Frisco, TX – The Frisco RoughRiders outlasted the Springfield Cardinals for the 6-3 win before 5,108 fans at Dr Pepper Ballpark on Sunday evening.
Making his Double-A debut, RHP Sam Tewes (L, 0-1) started his outing with a pair of scoreless innings, but Frisco CF Scott Heineman cracked the scoreless tie with a two-run shot in the 3rd for the 2-0 RoughRiders lead.
The Cardinals (0-4) countered against RHP Pedro Payano (W, 1-0) in the top of the 4th. With one away, CF Lane Thomas torched a double to left field. After C Andrew Knizner was hit by a pitch, 1B John Nogowski connected for an RBI double to left, plating Thomas to cut the Cardinals deficit to 2-1.
Frisco (2-2), though, stretched the lead back out in the bottom of the 4th with a two-out rally. C Jose Trevino extended the inning initially with a walk, followed by a base hit from 3B Yanio Perez. Both came home on a two-run single by DH Hunter Cole, who then moved to second on a wild pitch. An error extended the inning and allowed SS Luis Marte on base, followed by a walk from LF Eliezer Alvarez. RHP Hector Mendoza took over on the mound, but lost Heineman to a bases-loaded walk that forced in a run and extended the Frisco advantage to 5-1.
Mendoza followed with 2.0 more scoreless stanzas, holding the RoughRiders while the Cardinals chipped away in the top of the sixth. SS Edmundo Sosa started the inning with his second single of the game, followed by Thomas’s second double of the day, and fourth already this season, to put both runners in scoring position. Knizner and Nogowski both came through with RBI singles, scoring Sosa and Thomas, respectively, and bringing Springfield within two runs, 5-3.
RHP Ramon Santos followed Mendoza with a scoreless in seventh, but Frisco added one run in the 8th to pad the lead back to three runs. RoughRiders LHP Brady Feigl (S, 1) then worked around a RF Victor Roache double and a 3B Tommy Edman walk in the ninth to post a scoreless final frame and close the 6-3 win for Frisco.
