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Texas Winter League Update

February 8, 2013 - North American League (NAmL)
Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings News Release


Hiroki Itakura and Austin Newell both collected two-out extra base hits to highlight a 6-run fifth inning and lead the Brownsville Stars to a 6-4 victory against the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings Friday afternoon at Harlingen Field.

Down 4-3 with two outs, Itakura's double to the opposite field in left center off Curtis Camilli drove in Jumpei Hayashi to tie the score.

Newell, the Pecos League's leading hitter in 2012, then tripled to right center off Camilli (0-1) to drive home the 22-year-old Japanese outfielder with the winning run and give the Stars (1-3) their first victory of the Texas Winter League season.

It appeared the WhiteWings (1-3) would have no problem winning their second straight game after scoring four runs off Hiroki Kono in the bottom of the first inning.

But after third baseman Sean Gaughn turned a home-to-first base double play with the bases loaded off the bat of Rolando Zamarripa to retire the side, Kono settled down, allowing only two more hits and no runs for the next five innings.

Still, Camilli was Kono's (1-0) match for much of the game.

After moving from second base to the mound after starting pitcher William Martinez of Brownsville suffered a leg injury on the game's third pitch, the tall, thin righthander from Santa Clara, Calif. fanned Itakura and retired the next 11 hitters he faced.

But Camilli, the great-grandson of former Brooklyn Dodgers slugger Dolph Camilli, had thrown six innings of two-hit baseball on Wednesday and tired in the fifth inning Friday. The first four batters reached against him before he got Gaughn to ground out and Masahiro Takahata to hit a sacrifice fly to right field, only to see Itakura and Newell supply their heroics. Alex Foltz then singled in Foltz for the game's final run.

Christopher Treibt pitched a scoreless seventh to earn a save.

GAME TWO

Henry Garcia pitched scoreless baseball in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings after the Edinburg Roadrunners rallied for five runs in the top of the same frames to defeat the McAllen Thunder for the first time this season, 8-5.

Garcia, a Brownsville native who signed a contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, has not allowed a single run in five innings pitched during the Texas Winter League season.

"I've been working out hard," Garcia said. "Hard work pays off in the end."

In throwing his two hitless frames with four strikeouts on Friday, Garcia earned his first save. He now has 11 strikeouts in five Texas Winter League innings pitched.

"My curve and change were working," said the lefthanded Porter High School product.

The Thunder (3-1) appeared on their way to their fourth straight victory after Hiroki Itakura, playing in his second game of the day, doubled to right field to plate two runs in the fourth inning against righthander Justin Yoo (1-0) to take a 5-3 lead.

Additionally, Leo Madrid had come on in relief of Misop Baynum in the third inning and the lefthander retired all nine hitters he faced, striking out two.

Then Takati Sato relieved Madid in the sixth, and the 22-year-old lefthander was wild. First Sato walked Vince Coleman Jr., who promptly stole second and third base and then scored on a wild pitch to cut McAllen's lead to 5-4.

After Phil Rowland walked and Thomas Schull collected the Roadrunners' (3-1) first hit since his own run-scoring double in the first, both would score on pass balls by catcher Anthony Hinderman.

Coleman then drove in two runs with a one out single to left off in the seventh off Sato (0-1), paving the way for Garcia to earn his first save of the season.

"I've never played in a league like this," Garcia season.

"[Former United League Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings teammate Cole] Stephens came to visit and told me about it. The coaches are awesome and straightforward. It's a win-win situation with the independent league managers and scouts coming in."

The Roadrunners will play the Stars at 11 a.m. on Saturday, while the Thunder and WhiteWings will play in the nightcap 30 minutes following the first game's conclusion.

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North American League Stories from February 8, 2013


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