Saturday, June 09, 2012

El Paso gets 18 hits to beat AirHogs                      

EL PASO, Texas – The El Paso Diablos and Grand Prairie AirHogs continue to alternate wins in their four-game series, as the Diablos answered the AirHogs’ 17-run, 20-hit barrage on Friday with an 11-run, 18-hit attack on Saturday to beat the Airhogs 11-8 at Cohen Stadium.

The Diablos (5-17) took a two-run lead in the first off Cody White (0-2), with one of the runs unearned, but the AirHogs (11-10) answered back with a five-run, 10-batter inning off Osvaldo Rodriguez to take the lead. After the teams exchanged one run in the next two half-innings, El Paso scored two in the fourth to cut its deficit to one.

White got a double play to help get around two hits in the fifth, but in the sixth, El Paso took the lead for good. With one out, Jimmy Rohan and Derrick Pyles singled to knock out White, and Jordan Marks greeted Ronnie Morales with a first-pitch triple to right center to score both runners and give the Diablos a 7-6 edge. Morales struck out Maikol Gonzalez, but Enrique Cruz singled to make it 8-6.

Grand Prairie got one back in the seventh on a Trent Lockwood groundout, but El Paso answered with two more in the seventh and one in the eighth to put the game away.

Ronny Morla (1-2) worked 2 1/3 innings allowing one run, while Reyes Dorado (1 2/3 innings, no runs) and Marcel Prado (one inning, one run), closed the door on the AirHogs’ offense.

Notes: Eight of the nine Diablos had at least one hit and seven had at least two…The AirHogs are now 0-8 when giving up at least five runs…three AirHogs (Keanon Simon, Andres Rodriguez and Brian Myrow) had multi-hit games…Grand Prairie made a season-high four errors, but they led to only one unearned run…The AirHogs had only one out to an outfielder, with 17 groundouts, two lineouts, an infield popup and four strikeouts.

The 2011 American Association Champion Grand Prairie AirHogs conclude their four-game series with the El Paso Diablos on Sunday, June 10, at 7:05 p.m. The AirHogs return home on Monday for a twinbill with the Laredo Lemurs with Game 1 at 6:05 p.m. All games are aired live and for free on Ustream by clicking on the link on the AirHogs’ home page or visiting http://www.ustream.tv/channel/airhogs-baseball with selected contests aired on Time Warner Cable’s Texas Channel. For information on tickets, promotions, advertising, and other opportunities with the AirHogs, check out the Web site at www.airhogsbaseball.com, or call the QuikTrip Park office at (972) 504-9383.