Location: Arvest Ballpark (Springdale, AR)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (27-25 6 games back in the Texas League South; 67-55 overall)... Northwest Arkansas Naturals (28-24 1st place in the Texas League North; 63-56 overall)
Magic Number: 7
Streak: Lost 2 in a row
Last 10: 6-4
Road Trip: 0-2
Series Record: 17-13-4
2011 Record against Northwest Arkansas: 6-5
All-Time Record against Northwest Arkansas: 70-69
Record on August 19th since 2004: 5-2
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (5-8 5.28 ERA) vs. Mario Santiago (3-1 2.40 ERA)
Frisco Drops Second to Northwest Arkansas, In Jeopardy of Sweep: For the first time since April 17th-19th, Frisco is guaranteed of a series loss to a Texas League North team. After losing 14-2 on Wednesday, Frisco fell 5-4 to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Thursday and will try to avoid the sweep on Friday night. Frisco led 3-0 through 3 innings, but gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the 4th. After going scoreless the next three frames, the Naturals scored 2 times in the 8th inning and withstood a 9th inning rally by Frisco to win 5-4. Frisco had the tying and go ahead runs in scoring position in the 9th inning with just 1 out, but Renny Osuna lined out to Wil Myers in right field and Tommy Mendonca struck out swinging to end the game.
Snyder's Start: Ben Snyder gave up 10 hits over 6 innings for Frisco with 3 strikeouts, 0 walks, and 3 runs (all earned). Snyder has not won a game since July 22nd, when he picked up his team high 8th win at the time and 11th career win for Frisco. He is tied for 10th on the all-time Frisco win list.
Bolden's Big Day: After going 1 for 11 in his first 3 AA games, Jared Bolden went 3 for 4 in Thursday's loss for Frisco with his first AA homerun and 2 RBI. Bolden also added his first AA stolen base in the game as well. The 22 year old first baseman now has 4 RBI in 4 games with 4 hits. He had 2 RBI, including the game winning RBI in the finale of the series with Tulsa on Monday.
Greene Goes Deep: Jonathan Greene added his 17th homerun of the season as part of a 2 for 4 game with a solo homerun. His homerun represented his 68th RBI of the season, putting him 2 short of joining Mike Bianucci and Tommy Mendonca in the 70 RBI club. Greene also struck out 2 times to add to his franchise high total of 141 strikeouts for the season.
Leeds First AA Hit: Matt Leeds, a 31st round pick by the Texas Rangers in this year's draft, had his 1st AA hit on Thursday in his second AA game. Leeds went 0 for 2 with a walk on Wednesday and followed that game with a 2 for 4 game on Thursday with a double as well.
A New Spot for Beltre: Likely in an effort to get the struggling top prospect going, Frisco moved Engel Beltre from the bottom of the order to the #2 spot in Frisco's lineup on Thursday. Beltre responded with a flourish going 2 for 4 with a RBI, a walk, and a strikeout. Over his last 10 games, Beltre is batting .281/.361/.344/.705 with 2 extra base hits and 4 walks to 11 strikeouts. For the season, Beltre is batting .242 with a .598 OPS. He was rated by Baseball America as the #5 prospect in the Texas Ranger's organization.
Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 908 homeruns in 970 games (0.936 HR/G)
Term of the Day: Early Bloomer- A rookie who looks particularly good in spring training or the early days of the regular season, but who fades quickly and must be dropped from the team.
Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 5-4 on the road. Beau Jones started for Frisco and gave up 2 hits, 5 walks, and 3 runs over 2 1/3 innings with 5 strikeouts. Michael Schlact earned the victory after giving up 1 run over 4 1/3 innings of relief. Tim Murphy, Tyler Tufts, and Mark Hamburger combined for 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Joey Butler led Frisco with a 3 for 5 game including a double, homerun, 4 RBI, and a run scored. Renny Osuna went 2 for 5 with a triple and a RBI for the Riders. Emerson Frostad added a 1 for 4 game with a walk and 2 runs scored. Elio Sarmiento went 1 for 3 with a double and a walk. Engel Beltre added a hit as well.
As always...
A special thanks to any blog followers from Picnic, FL!
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- By Michael Damman
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