FRISCO ROUGHRIDERS (20-13) NORTHWEST ARKANSAS NATURALS (15-16) Texas Rangers Kansas City Royals GAME #34 • SATURDAY, JUNE 12 • 7:05 P.M. Riders Field • Frisco, TX LHP Jake Latz (1-0, 2.63) vs. LHP Marcelo Martinez (1-2, 5.87) Video: MiLB.tv • Audio: Riders Baseball Network: RidersBaseball.com, MiLB First Pitch App HOMER-HAPPY RIDERS DOWN NATURALS ON FRIDAY: The Frisco RoughRiders downed the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 10-7 on Friday night from Riders Field. The offensive showcase RIDERS VS. NATURALS started early for Frisco when Bubba Thompson led off the home half of the first with a home run to center. Josh Stowers later 2021 ...................................................2-2 followed with a two-run shot in the first and the Riders were out in front 3-0 after an inning. In the top of the fifth, the Naturals found the board on a Rudy Martin RBI single, drawing within 3-1, before the Rides scored a pair of runs on a throwing error in the bottom of in Frisco ....................................2-2 the fifth to make it 5-1. Northwest Arkansas tied the game with two-run home runs from Travis Jones in the sixth and Dairon Blanco in Springdale ..........................0-0 in the seventh, but Anderson Tejeda, who made his Riders debut on Friday night, crushed a go-ahead solo shot in the bottom of the All-time ........................................81-67 seventh to give Frisco a 6-5 advantage. In the bottom of the eighth, J.P. Martinez hammered a grand slam for Frisco to put the game out of reach at 10-5. The Naturals added a couple of runs in the top of the ninth, but were turned away with the bases loaded by in Frisco ...............................44-30 reliever Cole Uvila. Scott Engler (1-0) took home the win, throwing 1.2 perfect innings with four strikeouts while Andres Nunez (4-1) in Springdale .....................37-37 was handed the loss for Northwest Arkansas. RANGERS TOP 30 PROSPECTS THE STEELE OF THE GROUP: The Riders Steele Walker has been on fire from the plate since the calender moved to June. He has reached in all eight June games, 3. RHP Cole Winn hitting .333 (10-for-30)/.375/.633 with three home runs, six RBIs and six runs scored. The Riders outfielder has collected back-to-back 7. RHP Hans Crouse multi-hit games in the first two days of the series with Northwest Arkansas. Walker is well on pace for his career high of 10 home 8. INF Davis Wendzel runs in a season, which he accomplished in 2019, hitting all of them with the High-A Winston-Salem Dash as part of the White Sox 9. INF Sherten Apostel organization. If Walker were to play 100 games this season, he is on pace for a 23-home run season. 11. OF Steele Walker 16. RHP Ronny Henriquez COLOSSAL APOSTEL: 19. RHP Yerry Rodriguez Sherten Apostel has been swinging a hot bat for the Riders over the last few games. Since June 5th, Apostel is hitting .409 (9-for- 23. RHP A.J. Alexy 22)/.462/.818 over six games with three home runs and five RBIs. On Thursday, he collected two solo homers, marking his sixth multi- hit game in his minor league career. He became the third player to hit two bombs in a game this season for the Riders (Bubba Thomp- According to MLB Pipeline son on May 6th against Midland and Josh Stowers, who also accomplished the feat on Thursday against Northwest Arkansas. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SECOND PLACE: RECORD THROUGH 33 GAMES The RoughRiders enter their 34th game of the season on Saturday having never been anywhere but first place in the Double-A Cen- tral South Division in 2021. The Riders own a slim 2.5 game lead on Midland and San Antonio in the South after a win last night and 2021 ................................................ 20-13 San Antonio beating Midland. Frisco has the second-best run differential in the Double-A Central (+29). The last time the RoughRid- 2019 ................................................ 19-14 ers finished the season with a positive run differential was 2014 (+104), also their last winning season. Best record ..............(5/26) ...........13-5 POWER SURGE: Worst record ...........(5/15) ............. 6-4 The RoughRiders have not flexed their muscles much in 2021, but over their last eight games, the Riders have crushed 17 home runs, 120-game pace ......................... 