Whitcomb Homers in Second-Straight Game, But Sugar Land Falls to Las Vegas
PCL Sugar Land Space Cowboys

Whitcomb Homers in Second-Straight Game, But Sugar Land Falls to Las Vegas

April 17, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Sugar Land Space Cowboys News Release


LAS VEGAS, NV - The Sugar Land Space Cowboys (7-10) smacked two home runs and picked up eight hits but dropped game two of their six-game series against the Las Vegas Aviators (12-5) 12-4 on Wednesday at Las Vegas Ballpark. Highlights of tonight's game can be found here.

Brice Matthews belted his first home run of the season in the second inning, a solo shot smoked at 104 mph, giving Sugar Land an early 1-0 advantage. However, the Space Cowboys fell behind 2-1 in the bottom half as Logan Davidson launched a two-run home run.

Sugar Land loaded the bases in the fourth as Matthews blistered a base-knock into left field, Tommy Sacco Jr. legged out an infield single, his second hit of the game, and Zack Short walked, but a groundout ended the frame.

After the Aviators hit a two-run home run in the fourth and a solo home run with one out in the fifth, RHP Kaleb Ort relieved RHP Aaron Brown (L, 0-4). Ort allowed one run in 0.2 innings in his fourth relief appearance for Sugar Land on Major League rehab. RHP Forrest Whitley also made his fourth relief appearance for Sugar Land on Major League rehab in the sixth, spinning three strikeouts while giving up one run in 1.0+ innings of work.

In the seventh, Short scorched a double down the line, and Kenedy Corona stroked a single to left, setting up runners on the corners with nobody out as the lineup turned over. Shay Whitcomb cut the six-run deficit in half with a towering 399-foot three-run home run, his second homer of the series, as Sugar Land made it a 7-4 game.

Sugar Land allowed a bases-clearing triple to Cooper Bowman as part of a five-run eighth for the Aviators, and the Space Cowboys went in order in the ninth, falling 12-4.

NOTABLE:

- Brice Matthews' homer in the second was his first of the season and his first in the regular season at Triple A. Matthews' first home run with Sugar Land also came at Las Vegas Ballpark when he hit a solo homer to center in the Triple-A National Championship Game on September 28, 2024 against Omaha.

- Shay Whitcomb homered in back-to-back games for the first time since he went yard in two-straight games on August 3 and 4, 2024 against the Round Rock Express.

- Luis Guillorme extended his hitting streak to six games and his on-base streak to 14 games with a single in the first.

- Zack Short walked in the fourth, continuing to pace the PCL with a league-leading 16 walks.

- Kaleb Ort made back-to-back relief appearances for the first time during his Major League rehab assignment.

- Tommy Sacco Jr. recorded his second multi-hit game of the season with a single in the second and the fourth.

- Forrest Whitley's 35 pitches in relief were a season-high ahead of the 20 pitches he tossed April 12 against the Albuquerque Isotopes.

Game three of Sugar Land's six-game series with the Las Vegas Aviators resumes on Thursday at 8:35 pm CT. RHP AJ Blubaugh toes the rubber against RHP Gunnar Hoglund. The game can be seen live on the Bally Sports Live App or MLB.TV and can be heard anywhere at SLSpaceCowboys.com. Season Memberships for the 2025 Space Cowboy season, including Full and Partial Season membership plans, can be purchased online.

Check out the Sugar Land Space Cowboys Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from April 17, 2025


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