryan Fox got his first chance to hit off of Bennett, taking the first six pitches he saw before fouling a fastball straight back.

Brian Nichols made the best contact against Bennett, lining a ball on two hops to the right field wall.

Righty Joey Cress followed on the mound, and seemed to have something extra on his fastball while showing off a sharp slider.

Righty Shayn Holbrook, who last pitched professionally for Winnipeg (Northern League) in 2005, came to the mound next with a big fastball that was tough for the hitters to catch up to.

Righty Bobby Darling was next to toe the slab, starting with a bevy of fastballs before starting to working in the curveball that made him successful last year.

Righty Todd Lutz, who excellent in middle relief for the WhiteWings last year, was next to get his work in.

Pitching coach Caleb Balbuena, who played for Gallagher at St. Joe last year and is expected to be the primary setup man this year, finished up the batting practice session.

The WhiteWings will play an intra-squad game tomorrow morning. Players will be on the field at 10:00 a.m. and the game is expected to start around 10:45.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



United League Baseball Stories from May 7, 2008


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.

OurSports Central