73-47 including nine in their last two games, their best stretch of the season. Even with this surge, the Riders are seventh in the Double-A Central (10 teams) with just 33 home runs this year. Northwest Arkansas leads the way with 52 (also first in Double-A). The Riders on on pace for 120 home runs this season. The franchise record for team home runs is 176 (2007) while the fewest was 68 (2010). TEDDY FUN FACT OF THE DAY NOT JUST JOSHING YOU: During World War 1, he offered to Outfielder Josh Stowers has been crushing the baseball for Frisco over the last week. In his last eight games, he is batting .320 lead volunteers into France, but (8-for-25)/.433/.840 with one double, four home runs, five RBIs and five walks. Out of the four homers, three have come in the last his offer was rejected by President two games. During the stretch, Stowers has raised his batting average from .069 to .185 (116 points) and his OPS from .401 to .805 (404 points). His OPS of 1.621 since June 5th is the best in the Double-A Central and fifth in Double-A (among those with at least four Woodrow Wilson. games played) STARTING IT OFF ON A GOOD NOTE: Dating back to May 9th, the Riders starters over 24 games only allowed seven runs over 90.0 IP (0.70 ERA) while striking out 108 COMMUNICATIONS batters and just walking 28. During that stretch, the overall Riders starters’ ERA dropped from 6.11 to 1.69. On Tuesday, Cole Winn allowed five earned over his 3.2 innings, the worst Riders start since May 8th, Sal Mendez allowed six earned over his three innings Compiled by Zach Bigley on Wednesday and Hans Crouse allowed three more runs over four innings on Thursday. Even after those three outings, the Riders starters ERA sits at 2.52 on the season, the second-best in Minor League Baseball (Hudson Valley second at 2.44). For credentials, game notes, media guides and more, visit RidersBaseball.com/Media UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES or email [email protected] DATE TIME OPPONENT RIDERS STARTER OPPOSING STARTER June 13th 7:05 p.m. vs. NW Arkansas Naturals RHP A.J. Alexy (1-0, 1.10) RHP Stephen Woods Jr. (1-4, 11.00) @RidersBaseball June 14th OFF DAY June 15th 7:05 p.m. at Corpus Christi Hooks TBD TBD June 16th 7:05 p.m. at Corpus Christi Hooks TBD TBD RIDERS HORSESHOES Sherten Apostel: L6G: .409 (9-for-22)/.462/.818 with 3 HR, 5 RBIs... 5 hits from 5/20-6/3 (12G) before 9 hits in last six games Jordan Procyshen: 8G hitting streak ended on Thursday: .385 (10-for-26)/.515/.692 w/ 2 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBIs, 5 BB, 7 K, 7 RS Diosbel Arias: L16G: .305 (18-for-59) with 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5 BB, 7 K, 1 SB...Tied with Dorow for most mult-hit games (8) Josh Stowers: L8G: .320 (8-for-25)/.433/.840 with 1 2B, 4 HR, 5 RBIs, 5 BB, 9 K...1st 2 HR game of MiLB career on Thursday Jax Biggers: L7G: .083 (2-for-24)/.154/.125 with 1 2B, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 RBI... Played at 2B (23G), 3B (1G) and LF (3G) for the Riders Anderson Tejeda: 2-for-5 w/ go-ahead solo HR in Riders debut on Friday...Started season with Rangers, going 1-for-16 over 5G Ryan Dorow: Hits in 18 of last 20G: .360(27-for-75)/.422/.613 with 7 2B, 4 HR, 14 RBIs, 12 RS, 1.035 OPS... Hitting .235 in June Bubba Thompson: L14G: .339 (19-for-56)/.431/.518 with 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBIs, 7 BB, 12 RS, 4 SB...4th HR of season on Friday Jake Hoover: Played first 4G of the season with Triple-A Round Rock, going 2-for-9 with 4 K...Played OF and INF for Riders Steele Walker: 8G On-Base Streak: .333 (10-for-30)/.375/.633 with 3 HR, 6 RBIs, 2 BB, 6 RS, 1 SB...Team-high six home runs this season J.P. Martinez: L5G: .444 (8-for-18) w/ 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 3 BB, 4 RS, 1.190 OPS... Avg from .162 to .221, OPS from .514 to .656 Matt Whatley: Hit 1st home run of season on Thursday... .354 OBP second on team among those with at least 20G played ROUGHRIDERS STARTING PITCHER SINGLE-GAME HIGHS JAKE LATZ Season Highs IP ..................................... 6.0 (6/1 vs. AMA) HT: 6’3 WT: 200 H ........................................ 3 (6/1 vs. AMA) BATS: Right THROWS: Left R ...........................................5 (5/5 vs. MID) 23 ER ........................................4 (5/5 vs. MID) AGE: 24 BIRTHDAY: April 8, 1996 # BB ........................................2 (5/5 vs. MID) SO .................................... 11 (6/1 vs. AMA) BORN: Lemont, Illinois Career Highs RESIDES: Lemont, Illinois IP ............................7.0 (3x; 6/1/19 vs. SAL) H .....................................8 (8/13/18 at BOI) ACQUIRED BY RANGERS: R ...................................7 (7/11/18 vs. EUG) LHP ER ................................7 (7/11/18 vs.