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TWL Day 16

February 23, 2013 - United League Baseball (ULB)
Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings News Release


Keisuke Saito may have displayed what the Texas Winter League is all about in the Brownsville Stars' 13-1 victory against the McAllen Thunder Saturday afternoon at Harlingen Field.

Saito (2-2) came into the game with a 12.00 earned run average, inflated in large part by a debut on opening day where he did not retire any of the nine Thunder batters he faced.

But the one-time Yomuri Giants prospect seemed to shake off the shoulder injury and sore arm that plagued him at the start of the baseball season. At times the 22-year-old right-hander from Japan's Chiba Keidai High School was as dominant on Saturday as he was ineffective in his debut, at one point retiring 12 straight batters.

He even held Hiroki Itakura, batting .583 coming into the game, and Japanese major league veteran Tomochicka Tsuboi hitless.

Saito, one of the more publicized players at the start of the TWL season, struck out five batters and walked only one while allowing four hits and one run in six innings of work, giving Stars (7-6-3) manager Chris Paterson another viable pitcher for the two days of playoffs coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But as effective as Saito was, his counterpart, Brownsville's William Martinez, was wild. Martinez actually allowed six runs in the first inning before allowing his first hit due to walking the first four batters he faced, hitting Dave Angle with a pitch, and seeing Justin Juneau reach despite fanning after catcher Anthony Hinderman could not catch the third strike.

Martinez would walk seven batters and hit two more in just 2 2/3 innings pitched while allowing three hits and eight earned runs.

The Thunder are now winless in their last nine games (0-8-1).

Shortstop Sean Gaughan led all Stars hitters with two hits and scored three times, while the Thunder's (4-10-2) Derrick Pyles raised his average above .400 with two hits in three at bats.

Jose Canseco hit cleanup for the Stars as their designated hitter. His bases loaded walk drove in the first run of the game. He finished hitless in two at bats with two walks.

ROADRUNNERS 9 WHITEWINGS 3

Justin Yoo pitched four innings of three hit relief and Thomas Schull scored three runs, drove in two, and collected two hits while not being put out in four plate appearances as the Edinburg Roadrunners ended the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings' six-game winning streak.

Yoo, relieving Aryo Fleming in the middle of the fourth inning with the Roadrunners (8-7-1) leading 3-2, used his breaking pitches to keep the WhiteWings (9-5-2) at bay for the remainder of the afternoon.

"Yoo has an effective curve and when he gets it over he can set up the fastball," said his catcher, Doug Freeman.

"I can spot my curve just as good and maybe as well as my fastball," said Yoo (3-0). "That's what makes me different."

It hasn't always been effective, as the 5-10 right-hander from Calabasas, California came into the game having allowed 18 earned runs in 16 TWL innings.

But today he allowed only one earned run and scattered three hits while walking one batter and striking out two to record the victory.

With only two days left until the playoffs, both WhiteWings starter Curtis Camilli and Fleming were taken out of the game early to rest their arms for the postseaon. Camilli, who had not allowed any earned runs in his previous two 7-inning starts, gave up three runs in four innings on four hits while striking out five and walking one. Fleming, meanwhile, threw three innings where he allowed one earned run and three hits while striking out four and walking two.

But WhiteWings manager Eddie Dennis elected to save his bullpen as well, allowing starting first baseman Jacob Douglas and centerfielder Cody Bishop to pitch. While Douglas only allowed one earned run in two innings when Mike Mobbs drove in Tsuyoshi Takashima with an opposite field triple, Bishop was touched for four runs in the top of the seventh inning with Vince Coleman Jr., Schull, and Jimmy Williams all collecting run-scoring hits in the nine batter frame.

Schull also accounted for two runs in the top of the second when he tripled home Coleman and scored on Freeman's ground out to make the score 2-1.

After Kori Melo singled in Bishop in the third to tie the game, the Roadrunners regained the lead in the top of the fourth when Freeman's opposite field single to right scored Phil Rowland.

"I'm knocking the rust off and getting into a rhythm. It was a little tough at first. I was a little tired," said Freeman, who graduated from Division II King College in 2012. "[I have] not played in a year."

Jose Canseco hit third for the WhiteWings and was one for four, collecting a key double down the third base line to set up the game's first run.

The final games of the regular season are Sunday, with the Stars and Roadrunners continuing their competition for second place in the TWL. The Stars play the WhiteWings at 11 a.m., and the Roadrunners take on the Thunder at 2 p.m.

Canseco is expected to play in both games and will take part in a home run hitting contest between games.

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United League Baseball Stories from February 23, 2013


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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