Carter Remains Red-Hot For Frisco RoughRiders

Round Rock (14-7, 58-37, 1st, +1.0 GB) lost, 3-1, to Reno. Round Rock’s offense mustered just 3 hits as the Aces grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning off RHP Robert Dugger (L, 6.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R-ER, 1 BB, 5 SO) who has now gone 6.0+ innings in 6 of his last 8 starts. DH Elier Hernandez (1-for-4) tallied his 100th hit this season, the 2nd PCL player to reach the century mark in ‘23 (ELP Tim Lopes – 101). Reno added a pair in the 8th inning, before the Express cut the deficit to two on LF Dustin Harris' (0-for-1, 3 BB, RBI) 3rd walk of the game. 3B Justin Foscue (1-for-4) and 1B Blaine Crim (1-for-4) both singled earlier that frame to load the bases. RHP Ian Kennedy (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R-ER, 1 SO) retired all 4 BF and through 8 relief app. in July: 1.17 ERA (1 ER/7.2 IP), 3 H, 1 BB, 10 SO. 

Frisco (11-10, 42-47, 3rd, 3.0 GB) defeated San Antonio, 4-2, to win its series. After falling behind by a run in the 2nd frame, the RoughRiders rallied for a pair in the 3rd with RBI knocks from CF Evan Carter (1-for-4, RBI) and SS Thomas Saggese (1-for-3, BB, 2B, RBI). Since Carter returned from the IL on 6/21, he is 31-for-90 (.344) with 5 HR and 18 RBI. Saggese is now tied for 2nd in the TL with 71 RBI this season. RHP Dane Acker (2.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R-ER, 1 BB) made his 4th start with Frisco, and is 1-0 with a 3.14 ERA (5 ER/14.1 IP) in those outings. 1B Liam Hicks (1- for-3, BB, RBI) and LF Kellen Strahm (1-for-4, RBI) drove in runs in the 6th and 8 th innings respectively. LHP Antoine Kelly (W, 1.2 IP, 0 R-ER, 1 SO) retired all 5 BF and hasn’t allowed a run across his last 13 app.: 14.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 17 SO. 

Hickory (17-6, 44-40, 1st, +4.5 GA) defeated Rome, 6-3, as C Tucker Mitchell (3-for-5, 2 RBI) swatted a go-ahead 2-R single in the 10th inning. Mitchell is 5-for-9 (.545) across his last two games with 3 RBI…the Crawdads jumped ahead early with a 2-R triple from CF Daniel Mateo (1-for-4, 3B, 2 RBI) followed by RF Jayce Easley’s (1-for-3, RBI) RBI single. RHP Nick Lockhart (2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R-ER, 1 SO) kept the Braves at bay through the first two innings and hasn’t allowed a run in July: 1-0, 8.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R-ER, 1 BB, 7 SO. LHP Juna Mejia (3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R-ER, 5 SO) spun a trio of perfect innings and struck out 5 of 9 BF (55%). LF Geisel Cepeda (2-for-5, RBI) capped off the 10th inning with an RBI single to put Hickory up, 6-3, and maintain a 4.5-game lead in the SAL South. 

Down East (11-13, 48-37, 5th, 2.5 GB) fell to Salem, 6-4. A pair of errors fueled a 6-run 3rd inning for Salem. The Woodies came out firing as they used back-to-back RBI hits from 3B Gleider Figuereo (1-for-3, BB, RBI) and LF Erick Alvarez (1-for-2, 2 BB, RBI) to leap ahead, 2-0. Since making the jump to Single-A on 7/14, Alvarez has hits in 5 of 7 G and is hitting .250 (5-for-20) SS Andres Mesa (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI) finished the inning with a 2-R double to put Down East in front 4-0. Making his 1st appearance with the Woodies, RHP Bryan Chi (4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R-ER, 7 SO) punched out 7 batters across 4.0 innings of work. He previously led the ACL Rangers with 23 strikeouts in 18.0 IP. CF JoJo Blackmon (2-for-5) added a pair of hits and has reached base in his last 5 games. 

The ACL Rangers (14-19, 5th, 8.0 GB) have lost 3 of 4 and 6 of 8 to fall 5.0 GB in the West. Despite having his 15-G hit streak snapped, SS Sebastain Walcott leads the Rangers with 6 home runs. The 17-year-old is 27-for-76 (.355) with 13 XBH through 18 games this season. 2B Echedry Vargas (.308) leads the squad with 36 hits this season. LF Marcos Torres (.259) has driven in a team-best 25 runs across 32 G for the Rangers. LHP Thomas Ireland paces the staff with a 1.04 ERA (2 ER/17.1 IP) while RHP Willian Bormie (2-0, 4.15) leads the Rangers with 30 strikeouts across 21.2 innings of work