Texas League baseball: RockHounds pull into second-half lead

MIDLAND Just one night after scoring seven runs in the first inning, the Midland RockHounds were looking for an encore Wednesday night against the Frisco RoughRiders.

They came close.

Pushing across six runs in the first, two in the second and six more in the third, Midland ran away and routed visiting Frisco 14-3 at Citibank Ballpark.

The victory improved the RockHounds to 19-13 in the second half, pulling them into a first-place tie with the RoughRiders in the Texas League South Division second-half standings. Frisco won the first half crown.

“It’s nice to get back even but there is still a lot of baseball left,” Midland manager Darren Bush said. “We just need to keep doing things the way we are and really, take it just one game at a time and at the end of the season, see where we stand.”

The teams will close out the home stand at 7 tonight at Citibank Ballpark.

Josh Horton led the offensive onslaught, going 4-for-6 with a double, two runs scored and one RBI.

Shane Peterson added a 2-for-4 performance with three runs scored, with three RBIs, as every player in the RockHounds lineup had at least one RBI.

For the RoughRiders, Emerson Frostad went 3-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI, including a triple off the top of the center field fence that was originally called a home run, but then reversed by the umpiring crew after Bush talked to them about the call.

It still wouldn’t have been enough.

After Midland starter Ryan Edell kept Frisco off the scoreboard in the first inning, despite giving up a pair of hits, the RockHounds went immediately to work in the bottom half o the frame.

Jemile Weeks led off with one the first of 12 walks given up by RoughRiders’ pitchers on the night and raced to third on Horton’s double down the left-field line.

Adrian Cardenas hit a soft line drive to center to drive home Weeks, with Horton stopping at third. Frisco starter Michael Schlact then walked Val Majewski to load the bases and start the merry-go-round.

Corey Brown’s single up the middle drove home Horton and then Peterson followed with another single to center to plate Cardenas.

After Majewski was forced at home on a ground ball to third by Archie Gilbert, Brown scored on Matt Sulentic’s infield hit up the first-base line. Catcher Petey Paramore then drew another walk, forcing home Peterson with the fifth run of the inning.

That brought Weeks to the plate for the second time and his groundout to second base allowed Gilbert to race home with the sixth run, more than enough for Edell.

“We’ve been hitting the ball hard for a while, but right at people,” Bush said. “Tonight, we had them fall in and we took advantage of some walks to put some runs on the board early.

“And I thought Ryan did a nice job of continuing to battle with the big lead, throwing strikes and competing and that’s what you want.”